How to Draw an Anime Face

ByStepan Ayvazyan

Let’s work with the basic technique of sketching anime. The main feature of the anime are the faces of the persons. They are always very expressive despite the visual lack of difficult details. We created an art lesson in which we show you how to draw an anime face to learn how to depict any anime persons. The principles we will talk about can be used in any artwork in anime style.

Step 1

To perfectly create an anime face, first we depict the outline of the face. It looks like an inverted egg, which narrows down to a blunt angle. At the bottom of this round figure you can see the angles of the lower jaw. Do not forget about these specifications when you depict the outline of the head.

Step 2

At this stage should be started with the contours of the neck. Have you often seen the thick necks of anime persons? This happens very rarely. In the anime, only very thick persons have thick necks. Here we have the usual thin neck.

Also in this stage, we will depict a several lines on the face. First, let’s draw a vertical line of facial symmetry. After that, measure 2/3 of the face and draw a transversal line. A little higher draw another transversal line. Between these two lines will be located eyes.

Step 3

Let’s work with facial features. In the anime style, the nose and mouth are usually presented with a pair of simple lines. This lesson is no exception as you see. The main thing is to depict the nose and mouth in the correct location.

After that we can depict the contours of the eyes. It looks like two large upturned arcs which are limited from above by smooth horizontal lines.

Step 4

Add some facial features. Depict round pupils and contours of thin eyebrows. In this step we will also draw the ears. Pay attention to the location of the ears. The top border of the ears is slightly lower than the top edge of the eyes. The bottom border of the ears coincides with the nose. At this point, your anime face drawing should look something like this.

Step 5

Let’s draw the hair. As a rule, anime persons do not have a carefully traced hairstyle. Hair on the head is schematically indicated by paths that look like a few sharp corners. Anime is always famous for a wide variety of hairstyles. They are fluffy, curly, with unusual details woven into the hair, so experiment with creating unusual hairstyles and visit our instruction on how to draw anime hair.

Step 6

In this step of the instruction on how to draw an anime face, we practically will not create any new elements. Now we just clean up the face of our young man and erase the extra lines that we drew in the first stages. Do not forget about the contour of the inner part of the ear. In addition, you should trace the necessary lines to make them clearer, more beautiful and completed.

Step 7

To give your anime face drawing a complete look, you need to sketch some shadows. You can see the shades that are localized above the eyebrows and on the neck area. In these places, the light is covered with hair and chin, respectively. Paint over the pupils of our anime person. It is critical not to paint over white highlights as in our sample.

The team of Drawingforall.net decided to create this lesson because there is a lot of controversy about how to draw an anime face correctly. Many artists create some mystery around this style of pencilling. We created this lesson to show that you need to properly create the basic shapes at the initial steps. And also you should correctly place the facial details in the right places and create their correct shape. It is these things that form the impression of the whole artwork in this wonderful style.

If you are a fan of this genre of fine art, then be sure to go to our category called “Anime” to fully comprehend all the basics and nuances of sketching works of art in this genre. And to keep abreast of absolutely all the updates on Drawingforall.net, then subscribe to us on Facebook, Pinterest and Deviantart.

55 Comments

Jhenina Sofia🎀🎀🎀💐 says:

12/07/19 at 04:24

anime and manga is one of my favorite that’s why I’m so happy when I found this website 🍥🍥🍥🎀💐🎀💐😍😍😍

Reply
1. Ashton says:
  
  26/10/20 at 01:06
  
  I bought 10 mangas today TwT
  
  Reply
  1. Rosa says:
    
    28/05/22 at 21:06
    
    I also love anime
    
    Reply
    1. Kayla says:
      
      13/09/22 at 21:17
      
      so do I
      
      Reply
  2. Ducky says:
    
    06/11/22 at 00:51
    
    I bought 20 mangas and watched 30 episodes of One Piece at night ToT
    –
    
    Reply
2. john dow says:
  
  29/08/21 at 20:48
  
  lol
  
  Reply
3. heart says:
  
  26/06/22 at 01:21
  
  I didn’t do it well in sketchbook… but thank you god bless you thanks to google
  
  Reply
4. lui says:
  
  28/10/22 at 17:33
  
  omg lmaoaooaoa
  
  Reply
Owen/O_BRo says:

12/09/19 at 02:04

Best website ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
1. Stepan Ayvazyan says:
  
  16/09/19 at 06:18
  
  Thank you, we are glad that you like our site!
  
  Reply
  1. kanav says:
    
    28/04/21 at 09:12
    
    thanks so much , all i needed to draw was determination
    
    Reply
  2. Deez Nutz says:
    
    29/01/22 at 22:25
    
    sup kiddos
    
    Reply
2. corrie says:
  
  27/09/19 at 00:09
  
  i agree
  
  Reply
  1. Sabrina says:
    
    11/02/20 at 13:22
    
    My friends all draw anime better than me this is not helping please more directions
    
    Reply
    1. Johnny says:
      
      20/02/21 at 01:21
      
      It’s easy to be beaten
      It’s not easy
      Maybe videos will help
      
      Reply
samueldemmons says:

07/10/19 at 13:34

god i’m happy for u thank for that

Reply
1. sal says:
  
  18/04/20 at 07:47
  
  mee too i am bad
  
  Reply
dax stanley says:

19/11/19 at 03:39

I am bad at drawing

Reply
Jesse says:

22/11/19 at 22:27

I like to draw anime a lot so I love it!!!!!😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Reply
Mira says:

12/12/19 at 23:20

I absolutely hate this tutorial!!!!!! I love anime but this made my drawing look like a mummy!!!!!! 😡

Reply
1. Mira says:
  
  12/12/19 at 23:22
  
  Sorry 😬
  
  Reply
Mira says:

12/12/19 at 23:22

no offence 😓

Reply
U DONT WANNA KNOW says:

26/12/19 at 21:53

hi

Reply
U DONT WANNA KNOW says:

26/12/19 at 21:55

I did the drawing absolutely perfectly, until i got stupid and decided to color it in with soft pastels
🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

Reply
samueldemmons says:

16/01/20 at 17:31

i like it bc it so fun 😛😛😛😛😜😜😜😝😝😝😝]\

Reply
Love anime says:

11/02/20 at 02:45

Hi I LOVE anime but my drawing looks terrible the pictures look better than what I do more DIRECTIONS please that would make it better plz

Reply
Audrey says:

12/02/20 at 20:36

THIS IS SO HELPFUL

Reply
daniel says:

23/03/20 at 02:26

This is just GREAT!! I love anime so much!!

Reply
Lexie says:

12/05/20 at 16:56

can you please do one on anime eyes?

Reply
Katrina says:

08/09/20 at 15:40

this was really helpful but my eyes were really hard to draw 😂

Reply
1. Stepan Ayvazyan says:
  
  09/09/20 at 10:31
  
  We will have an article about anime eyes soon. This lesson will help you understand in more detail how to draw anime eyes.
  
  Reply
FuzzyKat says:

19/09/20 at 16:09

Wow, I made the best anime I’ve ever made! BUT, it still is very bad lol. I see these and they should be easy (and this is really good and easy tho) but all of them just I quit and then I get sad mine looks like a deranged Hiccup from how to train your dragon 2 lol :l

Reply
1. alice says:
  
  20/01/21 at 22:21
  
  I QUIT AND STARTED CRYING
  
  Reply
Cammy says:

08/10/20 at 08:05

i made it its so cute <3

Reply
1. hello says:
  
  01/01/21 at 03:55
  
  hi
  
  Reply
2. akmms says:
  
  11/05/22 at 16:11
  
  Really nice
  
  Reply
Barlins says:

04/11/20 at 22:08

omg thank u for it really helped me ❤

Reply
fun says:

20/01/21 at 17:01

I already know how to draw anime but this just made it easier

Reply
Yada says:

02/02/21 at 21:22

I can’t do the hair is hard and the eyes brown I love anime and they are soooooooooooooooooo cool and cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
serenity says:

22/02/21 at 19:48

thank you this helped me alot

Reply
lily says:

11/03/21 at 19:11

thanks! honestly this site is amazing

Reply
someone ????? says:

07/05/21 at 12:58

thanks i made inosuke with this (hint: inosuke is from demon slayer ans demon slayer is anime)

Reply
Raustyn says:

14/05/21 at 14:35

I did very well on my drawing! I made him look like Ciel Phantomhive from Black butler, Then I tried to make Sebastian Michaelis and it ended up awful 🙁

Reply
Me Cool 😎 says:

23/08/21 at 04:29

hi

Reply
Nathan Millan says:

26/08/21 at 03:09

I get 25 !!!! (so happy)

Reply
Marni Matt says:

31/08/21 at 08:36

doing it for homework thxs

Reply
Anime Drawerz says:

13/09/21 at 22:43

ehhh.. might be more helpful with a video.
good website.
but u need
vIDeOS

Reply
Shoto Todoroki says:

28/10/21 at 16:42

help me pls

Reply
John Doe says:

29/11/21 at 19:22

Look

Reply
Abby Paulson says:

19/01/22 at 01:27

Pls, put instructions on how to do the original face shape!!!! Had to try like 4 times!!!!!!😒😒

Reply
kyzah says:

14/02/22 at 18:15

Right

Reply
robert says:

14/03/22 at 23:11

once i found this website it got me back into drawing anime…. and i learned some things

Reply
Rosa says:

28/05/22 at 21:08

This website is the best

Reply
Holly says:

18/10/22 at 19:50

i tried but it turnt out looking like a really well drawn elf. So thanks for making me able to draw elves but more detail pls next times

Reply
Jataveon Jones says:

26/10/22 at 15:42

I really like this website.

Reply