How to Draw Manga Faces in Basic Sketching
Japanese animation, commonly known as anime, has a distinct art style that has been growing in popularity for a few decades. Anime art is characterized by big eyes, elaborate costumes and crazy hairstyles, but some of the most famous anime artists draw in a more realistic style. It is relatively simple to draw an anime face using basic sketching techniques.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Draw a circle. Then draw the outline of a face, using the circle as the base. Make indents above the cheeks, lined up with where the eyes will be. Below the cheeks, the chin will taper off to a point. If you like, make the chin wider using a horizontal line rather than a sharp angle, depending on what you want the character to look like.
-
2
Draw a line down the middle of the face, and draw two horizontal lines to mark the top and bottom of the eyes. These are guidelines to make sure the eyes are mirror images; the vertical line will help do this for other facial elements as well.
-
-
3
Draw the eyes. Eyes are one of the most versatile elements of anime art and can be drawn in numerous ways. For example, you can change the height or width, add eyelashes to either eyelid or draw none at all, make them flatter or rounder, or add small white circles on the pupil or iris where light is reflected.
Also, add eyebrows and ears, the latter of which should be about level with the eyes. Bear in mind, however, that while ears may stick out more or less, they tend to be approximately the same size and shouldn't change alongside the eyes.
-
4
Draw the nose. The tip of the nose should be about halfway between the bottom of the eyes and the chin, but may be lower if you want your character to have a large nose. Viewed from the front, a nose only needs to be an obtuse angle facing upwards.
Now draw the mouth. The mouth should be somewhere from one-third to halfway below the nose to the chin. Mouths in anime are usually little more than a line, although some artists add a small line to denote the lower lip. Characters are rarely drawn with complete lips.
-
5
Erase the guidelines.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
There are numerous variations that can be made upon these basic instructions. For instance, some styles prefer to make the indents above the cheeks straight lines instead of concave curves. Look at the work of several artists to decide what you like. If you have trouble drawing a face from a different perspective, look at a real-life model's face and observe the facial structure.
