How to Draw Anime Girls

Anime girls can be superheroes, innocent students or murderous villains. Because of the dynamic nature of Japanese animation, anime can span all types of story lines and purposes. Learning to draw anime girls can greatly enhance your repertoire as an artist.

Things You'll Need

• Graphite pencil or charcoal
• Rubber eraser
• Sketch pad

Instructions

Concentrate on the Face for Anime Girls

1. Draw a horizontal line and a vertical line that intersect (form a cross) one-third of the way down your page.

2. Trace a pentagon shape around this cross. The size of this pentagon should reflect how large you want your anime girl's head to be.

3. Add a horizontal line to the topmost point of your pentagon. This line should be the width of the face, as it will be the character's hairline.

4. Outline the girl's eyes by adding two ovals on either side of your vertical line. Make the ovals evenly spaced. Inside each oval, add a smaller oval to create an iris.

5. Add eyelashes to your girl's eyes by tracing a horizontal line above each oval and filling it in dark. Place small spikes on the outside of each line to denote eyelashes. You can add as many or as few as you like to create a unique look.

6. Mark the chin with a horizontal line just above the bottom point of your pentagon guideline.

7. Place two vertical lines on either side of the chin, just below the pentagon frame. This will be the girl's neckline. The lines should be spaced slightly wider than the eyes.

8. Add eyebrows and eyelids to your character's eyes by drawing an arched line the same width as the eye just above the eyelash line. Add another just above this to denote the eyebrow. The arch of each line should mirror the oval shape of the eye, so the wider the eye, the wider the eyebrow and eyelid will be.

9. Fill in your eyes with light glares (two circles that are left unshaded to symbolize a light source) and pupils. You can get creative here, and give your girl colored eyes or exaggerated pupils.

10. Place a small "S" shape at the intersection of the cross on your girl's face. This will be the nose. It can also be a sideways "V" shape.

11. Create a small slit for the mouth, just above where you've placed the chin. You can also add a chin dimple just below this.

12. Add hair both above and slightly below the hairline you drew earlier. This feature will shape the way your girl really looks, so take care to accentuate the spikiness, curliness or wildness of your character's locks.

13. Finish the face by placing ears on either side of the head that land just below the bottom of the eyes. These can be simple "C" shaped ears or more intricate, detailed ears with inner ear bones, defined lobes and shading of the ear canal.

Create Personality for Anime Girls

1. Create a specific style for anime girls with bright dresses, robes or even martial arts costumes. In anime, the outfit you pick will directly reflect the personality of the character, so choose carefully.

2. Draw the limbs of anime girls in motion. Fighting is a popular theme, but your character could also be reading, sewing or exercising.

3. Give anime girls accessories like earrings, bracelets, magic wands or swords to denote more personality characteristics.

Tips & Warnings

• Trace your guidelines lightly (steps one through three) so that you can erase them easily as you finish your character.

• Keep the noses and mouths of your girls simple, as the eyes are the focal point of any anime character and should be the biggest features on the face.

• If you're not good at drawing ears, cover the space with hair!