how to draw a anime character

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Anime is a pop animation and drawing style that originated in Nippon. Cartoon anime characters can seem overwhelming, especially when yous're looking at your favorite anime that was drawn by professionals. Fortunately, anyone tin larn how to depict anime characters, and the procedure is fairly simple if yous interruption it downward into small steps.

Case

1
Depict an oval and dissever it into four sections. This will be the basic outline of your anime graphic symbol'due south head. The proportions don't accept to be verbal, simply brand the oval narrower at the bottom since that will be the chin. Once y'all've fatigued the oval, draw a horizontal line through the center of it. Then, draw a vertical line through the middle of it that intersects with the horizontal line. Afterwards, yous'll employ these lines every bit guides to draw the facial features.^[1]
- If yous want your character to accept a wider face, widen the lesser of the oval so information technology'south but slightly narrower than the height. Or, if you lot want your grapheme to take a slender confront, make the lesser of the oval even narrower than the summit. At that place's no single head shape used for all anime characters, so y'all can experiment until you find one yous like.
2

Draw the eyes underneath the horizontal line. Anime eyes are large and exaggerated, and they ordinarily take up about 1/4 to one/five of the peak of the face. To draw ane, start by cartoon a thick upper lash line just underneath the horizontal line you drew and on one side of the vertical line. Then, draw a semicircle coming down off the upper lash line, and depict a black pupil in the center of it. Side by side, draw a narrow, horizontal line underneath the circle for the lower lash line. Finally, shade in the circle effectually the student, leaving some white space then information technology looks like light is reflecting off of your character's optics.Do the same affair on the other side of the vertical line to brand the other eye.^[2]

Tip: Adjust the shape and size of the eyes depending on whether you're cartoon a masculine or feminine anime character. For a feminine grapheme, make the eyes taller and rounder, and add a few thick eyelashes coming off the upper lash line. For a masculine character, brand the eyes shorter and smaller.

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3
Sketch the eyebrows to a higher place the horizontal line. Draw a long, downward curving line for each eyebrow. Make them slightly longer than the upper lash line you lot drew for the optics. And so, thicken the ends of the brows that are at the center of the face up.^[3]
- If you're cartoon a feminine anime graphic symbol, brand the eyebrows adequately thin. For a masculine character, thicken the eyebrows then they're more than prominent on the face.
iv
Add the olfactory organ halfway between the horizontal line and the mentum. Anime noses are subtle, and they're unremarkably only defined when you're looking at a graphic symbol from the side. To describe your graphic symbol's olfactory organ, draw a brusque, simple vertical line along the center of the face at the halfway bespeak between the horizontal line and the mentum. Make the line longer if y'all want your character's nose to be large.^[iv]
- Make the nose the smallest feature on your character's face.
- The nose volition overlap with the vertical line you lot drew. To run across it better, make it darker than the vertical line, or erase the vertical line around the nose.
- Masculine anime characters sometimes take noses that are more pronounced, just that'due south not always the case. If you want your character's olfactory organ to be more noticeable, describe a curt horizontal line under the vertical line to represent the lesser of your character'southward nose. Besides, draw a triangle-shaped shadow on the side of the nose and so it looks like the low-cal is hitting your character from the side.
- For certain styles of anime, similar chibi, you don't even need to describe a nose at all!
five
Draw the rima oris about halfway betwixt the nose and chin. Similar to anime noses, anime mouths are simple and subtle. To depict your character's mouth, draw a horizontal line that'southward about as long every bit the space between their eyes. Don't worry about drawing lips. Brand the oral fissure the second smallest feature on your character's face, after the nose.^[5]
- Curve the line up if you want your grapheme to be smiling or downward if you want them to be upset.
- If you desire your graphic symbol to be smiling and showing their teeth, draw an upward curving line underneath the horizontal line you drew for their mouth. The white space between the curved line and the horizontal line should be about half equally tall equally the mouth is long. That space volition exist your graphic symbol'south teeth.
vi
Add the ears to the side of the head. If you want your character to accept long hair that's covering their ears, skip cartoon the ears. Even so, if your character's pilus is going to be short, draw a narrow oval on each side of the caput. Have the top of the ears line upward with the horizontal line running through the center of the confront, and have the bottoms line up with the bottom of the nose. Then, draw the flaps of the ear inside each oval.^[six]
- Experiment with the size of your grapheme's ears if you want them to be bigger or smaller.
seven
Draw the hair on your character'due south head. The hairstyle yous choose for your character is upwards to you, but generally, anime hair features pointed ends and distinct sections. Yous tin can depict a brusk, buzzed hairstyle, a medium-length style, or long, flowy pilus. Whichever hairstyle you cull, avert cartoon individual strands of hair. Instead, draw big sections of hair, like four or 5 spikes at the ends.^[7]
- If your character has long pilus, yous could draw 2 pigtails, one at each side of the caput, with spiked ends. Or, you could describe their pilus pulled up with a round bun at the pinnacle. Alternatively, y'all could give your character bangs by drawing three or four distinct sections of pilus coming down over their brow.
- For a shorter hairstyle, you could draw 3 or four distinct sections of pilus swooping to the side over your character's brow. Or, you could depict a hairstyle without whatsoever bangs and draw a few lines running from their hairline to the back of their head so it looks like their hair is combed back. Alternatively, you could draw a mentum-length bob that's divided into several thick sections.
8
Erase the horizontal and vertical guidelines you drew. Erase them advisedly and so y'all don't remove any of the facial features by mistake. Utilise a small eraser so yous're less probable to make mistakes.
- Once you lot erase both lines, your character'due south caput and face up are finished!
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ane
Describe a stick-figure outline of your graphic symbol'due south torso. Employ straight lines for the arms, torso, and legs. Make the arms and torso similar in length, and make the legs almost one/3 longer. Then, describe triangles or ovals for the hands and feet. Make the easily about ane/v the length of the arm, and make the feet most 1/6 the length of the legs.^[8]
- To become the proportions right, make your stick-figure outline about 7 times every bit tall as your character'southward caput.
- Have the arm lines start most one/v of the way down the line you draw for the torso.
- Have the stick-figure outline of your character capture whatever pose y'all desire them to exist in. For case, if you want your graphic symbol to be sitting, depict their legs and then they're bent. Or, if you want your character to exist waving, draw one of their arms and then it'due south aptitude.
2
Outline the full general shapes of your character'southward body. Drawing over the stick-figure outline you made, sketch a rough outline of your grapheme's body, arms, hips, and legs. Don't worry virtually making the outline precise however. At this point, you just want to represent the different parts of the body with bones shapes.
- Describe ovals for the upper and lower artillery and legs, then depict a circle at each joint for the knees and elbows. Proportionally, brand your character's upper and lower arms the aforementioned length and size. Make their upper legs thicker than their lower legs.
- For the body, depict a quadrilateral (a 4-sided shape) that's wider at the meridian and narrower at the lesser. Somewhen, the wide corners at the top will become your character's shoulders.
- To outline the hips, draw an oval over the betoken where the torso and upper legs encounter.
- Anime characters tend to be tall and thin, but y'all tin experiment with different heights and body shapes!
3
Connect and refine the general shapes you drew. Trace around the outer edges of your grapheme's trunk so you have one seamless outline. At this signal, offset refining the different parts of the body so they look more realistic, like your character'due south hands, shoulders, hips, and neck. When yous're finished, you lot'll have a full, detailed outline of your grapheme's body around the more than abstract outlines y'all drew before.^[9]
- To connect and refine the legs, draw effectually the outer edges of each shape that makes up the legs (the ovals for the upper and lower legs, the circles for the knees, and the shapes you drew for the feet) then you have one seamless outline of each leg. Make the outline smooth (without any gaps) so the legs look realistic.
- For the upper trunk, you'd do the aforementioned with the artillery and trunk. Round out the corners of the body for the shoulders, and draw 2 lines curving upward away from the heart of the torso for the neck. Besides, connect the shape you drew for the hips to the torso and the upper legs.
Tip: If you're cartoon a masculine anime character, broaden the chest, waist, and shoulders. If you're drawing a female anime character, narrow the shoulders, make the hips wider, and outline the breasts. Also, accept the waist in and so it'south narrower.
4

Erase the stick-figure outline and shapes you drew. Exist conscientious erasing so you don't accidentally remove whatsoever of the refined, final outlines that you drew. When you're finished, you should be left with a neat, seamless outline of your character'southward body without whatsoever of the original guidelines y'all drew inside of information technology.^[ten]
5
Add your anime character's apparel. Draw the clothes over the outline of your character'south torso. For example, for your character's shirt, draw the sleeves over their arms and the torso of the shirt over their torso. Then, erase whatever lines that are inside of the clothes since those parts of your character's body are covered up. For example, if your graphic symbol is wearing shorts, erase the outline of their upper legs that's inside of the shorts since you lot wouldn't exist able to see that part of their legs.^[11]
- As you're drawing the wearing apparel, recall about where they would naturally crease and fold if someone were really wearing them. So, draw the creases and folds to make the clothes look more realistic. Yous can as well look at images of apparel online to see how they crease.
- Yous can choose any kind of outfit for your anime character. Some conventional anime outfits yous might consider include school uniforms, formal dresses and suits, and traditional Japanese attire.
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Add New Question

Question

How can I depict the pilus and so that information technology looks good?

When drawing hair, remember that hair doesn't always hug the skull. Attempt to brand it look fluffy past having it extend over the sides of the confront. Also, don't endeavour to draw every single strand; basic outlines or "clumps" works ameliorate. Lastly, consider making the hair appear more than dynamic by cartoon it blowing slightly to one side.
Question

How practice I get the artillery/optics to look symmetrical?

Describe them together, instead of finishing i side before moving to the other. Lightly sketch out all your shapes first to ensure symmetry before getting besides far into pieces of your cartoon.
Question

How can I amend my anime-cartoon skills?

The best way to ameliorate is to keep practicing. You can watch anime to get an idea of how anime characters expect. Another style to improve is to draw with friends, then they tin can give you new tips and techniques.
Question

Tin can a kid draw anime?

Totally! It will have some time and a lot of practice to get good, but recall how nifty you'll exist by the time y'all're an adult if you starting time now!
Question

What is a play tricks for drawing hands well?

The all-time trick for cartoon easily well is to study your ain hands kickoff. Notice the shape, color, texture, angles, etc. Describe your hand in dozens of different positions and in dissimilar lighting. This isn't a shortcut, per se, simply it'due south an practise that will improve your drawing.
Question

How practice I make an anime comic?

Come up up with a story commencement. Then, you'll demand the ability to draw out that story. If yous need whatsoever more help, you tin can go to any book store and find manga to give you a wait on how a good story is written out. Or, borrow some manga from your library. Keep practicing, as it can take fourth dimension to get all the pieces sorted.
Question

How do I depict lines on apparel without making the character look beaten?

Mrs.Spooks

Community Answer

Draw light, curved lines most places like the sleeves, the bottom of the shirt, and well-nigh the inside of the pant legs.
Question

Would this look good on lined paper?

It probably won't look not bad because you don't want anything else covering the drawing, but if it's the only paper you have, then use it.
Question

How practice I know what hair goes with the body?

You tin depict the hair however you lot'd like to for your character. If you want to get in more realistic, possibly add a few curls or stray hairs.
Question

How would I become about purchasing peak grade drawing paper?

Check the grade you want to buy online or on in your favorite local art supply store'south website. If you cannot find the grade, ask the retailer to supply it. If they cannot, then try a different retailer who knows their paper grades.

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About This Article

Article Summary X

To depict an anime character, brand their eyes big and exaggerated, since the optics are always the biggest facial feature in anime. Then, draw a curt, uncomplicated vertical line for the nose, and add a horizontal line under it for the mouth. Don't worry about calculation details to the nose or lips, since they're the smallest and to the lowest degree noticeable features in anime. When you're finished drawing those, describe an oval on each side of the head for the ears, or skip the ears if your character is going to have long pilus anyhow. Finally, draw your character's hairstyle, like pigtails, bangs, or a bob. Avert drawing individual strands of hair, and instead draw big, choppy sections. To learn how to draw your anime character'southward body, whorl down!

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