How to Draw Anime Heads

The key to drawing interesting anime characters is starting with well-proportioned heads. Whether looking straight on or to the side, heads have to be geometrically aligned or they can distract from the beauty of your drawing.

Things You'll Need

• Eraser
• Ruler
• Graphite Pencil
• Sketch pad

Instructions

Create Anime Heads for Characters

1. Draw a large circle one-third of the way down your page if you plan to incorporate a body later. If you are drawing only an anime head, then place the head directly in the center of the page.

2. Dissect your circle with two horizontal lines to make three equal sections, then dissect the head in half vertically with one line. These lines should be light enough to be easily erased, but should still be visible.

3. Make a short, horizontal line directly below the circle of the head the same height as the last third of the circle. This will be the mark for the chin. Connect this line to the bottom of the circle with a faint vertical line made with a ruler.

4. Draw two diagonal guidelines. They should be tangent to the sides of the circle (next to, but not crossing), and intersect at the edges of the chin mark.

5. Expand the lower section of the face (the cheeks and jowls) by adding a half-moon shape (mirrored on the appropriate side) to each side of the head. Each section should span from just below the bottommost horizontal guideline to the outside of the chin line.

6. Erase your guidelines and fill in where you want your facial features to go.

Tips & Warnings

• When you are drawing your characters' heads, be sure to keep gender in mind. As a rule, male anime characters have larger, longer heads. Female anime characters typically have more slender, shorter heads. In the same vein, children should have round, small heads that compliment their body sizes.

• Play with head shape, size and angle to give your anime character personality. For example, an angular head with protruding cheekbones can give an evil character the skeletal look needed to invoke fear.

• For a three-quarter view of the head, simply rotate your beginning circle and draw your guidelines around accordingly. Keep in mind that, because of depth, the features closer to you will be slightly larger than those furthest away.

• Erase your guideline prior to adding color. Doing so after can cause bleeding and color smudges that can be hard to remedy.