This tutorial shows how to describe a rice bowl filled with rice in an anime or manga style. It includes a total of 12 steps with detailed drawing examples for each of them.

Rice bowl drawing step by step
Rice bowl drawing pace by pace

Rice bowls are very common in many types of anime and manga. They may seem adequately uncomplicated only there are a few things to be aware of if y'all desire to create a properly structured cartoon of one. This tutorial explains what these are and shows a cartoon approach that y'all can use even outside of the anime and manga fashion.

Beginning the tutorial in pencil and make lite lines as you will need to exercise some erasing moving betwixt a few of the steps. You lot tin darken them at the end of step ten.

Step 1 – Describe the Top and Base of operations of the Basin

Rice bowl top and bottom drawing
Rice basin elevation and bottom drawing

Delight note that this stride of the tutorial may seem a bit complicated but information technology is very important to understand if you want to exist able to brand a proper cartoon.

Equally you begin be certain to position things in a fashion that leaves enough room at the peak of your cartoon area for the rice and chopsticks (if you want to add them).

Star the drawing by outset making a vertical line. This is to aid you lot encounter if both sides of the bowl are fifty-fifty in width.

Next draw a pair of horizontal lines, ane for the top of the bowl and one for the lesser.

Around each horizontal line (every bit shown in the example) draw the outline of the pinnacle and base of the bowl. In the final drawing the far side of the base (top role of the bottom oval) will not be visible just for this step draw information technology as though the bowl is run into through.

Rice bowl top and bottom drawing explanation
Rice bowl superlative and lesser drawing explanation

Draw the upper side of each of the ovals slightly narrower than their bottom sides. This is to show perspective (things actualization smaller as they go off into the altitude).

Rice bowl eye level explanation
Rice bowl centre level caption

Make the lesser oval taller in relation to it'due south width than the top oval. As you lot can come across in the example in a higher place if both ovals were the same width the bottom one would be much taller.

The reason for drawing this fashion is due to eye level. For an case of how this works you can simply hold up a real bowl in front of you and look at it's upper rim. If you bring it right to the level of your eyes the elevation will appear to exist pretty much a directly line. The more yous lower it down the rounder it will appear.

As the bottom of the bowl in the instance is lower down than the meridian information technology should exist drawn rounder.

For more than on perspective and eye level see:

Perspective Drawing Tutorial for Beginners and How it Relates to Anime

You can erase the horizontal guide lines after you are done with this step.

Step two – Draw the Shape of the Bowl

Rice bowl outline drawing
Rice bowl outline cartoon

Going down class the sides of the upper oval depict the shape of the bowl. In this case it should be somewhat shut to a one-half circumvolve/oval.

Brand sure that near the bottom the shape of the bowl pretty much follows the shape of the lesser oval with some distance between the 2.

When finished brand certain that both halves of the bowl are even. You can erase the vertical line one time done.

Pace three – Finish Drawing the Base of the Basin

Rice bowl base drawing
Rice bowl base drawing

For this elementary footstep only draw a pair of lines going down from the half circle/oval to the bottom oval to create the base of the bowl.

Stride 4 – Clean up the Cartoon

Rice bowl basic drawing
Rice basin bones drawing

Clean up the drawing erasing the "encounter through" parts of the base then that you have something similar to the example above. This should be a very basic drawing of the rice basin.

Step 5 – Add the Rim

Rice bowl rim drawing
Rice bowl rim drawing

To show that the bowl has some thickness first requite it a rim at the top by drawing another oval inside the larger one that defines it's top.

Again due to perspective this rim should be thicker towards the front of the bowl (bottom side of oval) and narrower towards the dorsum (upper side of oval).

Pace vi – Terminate the Bowl Cartoon

Rice bowl basic line drawing
Rice bowl basic line drawing

Generally bows don't have sharp edges as in the previous example. To requite information technology a more than smooth locking rim erase the bottom part of the outer oval besides every bit the upper half of the inner oval so that you have a cartoon like the one in the above instance. This will create a hint of a smooth rounded rim.

With that yous should pretty much have a finished line drawing of the rice basin.

Stride 7 – Outline the Shape of the Rice

Rice bowl rice outline drawing
Rice bowl rice outline drawing

At present begin drawing the rice by starting time outlining it's general shape. In this example it will be a rounded heap.

It does non demand to be perfectly symmetrical merely for a nicer looking cartoon try to make sure the rice is non overly skewed to one side.

Over again draw this outline correct over acme of the basin as though the rice is transparent and endeavor and go far as light equally you can so that information technology's just barely visible.

Step eight – Draw the Rice Grains

Rice bowl rice shape drawing
Rice bowl rice shape drawing

Going along outline add together what should basically be a silhouette of the rice grains.

You can make the grains darker than the line from the previous stride so that it pretty much just fades into them.

Step ix – Add the Chopsticks

Rice bowl chopsticks drawing
Rice bowl chopsticks drawing

By and large in anime and manga the rice would exist served with the chopsticks lying next to it. In this case all the same to brand the drawing expect a little more than interesting they will be sticking out of the rice.

Begin with a simple outline of the chopsticks. Side by side add some rice grains around their base to give the impression that they are actually stuck into the rice.

Finally instead of sticking direct sideways the chopsticks will exist facing a fiddling bit towards the viewer. Yous can show this by some oval like shapes on their upper ends.

For more on drawing chopsticks see:

How to Draw Hands Property Chopsticks Step past Step

Step 10 – Add More than Rice Details

Rice bowl line drawing
Rice basin line cartoon

Finally to finish the line drawing of the rice bowl you tin can add some hints of pocket-size rice grain clusters and individual grains along the rice.

Later if you feel that your drawing looks right y'all can go ahead and darken your lines by tracing over them.

Step 11 – Color the Basin

Rice bowl coloring
Rice bowl coloring

If yous wish to colour the drawing exit a thin white line (may be a bit hard to come across in the instance) that'south randomly broken upwards in a spot or two along the rim of the bowl.

This will create a highlight (light reflecting from it's surface) that will brand it look more than like the bowl has a smooth cogitating surface.

In this case the bowl will be greenish but you can obviously make information technology any color you like.

When coloring the chopsticks make their upper ends (the parts where they're chopped off) slightly lighter than the residual. In this example the light will be coming directly from to a higher place the basin then those parts volition be lighter every bit they are facing more towards it.

Stride 12 – Stop the Rice Bowl Drawing

Rice bowl drawing
Rice bowl drawing

In a more than realistic drawing there would be smooth transitions between the shadow and light areas just this example utilizes cel shading (no gradients) which is fairly common in anime and manga.

Though it should besides exist noted that sometimes in anime and manga close ups of food tin can exist shaded in a more realistic way to brand it look more delicious. Notwithstanding this is usually a single shot or panel of a manga. Drawing/shading multiple frames/panels in such a mode is often simply besides time consuming. For this reason you often see the food drawn/shaded similar to the in a higher place example, especially once characters have it in their hands.

As mentioned the light volition be coming from above the basin which means it will bandage a shadow directly below itself. The shape of this shadow will reflect the shape of the bowl. It will pretty much be round but as it's viewed on an angle information technology will appear oval.

You can besides shade the bottom portion of the bow besides as the downwardly facing sides of each of the chopsticks.

As long every bit you add together it in the right place even some basic shading every bit this can make a cartoon more interesting and less flat.

Conclusion

While fairly simple this tutorial provides some very of import drawing instructions. Properly structuring your drawing early on on volition help insure that it looks good when finished. If yous don't get that part right and so no matter how much effort you put into the details your drawing will look off.

It also shows how you can use some very basic colour/shading to make your drawing stand out more without too much effort.

For more nutrient related tutorials see:

  • How to Draw Anime Style Food & Dejeuner Box
  • How to Draw Sushi Footstep by Stride
  • How to Draw a Slice of Cake Step by Step
  • How to Draw a Processed Apple Step by Pace
  • How to Draw Takoyaki Footstep by Step