How to Draw Kon from Bleach

Step 1

Step 01: As all of our returning mangakas will already know all of the blue lines you see in this tutorial are only construction lines and we’ll be erasing them later on. So, it’s important not to press too hard on your pencil when drawing these lines. You’ll see our final lines in black towards the end of the tutorial.

As you can see from the image at the beginning of this tutorial, we’re going to be drawing Kon’s whole body. So, we’ll begin with a head and body circle. These circles should be smaller than if we were doing just a head tutorial as we will need to fit his arms and legs around the body. We can start by drawing a squished (longer than tall) ellipse in the center of our paper for the body shape. Above that, we’ll draw a larger, rounder circle for the head shape in the top, center-right of our page. Lastly, we’ll connect the two shapes with curving lines which connect the sides of the body circle to the bottom of the head circle.

Step 2

Step 02: We’ll continue here with our construction lines for Kon’s major features and appendages. Let’s start with the head and draw our center line. In about the center of the head circle, we’ll draw a line that curves slightly to the left. In the very center of the head circle on the center line we’ll add a circle for his nose/muzzle. Let’s add two small “^” shapes to the corners of the head circle for his ears. Now that we’ve finished up with the head,let’s draw the five lines around his body for his arms, legs and tail. The legs are pretty straightforward. The arm line on the left curves up slightly and is as long as the leg lines. The line on the right for his arm curves back to touch the top of the body circle. Lastly, we’ll add the line for the tail, which is shorter than the leg or arm lines.

Step 3

Step 03: Alright everyone, time to add some girth to those arms and legs. Kon can’t fight with stick figure arms now can he? These are pretty simple so I hope we don’t have any problems with them. Let’s begin with the legs. Draw a horizontal ellipse (longer than high) starting from the end of the leg lines we drew in the previous step on each leg. Then, draw two lines from either side of each ellipse up to the bottom of the body shape. The leg at the top should be thinner than the foot at the bottom giving each appendage a tapered appearance. Now, we’ll do almost exactly the same thing for the arm on the left. However, we should note that the paw circle is rounder on the arm than on the feet and, secondly, instead of just stopping at the body shape the arm lines should overlap the body circle and connect making a shoulder (overlapping 3D principle). Finally, we’ll turn to the arm on the right which is bent and partially hidden from our view. We should draw a half circle for the paw and then only one line connecting the the paw to the body circle.

Step 4

Step 04: Let’s move back up to the head for this step and we’ll draw Kon’s mane and facial features. We’ll begin with the eyes. Draw two small circles on either side of the center line just above the muzzle circle we drew before. Notice that due to the way Kon’s head is turned the eye on the left is closer to the center line than the eye on the right. Now, inside the muzzle circle we’ll draw a quite small horizontal ellipse (wider than high) just inside the top of the muzzle on the center line for his nose. Then we’ll draw a curved “^” shape for Kon’s mouth and two small concentric “u” shapes just below this that should finish up the mouth for us. Lastly, we have to draw the “^” shapes around the head for Kon’s lion mane. As you can see, parts of the mane are hidden behind the ears and the raised arm on the left (overlapping 3D principle), so it might be easiest to start at the ear and then draw almost three complete “^” shapes. Repeat the process as you go around the head, between the ears and on the left. Before moving on add a smaller “^” shape to the inside of each ear for his inner ear. We’re all done with Kon’s mane!

Step 5

Step 05: Just a few more facial details to take care of here. Inside each eye, draw a smaller circle in the upper left corner of each. Also, add a smaller ellipse shape inside the nose. And, lastly, the four dash marks between the eyes above the muzzle for wrinkles. Great job. Let’s move on.

Step 6

Step 06: Ok, mangakas, we’ve got a lot of lines to do in this step and we’ll take them from top to bottom starting with the raised arm on the left. We’ll draw a line from the paw to the body circle near the top of the arm. This line is for the seam, he is a stuffed animal after all. Next on the arm on the right, using the center line of the arm as a guide we should draw a curved line from the paw to the body circle and a very small forked line from the body shape to nearly the center line of the arm for his inner elbow. Now for the body shape itself. We’ll draw a slightly curving line down from the center line of the head through the body shape. Next to that, on the right side of the body, we’ll draw another line curving less than our first line. In the top right corner of the body circle and touching the last line we drew we should add a vertical ellipse (higher than wide). Because of the way Kon’s body is turned, the shapes on the right of the body will be more elliptical and squished than those on the left as they are “farther” away from us (squashing 3D principle). Finally, on to the legs where we’ll draw a small curving horizontal line at the bottom of the legs and then a vertical line on the inner part of the legs for the leg seams. But, I almost forgot Kon’s tail. So, before moving on draw the two shorter lines to thicken the tail and add the flame or spark shape to the end of the tail. Great work.

Step 7

Step 07: Now we have to add Kon’s claws to each of his paws. The claws are made by drawing a “^” shape and then adding a small third line to each spike. We should add three to each paw. The claws on the raised arm on the left point upward while those for the arm on the right point down. For the claws on the foot paws, we should barely be able to see the last/third claw ‘farthest’ from us (size and squashing 3D principles). Before moving on, we should draw Kon’s button on his chest. Let’s draw a smaller vertical ellipse inside the circle on his chest and then we’ll add two small vertical ellipses inside that one.

Step 8

Step 08: That’s it for the construction lines everyone. Use your eraser and lighten all of the construction lines we’ve made so far. Using your pen, trace out your final lines. As you trace your final lines there are a few spots to pay attention to. Notice how the raised arm on the left overlaps the body shape and the top of the arm forms the same line as the head circle, also that we don’t finish the whole circle for his muzzle but only the top half, and, also, how the seam line on the arm on the right doesn’t extend all the way to the paw but stops about half way.

Step 9

Step 09: Before we finish up, let’s do a little shading to make Kon stand out more for us on the page. Using our pen, we’ll fill in the “^” shapes around Kon’s head, darkening his mane. Next, leaving the smaller circles empty, we’ll fill in the remaining space in Kon’s eyes and nose. We’ll also fill in the small space for his mouth and lastly, the tip of his tail and the small ellipses inside the button on his chest. Once we’ve filled in all of these we’ll move on to our last step.

Step 10

Step 10: That’s it mangakas! Once the ink dries on your drawing, use your eraser to completely erase any remaining pencil construction lines you can see. Now you’ve got the adorable Kon from Bleach! If your goal is to become a great mangaka make sure to draw Kon again from memory. Then compare the final drawing with the original and correct any mistakes you might have made. Try once again from memory. This is the best way to build a huge library of shapes and get the tracing experience necessary that you can use in the future for your own manga characters.

Draw with passion! -_^

Hiroshi