How to Draw Anime Girl's Clothing

Reviewed by Jeanine Hattas Wilson

Last Updated: December 13, 2022

It's typical of people to wear clothes, whether they're real people or drawn on paper. However, it can be difficult to move past the basics of clothes that lie flat on the person's body - and it's made more difficult when drawing girls, as their bodies tend to have a curvature to them and makes the fabric rest differently. You can't stick to drawing flat dresses forever, so it's best to learn how to draw clothing on anime girls.

Part 1

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Clothing Basics

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Fabrics don't "meld" to whatever they're resting on - they hang loosely. Keep in mind that fabric resting on a sphere will have a different form than fabric resting on a cube. Whenever you're in doubt, just think of what lies beneath the fabric.
Stereotypically, female bodies tend to have an "hourglass" shape to them, with long legs and large breasts. This isn't the case in real life - everyone's body is different! However, regardless of the girl's shape, a female body differs from a male body in the sense that a male body is more angular and straight, whereas a female body has a tendency to seem less sharp.

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Clothes are influenced by the body's size and shape. For example, if a small girl were to put on a sweater several sizes too big for her, it would be evident as the sleeves would be hanging off her hands. Chests can also influence the clothing - a large chest size could cause a shirt to not fit properly, requiring a larger size for the girl.
When clothes or clothing material wrap a person's body they will always show marks to indicate they are covering an object with multiple shapes, movements, or attachments. These marks are what we call wrinkles.
The type of material used influences the appearance of clothes. Some clothes are soft and thin, others thick and rigid.
Other clothes are downright unique in form and texture. The material may also vary depending on the time or purpose it was created, such as for historical outfits, modern, futuristic, or fantasy clothing.
Clothes don't just hang down flat - they move with the person wearing them. Depending on the type of clothing, the material it's made of, the action the girl is doing, and whether wind should be moving it, the clothes will be shifting and wrinkling in different ways.

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Styles

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Consider what you are capable of drawing as well as how you would like your anime girl to appear. Also keep in mind the personality of the character - a girl who's meant to be dark and mysterious isn't going to be wearing a bunch of frills!
2
Try drawing school uniforms. Depending on the type of school your girl goes to, she may wear different types of uniforms.
- The stereotypical sailor fuku that's often seen in anime, also called the sailor uniform or seifuku, consists of a white shirt with a skirt, with a sailor collar over the shirt and a tie of some sort. In anime and manga, most sailor fukus are depicted as having rather short skirts - however, the skirts of the sailor fuku's uniform are actually typically knee-length or longer. They tend to be depicted as shorter because many girls in Japan roll their skirts at the waist, giving the appearance of a shorter skirt. These are most often seen in middle schools, although some high schools use them.
- High schools in Japan are gradually switching over to a more Western-style uniform, which consists of a plain shirt, a skirt or pants, a tie, and a blazer. Again, the skirts aren't short - they're rolled up!
- Gym uniforms tend to be solid color, usually something such as black or navy blue. The summer gym uniform typically consists of a pair of gym shorts and a short-sleeved gym shirt. The winter uniforms will usually be longer and have a jacket. Depending on the school, the uniform may have the owner's name written on it in kanji or katakana. However, katakana is usually reserved for students with foreign names.
- The shoes the students wear outdoors are usually a pair of black or dark brown loafers. However, Japanese schools require students to change into uwabaki, or a pair of soft slippers meant for indoor wear. The appearance of uwabaki differs from school to school, but they can have the appearance of typical slip-on shoes without rubber soles.
3
Try drawing casual clothing. "Casual clothing" can be defined as something that you would typically leave the house in, or see most people walking around in - for example, jeans and a sweater in the winter months, or shorts and a T-shirt in the summer months. However, remember that certain people have certain styles, and some styles, such as Lolita fashions, would not be considered casual clothing.
- Does she wear cutesy styles? Styles considered "cute" are typically clothes that are "girly" colors such as pink, purple, and baby blue, with ruffles or frills, as well as bows - whether on the clothes or in her hair. If she's wearing a skirt or dress, it will likely puff out to the sides a bit.
- What if your girl is fashion-oriented? There are many different outfit types you could draw her in! Short dresses and skirts, shorts, cardigans or jackets, cute designer T-shirts - the possibilities are endless. Just make sure that everything she's wearing looks good together, or else she'll look more like a fashion train wreck than a fashionista!
- If she's a tomboy, you can put her in something like a pair of dark jeans and a video game T-shirt can work wonders. Keep in mind that most tomboys don't put a lot of effort into their appearance, and most of them don't wear skirts.
- Try a baggy look. If your girl is a gamer, somewhat of a loner, or just values being comfortable over looking nice, try dressing her in baggy clothes, such as an oversized sweater or shirt and a pair of loose jeans, or an oversized skirt with a baggy top. Shoes that go well with this type of style are brand-name sneakers, such as Converse or Vans.
4
Try drawing sleepwear. Unless your girl just sleeps in her clothes, there are many different ways to have her dress for bed.
- Things such as nightgowns tend to hang straight down, especially if the material is somewhat thick. Large shirts tend to do the same, but will move differently than a nightgown - nightgowns will "spin" more than shirts do.
- Regular pajamas are essentially pants and a shirt. Depending on the type of pajamas, the shirt could be long-sleeved, short-sleeved, a button-up, a flannel, have a print on it, or just be plain. Generally, pants tend to be either short or long, and longer pants are more likely to have prints on them than decorations like ruffles.
5
Try drawing Western formal clothing. Formal clothing in the West often refers to things such as dresses and tuxedos. However, in Japan, formal clothes are things such as kimonos and are covered in another section.
- Typically, anime girls wear longer dresses when they're trying to be formal but not traditional. These dresses can be like ball gowns or wedding dresses - which all vary in types!
- In Japan, not conforming is typically frowned upon, but if you want, try drawing your girl in a tuxedo.
6
Try drawing traditional Japanese clothing. Traditional Japanese clothing are clothing such as kimonos and yukatas. Make sure you know the difference between all the clothing before drawing the clothing, though.
- Be wary when drawing a kimono's folds. The kimono is always wrapped left side over right, unless going to a funeral!
7
Try drawing very "out there" fashions. Not everyone likes to conform to society - so why should your girl conform?
- You can try the classic "emo" or "scene" looks. These looks are typically noticed from their artificial and teased hair, along with certain clothing fashions - scene has colorful clothing, while emo clothing is usually limited to things like black, gray, and deep shades of red. Some girls that follow these fashions also have piercings!
- The lolita fashion is fairly well known for its large, frilly and lacy dresses, along with its many accessories such as parasols and the over-the-top girliness it portrays.
Most people don't fight in over-the-top, revealing armor. However, if that's what you want someone to wear, feel free to draw it! Just be aware that the armor needs to be able to move with the girl as she's fighting, so it shouldn't be tight enough to constrict her movement.
Suitable accessories include hair bows, bangles, rings, necklace, gloves, socks, and more. Anime girls often have a watch or a talisman of some kind. Cat ears are a common addition too. Also, if you're going for Japanese style, a fan is always nice.
10
Try drawing different hairstyles. While hairstyles and clothing are not the same thing, a hairstyle can make an outfit look quite nice. For example, a girl who wanted to look "cute" could have her hair in pigtails, whereas a girl who just wanted to do something simple may have her hair in a loose ponytail. Mix things up!
- Even if your girl doesn't have her hair styled, her hair doesn't have to be boring. She can have wavy hair or curly hair, or be wearing hair accessories such as headbands, barrettes, or a knitted beanie.
- If you want, try giving her an unusual hair color. In anime, the hairstyles rarely ever conform to reality, and color is no exception!

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Where can I find hair templates?

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Currently, there are no existing templates. What you can do, however, is practice tracing from an existing manga or anime until you can draw the hair on your own and with confidence.

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How do I improve my anime drawing skills?

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It just takes a lot of practice until you're confident.You can start off by carefully studying different anime characters and how they're drawn. Watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga, and practice drawing whenever you can.

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What's the difference between anime and manga?

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Anime usually describes movies or television shows, whereas manga usually describes comics, drawings, books, etc.

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Tips

It's good to shade in areas of clothing and draw wrinkles in clothing so to make it more realistic. You can shade in hair, too. Also, when shading, make sure you don't use a darker version of the base color. Or a lighter version. For example, if your base color is pink, use a tone of blue or purple.

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Make sure that the ends of the strands of hair are sharp. This will make it look more realistic.

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Make sure that the head, torso, and legs are at a reasonable size. Don't make it disproportionate, as it will look silly.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

A female character doesn't need a skirt to be graceful and elegant. There's a female character in my favorite video game that's elegant and calm but never wears a skirt.
Too many wrinkles make the body look uneven or confusing. Don't overdo it, and be careful and intentional with your wrinkles and other line details.
If you are unsure about how an item of clothing would hang on someone's body, ask a friend to model for you while you do some sketches.
Look at different samples on the Internet. If you know a lot of manga or anime shows, it can help.

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