Anime drawing tips/supplies?

I use oil pastels on my drawings. I draw anime too, and the oil pastels really give it texture. They make it seem real. For a sketching pencil, I use these pencils I found at CVS. They're drawing pencils, because they're mark is so faint. You can't write with them, that's how light they are. But yeah, that's what I use.

To be honest, when I'm drawing, I don't have a plan. I just draw someone, and let my imagination go from there. Sometimes it actually helps to listen to music, and since you like drawing dark pictures, listen to some dark music. Like heavy metal, or My Chemical Romance, or some band like that. The song gives you a mental picture in your head, and then that picture goes out onto the paper.

Another idea is to go sit somewhere different. If you always sit inside your house and draw, there's not much inspiration. Go outside, and look at your surroundings. It helps.

Your drawings don't always have to be dark. Put yourself out of your comfort zone, and draw something happy.

Drawing shouldn't be a chore, or something that's difficult. Maybe you don't like drawing that much, even though you want to! :)

Hi, I draw manga (not anime, but it's a common mistake, don't worry). I'd like to say that, first off, you have a rather cute manga style from what I can tell. I wish I could go into more detail, but the photograph is rather blurry, and in bad lighting. I feel that I should point out some anatomy mistakes, if you don't mind. You did ask for the opinion of someone who drew in this style. Her eyes are a little skewed, off-centre, and don't leave much room for whites. The lack of whites is fine in your style, but you might want to invest in going back to basics with very simple guidelines to get the eyes to sit right. Her nose is either too small, or in the wrong style. A common mistake with manga is that noses look the same from both 3/4 and frontal angles, but this is a mistake. Try getting rid of that line that comes up from the tip, and see if that looks better. Even a simple stylised dot in this particular style will look good, and rather cute. Her mouth appears to be rather far down, and the smile is very small, giving her a 'fake' appearance. Try eradicate this by stretching the sides wider, and higher. Her shoulders and bust are not proportionally accurate to her hips. If she has large breasts, she will need large hips to support them, and she will certainly look like she has had plastic surgery if she does not. Her shoulders are too wide in proportion to her hips, as they should be roughly the same width. I think that you should study the proportions of real people around you, if you want to improve. A common problem with novice manga artists is that they do not study poses and proportions of people around them, which most advanced manga artists do, and this can often make their pictures look less visually appealing. My advice to you is to learn more about the facial structures of people, and maybe read up on a few manga you think look a bit like your style, or what you want your style to be, to see how the official manga artists draw.

theres books here about everything from tools and supplies to poses and perspective. i love these books

http://howtodrawmangaebooks.blogspot.com/