Anime Face Drawing

Anime has become hugely popular, bringing so many inquiries about how to draw anime heads. Please enjoy our free tutorial “Anime Face Drawing,” and don’t forget to sign up to our email list so we can let you know about more high value articles and how to draw tutorials as soon as they are released!

Table of Contents 

Anime Face Drawing Step 1 – Draw a Centre Line and a Circle for the Head

Anime Face Drawing Step 2 – Capture the Chin By Drawing Two Lines Beyond the Circle of the Head

Anime Face Drawing Step 3 – Draw the Neck and Shoulders

Anime Head Step 4 –

Anime Face Drawing Step 5 – Draw the Eyebrows

Anime Face Drawing Step 6 – Draw the Nose

Anime Face Drawing Step 7 – Add in the Mouth

Anime Face Drawing Step 8 – Draw in your Ears

Anime Face Drawing Step 9 – Draw the Hair 

Anime Face Drawing Step 10 – Add in the Top of the Hair

Anime Face Drawing Step 11 – Draw in the Finer Details

Anime Head Step 12 – Add Colour If You Like

Basic Essentials

You will need nothing more than a pencil and paper. You can add colours through felt tips or crayons if you wish.

When you are considering how to draw an anime girl’s face it’s worth remembering that anime girls are designed to be ‘cute’ so drawing a cute anime girl is going to be the way it’s going to go. Sometimes you may want your character to be a little less generic and obviously cute so that you can have a main character who is less clichéd, with a little more depth. You may also want to have an anime girl who is a villain (dark colours will work here), so you can adapt this tutorial in various ways to suit your preferences. Don’t worry we’ll give you useful suggestions as we go.

Anime Face Drawing Step 1 – Draw a Centre Line and a Circle for the Head 

Start about roughly halfway across the top of your page, and draw a straight vertical line down the middle of your blank page. Just like any drawing this line allows you to create a sense of symmetry. You need to make sure the line is long enough to include the head, then the neck and also the top of her shoulders. 

You can now draw in a circle which illustrates the head of your ‘cute’ anime girl. Use your vertical line to ensure that the head, neck and shoulders are symmetrical. When you add in the facial features this line will help make your eyes, nose and mouth look more realistic and well positioned. 

Anime Face Drawing Step 2 – Capture the Chin By Drawing Two Lines Beyond the Circle of the Head

Now you are going to draw two lines heading downwards from the lower half of the circle, angling towards the centre line of Step 1. These lines are going to meet in a curve which captures the chin in two angles which sharply meet each other.

Anime Face Drawing Step 3 – Draw the Neck and Shoulders

It’s time to draw in the neck using the vertical line to make sure your whole drawing is symmetrical. You want to make sure the neck is thin in comparison to the head, and that it is a decent length. Long slender necks are elegant and ‘cute’ which works well for anime characters. This will also help you to draw thin and prominent shoulder muscles which will translate into appealing shoulders.

Anime Face Drawing Step 4 – Draw the Basic Outline of the Eyes

At this point we are going to draw the eyes, and this involves dividing the head in two with a horizontal line. To make your anime girl look extra cute you want to draw the eyes just below the halfway point. Don’t worry if the forehead seems large – this will eventually add to the overall cuteness of your anime girl.

Now you can draw the basic outline of the eyes, making them narrow with thick eyelashes at the top. Make sure you draw the eyes far enough apart so you could fit another eye of the same size between them. See the picture to help.

Anime Face Drawing Step 5 – Draw the Eyebrows

The eyebrows will be thicker at the ends pointing towards the centre of the face, and thinner at the ends pointing towards the ears. Eyebrows can give your anime girl a certain personality – for example if you raise one it makes your anime girl more sassy. Have some fun with it.

Anime Face Drawing Step 6 – Draw the Nose

At this point you can add in the nose just above the halfway point of the middle of your anime girl’s head. The nose will be slightly oval in shape becoming flatter as it moves towards the centre of the face. In many Anime drawings and cartoons the nose is very small which adds to the beauty and symmetry of the character.

Anime Face Drawing Step 7 – Add in the Mouth

The mouth will also be quite small, you want to place it roughly halfway between the bottom of your nose and the farthest point of your chin.

Although you could improvise here to make your mouth curve downwards, it’s usually best to curve upwards so your anime character looks happy. 

If you do want to play around with your character’s expression you could make your character unhappy, happy or even confused by the direction of the line of your mouth.

Anime Face Drawing Step 8 – Draw in your Ears

Now it’s time to draw your anime girl’s ears. Make sure that the tops of the ears are just slightly below the highest point of your anime girl’s eyes, and the bottom the ears are just slightly below the bottom of your anime girl’s nose. Don’t worry about adding too much detail because the ears will end up being mostly covered by your character’s hair.

Anime Face Drawing Step 9 – Draw the Hair 

Now that your facial features are suitably in place you can begin drawing the hair. For the purposes of this tutorial we are going to give her a nice neat hairstyle and add to her beauty by showing that she takes care of her hair. 

The best way to start is to draw the sides of the anime girl’s hair – you want to aim to draw two long clumps beginning from the top of the head and ending just below the shoulders. The hair will end with a pair of splits which are slightly curved, hugging the face of your character but getting a little wider as they progress towards the shoulders. You want to aim to draw the front part of your anime girl’s hair so that it is split down the middle and then tucked down at the sides. See the pictures and video to help you.

Anime Face Drawing Step 10 – Add in the Top of the Hair

The top part of the hair will actually be split down the middle, the hair will stick further up at the top and then gradually get closer near the top of the sides of the head. At the final point you need to draw it so that it curves away from the head, as it moves past the middle moving towards the bottom of the head. Again, check out the drawings and the video to help.

Anime Face Drawing Step 11 – Draw in the Finer Details

The devil is in the details, as they say but in this case it’s just a matter of adding some small details to improve the features of your anime girl. 

You can add a grey shading to the irises or use a blue, brown or even green colour to make your anime girl stand out. Consult the drawings and the video to help.

When you have finished the finer details to the eyes you can move on to adding extra hair folds as final flourishes to your drawing. Again, check out the pictures and video to help with this. 

There is also the option to add in a small mole wherever it suits if you like. Many models have a beauty spot or two which adds to their own unique beauty. 

Anime Head Step 12 – Add Colour If You Like

You can now add colour if you wish, or you can leave your drawing as a pencil sketch – it’s up to you! 

You might like to add in brown, blonde, or red to your anime girl’s hair. You also have the option to make their eyes whatever colour suits you. Examples of unique finishing details would be:

• A small shadow to either side of the nose
• Shading in the ears
• Shadows around the eyelids cast by eyelashes
• Shadow cast by the chin on the neck.

Recommended further reading ‘How to Draw Anime Girl Head and Face.’

As well as:

https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-draw-anime-heads-and-faces–cms-31884

If you enjoyed this tutorial please check out our ‘Angel Wings Drawing,’ Tutorial:

https://artworldblog.com/2021/06/09/angel-wings-drawing/

Or our ‘How to Make Gold Paint,’ article.

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