Manga Tutorials - How to Draw Japanese Sailor School Uniforms for Girls

School Uniforms: Girls

By Rio

In this section, we'll take a look at the ever popular Japanese girl's uniform.

Standard Sailor Top

Here are variations of the standard girl's top. Most common designs are the first or second in the row. Short sleeves, either regular or puffed. The third is an altered uniform uncommonly seen. The fourth is something you would see worn during the colder months.

Looking at the back, the sailor outfit normally tends to have the first design. The others are not usually seen in the real world but can be used in your manga anyways.

Going back to the front of the shirt, to the left are the most common bows. First is the standard bow, second, the straight ended bow, and third, the pointy-tailed bow. The standard bow can be drawn in different ways. It could be plumped up as shown, slightly drooping, or you can come up with a different design. When making a character, you can opt to keep the bow untied if the person was in a rush or doesn't follow school rules. You could also choose not to have a bow for the uniform.

The Shirt Top
The other school uniform top females wear is the shirt as shown to the right. You can change the tops just by changing the collar. It can be rounded, pointy, wide or narrow. Generally, they are white but you can change the color if you prefer.

Skirts

Moving on to the skirt, length differ from mid-thigh, upper-thigh, knee, and mid-calf. Examples to the right are transparent so you can get a better idea of their placement, how they are drawn, and how you can draw them.

Pleated skirts may be drawn in many ways. Some prefer to draw a straight line along the bottom. Others stagger the length a bit while another may go a step further by depicting the folded part of the skirt. The thickness of the skirt can be either thin or thick - the thick version shown at the far right.

Other skirts apart from the standard pleated one may be used instead. The lower half of the drawing shows some examples with various waist or no-waisted skirts, with folds, or no folds at all. The far right has an underskirt or slip which you may choose to draw or not.

Socks and Shoes
Getting to the bottom of things, we'll move on to the socks and shoes. Socks vary in length and in style as shown below. Loose socks are one of the common worn in manga characters as well as the standard short and long socks.

Shoes may vary depending upon your characters personality but females usually wears flats, dress shoes, and the occasional sneakers with their uniforms.

Other Uniforms

Aside from the common Sailor Uniform, there are other uniforms as shown above: Business Vest, Suspender-Like, Apron-Like, and Sweater Vest.

The business vest usually consists of a long-sleeved shirt, a tie, and a business vest of course. You can pair it with a short sleeve top but it takes away from the professional look.

Suspender-Like uniform is made up of a shirt top and a one-piece skirt and suspender. You've probably seen this in the Evangelion series with a slight modification: the skirt. Also, you can change the width and cut of the suspenders as you see fit.

The third type, Apron-Like is named because of the squarish top that is reminiscent of an apron. The skirt and apron-like top can be seperate or pieced together. A bow is optional but it usually comes with a short-sleeved top (puffed sleeves optional).

The last shown is the Sweater Vest. Not as strict looking as the Business Vest but comes right after. Usually with long sleeves, it can have a bow but can also have a tie. As for the length, it may be long as shown or it can be shorter if you prefer.

Of course, we can't forget the business-like uniforms with the use of blazers. Above we have several designs from long, short, and normal-length blazers. Notice how the length can affect how the skirt is drawn. If you look closely, they all have varying neck-ties/bows.

Above, we continue with another blazer example with a slight difference: the ends is pointed and she is wearing a bow tie - a rather big one. Beside her are two other girls. These two show a combination of blazer and vest (business and sweater).

Putting It All Together
Now that you've seen everything there is to know about girls uniforms, you have the option of mixing and matching for a unique design. Apart from the initial design, color also plays a part. For example, standard sailor tops are white with red ribbons but you can change it to a dark colored shirt with a different colored bow. The skirt as well does not have to be a single color. Instead, you can make it have a plaid pattern. Ties can be stripped and other changes can be changed as well.

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School Uniforms: Girls

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