How to Draw Anime Skirts Step by Step
This tutorial shows how to draw three types of skirts in two different variations each, normal and blowing in the wind. All of the examples include a step by step drawing breakdown.
Skirts are a very common clothing item in anime and manga, particularly due to them being part of school uniforms. The examples in this tutorial show how you can take the basic shape of a skirt and change it into different styles.
If drawing on paper be sure to start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines as you will need to erase parts of the drawing in some of the steps.
You can darken your drawing by tracing over it with darker lines once finished.
Above is a video version of this this tutorial where each of the six skirts are drawn line by line. The video features slightly updated art while the illustrated examples below have more in depth instructions. For this reason it’s recommended that you look at both.
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How to Draw a Basic Skirt Step by Step
This example shows how to draw the basic outline shape of a skirt and will be important to the rest of the tutorial as the other two variations will build off of it.
Step 1 – Draw the Basic Outline of the Body
Before drawing a skirt (or other clothes) it’s a good idea to sketch out the part of the body it will be worn on. This will act as a sort of mannequin that can help you avoid making mistakes such as drawing a skirt that would not actually fit over the body of a given character.
For examples of some common drawing mistakes as well as fixes for them see:
Common Mistakes When Drawing Anime & Manga
Step 2 – Draw the Front of the Skirt
Over top of the drawing of the lower body add the outline of the skirt.
While skirts come in many shapes and sizes in this case we will draw a fairly short skirt with a pretty common shape (narrower top wider bottom).
Step 3 – Draw the Upper/Back of the Skirt
At the top of the main shape of the skirt add the belt area.
Step 4 – Finish the Drawing
Erase the part of the body hidden by the skirt once done.
How to Draw a Basic Skirt Blowing in Wind Step by Step
This example is of the previous skirt blowing in the wind.
Please note that while a narrow skirt will usually not wave this much in this example it will be drawn slightly stretched out to better show the wind effect.
Step 1 – Draw the Basic Outline of the Body
Once again start by drawing out the shape of the lower body.
Step 2 – Draw the “Front” of the Skirt
Draw the skirt slightly tilted to one wide with it’s bottom shaped like a wave. This part will be the “foreground” section of the skirt.
Afterwards ad the belt area on top same as the previous example.
Step 3 – Draw the “Back” of the Skirt
In this case the skirt will be drawn lifted in a way that reveals it’s inner side as it’s further away from the viewer you can think of this as the background part of the skirt.
The main difference between the two parts is that the foreground section will go over top of the legs while the background will go behind them.
Draw the entire line that defines the background part of the skirt including the parts hidden behind the legs. If you only draw the visible parts you may find that they end up misaligned in relation to one another.
Step 4 – Clean up & Finish the Drawing
To finish the drawing erase the parts of the legs hidden by the foreground part of the skirt and erase the parts of the background section of the skirt hidden by the legs.
You may also notice that the background/inner area is slightly shaded. This area will usually tend to be darker so adding even a tiny bit of shading as in this example can make your drawing stand out a little bit more.
How to Draw a Skirt With Folds Step by Step
This example will be similar in proportions to the previous one but will include some folds.
Step 1 – Draw the Outline Shape of the Skirt
Begin by drawing the basic skirt from the previous example over top of a simple drawing of the lower body.
Step 2 – Draw the Fold Lines
Add the folds lines over top of the outline drawing. Similar to the shape of the skirt make these wider towards the bottom and narrower towards the top.
To show that the skirt wraps around the body make the sections on the sides narrower as they will be viewed at more of an angle.
Step 3 – Draw the Bottoms of the Folds
Using the curved line at the bottom of a the skirt as a guide line for their overall flow draw in the curves of each of the folds.
Step 4 – Clean up & Finish the Drawing
Finally erase the parts of the body hidden by the skirt to finish the drawing.
How to Draw a Skirt With Folds Blowing in Wind Step by Step
Drawing a skirt with folds bowing in the wind can be fairly complex but you can again use the drawing of the basic skirt with no folds to help you.
Step 1 – Draw the Outline Shape of the Skirt
Begin by drawing the simple skirt from the second example over top of the drawing of the legs so that you have something similar to the example above.
Step 2 – Draw the Fold Lines
Draw the fold lines along the foreground section of the skirt in a way where their shapes gradually transition from one end of the skirt to another to somewhat match the shape of each side.
One important thing to keep track of is that the base of each fold (near the belt area) should still originate from pretty much the same spot as in the previous example (when not blowing in the wind). You can think of these as as a pinned string that you pull in different direction. The pinned part should still stay in the same place.
Once done you can also add a few folds on the background section. As in this case these are barely visible you cam simply estimate their placement.
Step 3 – Draw the Bottoms of the Folds
Between the fold lines of the previous example add the individual curves that they create. Again you want to use the line drawing earlier to direct their overall flow. Draw the bottom curves over top it and erase it once done.
Step 4 – Clean up & Finish the Drawing
Erase the parts of the body covered by the skirt to finish the drawing.
You can also again add some basic shading to the inner part of the skirt.
How to Draw a School Uniform Skirt Step by Step
The finally example is of the school uniform skirt that is so popular in anime and manga.
Step 1 – Draw the Outline Shape of the Skirt
Again begin by drawing the outline of the skirt from the first example over top of the drawing of the lower body.
Step 2 – Draw the Fold Lines
Draw the lines of the folds that are so characteristic of this type of skirt. Decrease the distance between the folds as they progress towards the sides to show that the skirt curves around the body.
Step 3 – Draw the Bottoms of the Folds
Using the line from the initial drawing as a guide draw the saw like “teeth” along the bottom of the skirt as in the example above.
Keep in mind that the folds of the skirt are shaped like a swirl so they will point more towards the viewer on one side and then slowly turn away from them as they progress towards the other side.
Step 4 – Clean up & Finish the Drawing
Erase the parts of the body hidden by the skirt and add just a couple of lines on the folds that are facing more towards the viewer to show their edges.
How to Draw a School Uniform Skirt Blowing in Wind Step by Step
Finally for the last example of the tutorial is the school skirt blowing in the wind.
Step 1 – Draw the Outline Shape of the Skirt
Once again begin by drawing the basic skirt from from the second example over top of the drawing of the lower body.
Step 2 – Draw the Fold Lines
Draw the skirt folds similar to the previous example but with a bit of a twist in some of them to show that the skirt is warped by the wind.
Again keep in mind that the base of each fold (near the belt) should be in pretty much the same place as in the non-blowing in the wind skirt.
Step 3 – Draw the Bottoms of the Folds
With the lines that define the bottom part of the skirt in the basic drawing as a guide add the somewhat pointy bottoms to each of the folds.
Erase the guide lines once done.
Step 4 – Clean up & Finish the Drawing
To finish the drawing erase the parts of the body hidden by the skirt and add some liens to show the edges of the folds. As the shape of the skirt is somewhat warped by the wind a lot more of them will be visible in than in the previous example.
You can also add some light shading to the under side of the skirt once done.
Conclusion
Skirts (especially ones with a lot of folds) can be a little tricky to draw. A good approach to drawing them is to start with their simplified overall shape and to then gradually add the smaller details.
For more on drawing anime and manga clothes see:
