How to go about doing Ita-Nail art! Tutorial for Noriaki Kakyoin Nails (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)
There're many anime and manga lovers out there who have probably thought about trying out Ita-Nail art. However, it's definitely not an easy task trying to fit a character into the confined spaces of your nails with typical drawing techniques.
To solve this problem, we made our way to professional nail artist, Mr. Miyamoto, who offers Ita-Nail services! In the previous article, we looked at the entire process in a 1 minute video, but we’re going to go through the steps carefully one by one, from base coloring to lining, coloring, shadowing and the final touches.
We tried drawing Noriaki Kakyoin from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure!
These are the materials we used!
We used acrylic paints in brown, white, black, red and green, and an ultra-fine brush. The acrylic paints we normally use in art class are no problem either.
Well then, let’s get down to it!
1. Base Coloring
Kakyoin has fair skin, so we keep the brown used here to a minimum. We’ll add the hair and clothes over it later so don’t worry if you mess up a little here!
2. Lining
We use black paint to go around the character’s contours carefully.
This is a key step to really capture that Jojo-ish Feel. We asked Miyamoto for more details!
Point 1: Use an ultra-fine brush and paint as if the ink is drying up
The art is one of the features of Jojo that makes the show special. In order to replicate that, I drew in the shadows with an ultra-fine brush. The key here is to draw lines as if the ink is drying up.
▲ Draw in the dark shadows around the contours and eyes, as well as the nose and forehead in black.
Point 2: Use bold beige tones for shadows on the face
Originally, shadowing should come last but the bold contours of his face are his selling point, so we’ll be jumping right into the shadowing at this step! Repeat this process over and over again to make sure the shadows on his face don’t lose out to the brightness of his hair and clothes.
After painting in a bold brown color, add a brighter color over it. Add black shadows over it, to complete the lining of the face.
3. Coloring
Next up, we’ll be adding colors.
We’ll be using red for the hair and a dark green for his eyes and clothes here. Adjust the colors by adding white and black to the red and green paints.
Once we’re done with the hair and clothes, our nail art is almost complete! Let’s look at highlights and shadowing here.
4. Highlights and shadowing
We’ve already done some shadowing for his face at the lining stage, but we’ll be adding even more here.
Add dark skin tones over the forehead, and white highlights where his fringe stands up, giving it a 3D effect.
5. Complete!
- Great work! Jojo’s characters tend to be very detailed and appear a little too challenging for beginners. Are there characters you would recommend for beginners?
Always bring a reference illustration of the thing you’re thinking of! It could be an image in your smartphone, or on printed paper. Try to make it easier for the nail artists because they’re drawing without any practice on that particularly character.
- Thank you!
Apart from Noriaki Kakyoin from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, we also have a making-of video for other popular characters, Jotaro Kujo and DIO.
▼ Jotaru Kujo and DIO’s making-of video here
Next up, we’ll be recreating the Transformation Compact Mirror from Sailor Moon into 3D nail art. How in the world is this 3D art that seems like it’s about to jump out at you created? Don’t miss it!