THE BASICS

When you first start out drawing Manga drawing the heads is really fun and fulfilling but limited in what you can do with that character. However bodies can be super intimidating especially if you try to tackle the whole thing at once. As you will see below breaking down the body and poses into simplified shapes can make your process way easier. This will also help you understand how the body moves. 
Major joints, like shoulders, elbows and knees are best represented by creating circles. The use of circles will also help you with the thickness of the various body parts

3/4 View

The 3/4 view is a much more natural looking pose even though the characters are basically standing exactly the same as above
  • the center guidelines of the body lines up with the center guidelines of the  head
  • part of the shoulder will peak out past the chest

Variations on the standing Pose

Action Poses

As you can see in these examples the artists are using the same basic concepts from above except in more dynamic positions and angles. The joints are still represented circles and the limbs are created with simplified shapes. Remember that you will be doing this in layers so work lightly with your pencils. Another possible option would be to do each layer on a separate piece of paper and working with a light box or window to see through the paper.

ASSIGNMENT

Beginner
Go online to the google, flip through your favorite manga, or hit pause on some anime. You are to find 4 characters and create the basic circle / simplified skeleton. Choose 2 male and 2 female. Then replicate the positions.  It is ok if they are just standing there for the beginner choice they don't need to be doing some crazy action pose. Study the drawing and find  the similarities and what makes them different. Somewhere on the page write down these notes. The idea with the notes is identify various manga style features that you can then add into your own drawings. Remember that if you just copy someone else's work without understanding what they are doing you will never be able to do it on your own. You must submit the reference images as well.

Intermediate
Go online to the google, flip through your favorite manga, or hit pause on some anime. You are to find 2 characters and create  a 3 stage process drawings for each character. Similar to above.

You will submit 3 drawings per character plus the original reference image
Stage 1 - Circle joints / simplified skeleton
Stage 2 - Basic body construction using shapes
stage 3 - a finished detailed black and white drawing
You must submit the reference images as well.

Don't just do the thing that comes easiest to you. Remember that if you just copy someone else's work without understanding what they are doing you will never be able to do it on your own.

Take notes somewhere on your page about what you think you did well and areas that you may want to improve on.

Advanced
Go to Sketch Daily and find 2 poses that interest you. Using the reference you will  use the 3 stage process drawings for to create 1 original male character and one original female character. The process is similar to the examples above.
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​You will submit 3 drawings per character plus the original reference image
Stage 1 - Circle joints / simplified skeleton
Stage 2 - Basic body construction using shapes
stage 3 - a finished detailed drawing in either varied width line drawing or full color. Digital or paper is fine.
You must submit the reference images as well.

Don't just do the thing that comes easiest to you, the idea is to get better not just do the same thing you always do!