Purchase a tracing kit. A tracing kit allows the user to trace over a photo and while tracing an image of what is being traced is draw by the apparatus.
Affix the photo in the mount.
Place a piece of white paper in the drawing area.
Insert a pencil into the tracer.
Use the tracer to outline the photo. Do not concentrate on high detail. Outlines and basic characteristics will be enough. This will give you the proper scale for the character.
Draw in details for the face. There are a wide variety of manga drawing styles to choose from. Faces are typically very simple and not overly detailed. Sketch and color in the rest of the trace.
Purchase or download a digital photo editor that includes Manga or cartoon filters. These are filters that, when applied, transform a photo into a cartoon. The parameters of the filter, such as the level of detail can be adjusted. Unfortunately, native WIndows graphics software MS Paint is not sophisticated enough to do this. Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Caricature Soft and Cartoon Maker are all excellent choices. Load the photo into the software and apply the filter or effects you desire.
Open the photo editor and import the photo.
Select a filter from the list of available ones. There are hundreds of cartoon and Manga filters. Some of these filters require their own program, others can be used in multiple programs. Some of the filters include, "Colored Pencil," "Water Color," "Pastels," "Paint," "Ink Outlines," "Dark Strokes," "Crosshatch," "Bas Relief," "Charcoal," "Conte Crayon," "Graphic Pen" and "Underpainting."
Apply the filter. Adjust the filter's settings. For example, the color palate, detail level, smoothness of lines and thickness of brush. The filter is almost always applied to the entire image. Some programs allow the filter to be applied to sections through a "Masking Tool;" the process for doing this varies by program. The filter is generally selected from a filter list and the image is instantly transformed. Click the filter's settings to make fine adjustments.
Print a large image of the photo and place it above your drawing table, where it is clearly visible.
Imagine the photo broken up into a grid. You can even draw grid lines on the photo.
Reproduce the same grid, only smaller on the drawing paper.
Draw the picture grid by grid. Start with studying the first grid on the photo, then draw that part in the first grid on the paper. This method of drawing helps keep scale accurate and also keeps level of detail high.
Apply any manga style features you like to the picture.