How to Draw Manga

Female Bodies - Legs

Legs can be another problem area for artists. It's hard to make them shaped properly. Just like with the arms, it is important not to make them perfectly straight like cylinders. It is especially helpful to use ovals to help you get the shape right rather than cylinders, because the ovals better suit the shape of the thighs and calves. The upper part of each leg should be thicker, rounder, and shorter than the lower part of leg. When drawing the legs, start them thicker at the top, then taper them down until the reach the knee. As with the elbow on the previous page, the knee should be defined; it's a joint and should be drawn, the leg isn't made of rubber. Notice how the knee bulges outwards slightly; the leg doesn't just go straight down. The muscles on the lower leg, especially the calves, should protrude a little.

Here are some more poses. I didn't use the preliminary ovals this time because I forgot, but you should be able to see the oval shapes of the various parts of the legs. Again, I would like to bring attention to the knee, especially in the lower pictures. 

When the leg is bent, the knee can be drawn like a flat plane. I shaded these legs to help give you a better idea of their form. There are better details on this in various figure drawing books, but since you don't often see every bone and muscle on an anime character, I didn't feel the need to go over everything. 

On the picture to the right, notice how the calves obscure part of the thigh. In the left picture, notice that the lower part of the legs that are lifted up are not visible, since they are hidden behind the rest of the leg.