Japanese Pro Vs Amateur
This is an interesting video as it shows how a pro draws anime and manga face and head, compared to an amateur.
While the video is in Japanese, dont let that bother you . Follow the lines, the hand movement, and see how the face and head structured. I also like the fact that the pro draws hair.
The video is especially nice because it shows you how the drawing from an amateur compares with the drawing from a pro.
Theres a clear mismatch in structure and in proportions. So it is useful to learn from a pro.
Ways Drawing Manga Eyes
If you are struggling to understand how different styles of eyes match different characters, this video will clear up all your questions.
Over a time-lapse video the artist narrates what makes each eye unique while drawing the eyes of 20 characters from popular anime. Yes, twenty!
If you are following along be prepared to pause often. This 11-minute video is fast-paced and packed to the brim with useful knowledge.
Have you ever heard of the Manga Studio software?
Its software like Photoshop but dedicated to manga & anime drawing.
Using manga studio in this guide you will learn which tools to use and how to ink a pencil drawing digitally. If you want to learn how to add color then watch part 2 of the video.
Drawing The Basic Head Shape
Tip: If you have trouble drawing a circle without help, either use a compass or trace something circular.
Read Also: How To Draw Muscles Anime
Add Shading To Finish The Drawing
To finish the drawing you can add some more basic shading to several areas of the face. As in many other tutorials here on AnimeOutline the shading will be done in a fairly generic way. Meaning that the shadows will be added in places where they are likely to occur in common lighting conditions such as a well lit room or daytime outside.
For this type of shading add shadows in the following places:
- Bottom tips of the hair clumps
- On the head
- Around the eyelids
Determine The Angle Of The Ball

The angle of the head is established at the very beginning of the drawing with the ball. All three axes must be addressed:
X Axis – The up and down tilt is established by the angles of the horizontal and vertical lines in the oval. Also, on extreme up tilts and down tilts, the thirds will be foreshortened because of perspective.
Y Axis – The direction the head is turning is established by the width of the oval. As the head turns towards you, you can see more of the front of the face and less of the side, so the oval representing the side will get narrower. Similarly, when the head turns away from you, more of the side plane is revealed and the oval will appear wider.
Z Axis – The twist is established by the angle of the center line, the angle of the oval and the placement of the oval on the ball.
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How Long Does It Take To Learn To Construct The Head Using The Loomis Method
Although the method is simple, and everyone can begin constructing heads in just a few minutes, it is also nuanced. Like with everything drawing related, expect the strong proficiency in the Loomis method to take months or longer. The alternative is that one may never learn to draw heads correctly, which would be a huge shame. Heads and faces are notoriously difficult to draw, and an artist with a good skill of drawing the head is sure to stand out. Without further ado, lets get started!
Drawing Anime Head And Face
Drawing an anime or a manga face is probably the thing most of us like to do first so why not start from there.
The face is always the first thing people look at anyway. When you know how to draw an anime face, you are already halfway there as the face is one of the most important things when drawing anime characters.
Facial expressions have always been the thing in anime, hair and body pose being the other things.
So mastering the face is rather crucial and here is a small collection of the best anime face tutorials available online for free to do just that.
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How To Draw A Cute Anime Girl Step By Step
Animated anime drawing
Another great drawing of Naruto
Colours are another exaggerated feature of anime
Anime girl drawing
How to draw anime eyes expressing different emotions
Look at this little anime cutie
Gorgeous pencil anime sketch
Now this is a stunning drawing
Easy anime drawings
How to draw an exaggerated hairstyle
How to draw anime boy
Video tutorial on how to draw Goku from Dragon Ball
Different examples of hairstyles
How to draw anime lips
Another tutorial on how to draw anime step by step
How to draw hand gestures
How to draw anime characters according to their age and height
Video tutorial on how to draw facial expressions
Draw anime step by step
How to draw anime body
Detailed step-by-step tutorial
Different stages in drawing anime eyes
Girl drawing easy
How to draw different facial expressions
Cute anime drawings
Mapping A Cute Easy Anime Face In Real Time
A very in-depth video on how features a placed in the head. This art tutorial is a bit lengthy, but it does explain rather nicely how to draw manga face and head.
In the video, you will learn how to draw a nose, for example, from different angles and how the nose curve smooths out when the face is looking more forward than to the side.
When you are starting out, do use guidelines to help you place the facial features in the right places.
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How To Draw Anime For Beginners: A Step
In this easy guide for beginners, youll learn how to draw anime. Learn the steps to making anime characters and take classes to increase your skills.
Theres no mistaking anime characters. With their exaggerated eyes and distinct facial features, anime characters are unique and fun to draw. If youre new to anime, there are a few things you need to know about how to draw anime for beginners.
Below, we walk through five steps to drawing anime, including tips for getting the proportions right, options for different styles of anime hair, and instructions for drawing iconic anime eyes.
Drawing Anime Eyes From Different Angles
In the none angled front view the eyes will usually be drawn far enough apart that you can fit another eye in between.
When drawing anime eyes at an angle draw everything as though its been vertically compressed .
In addition to this the distance between the eyes drawn at an angle should be narrower than the width of the eye that is closer to the viewer. The farther away eye should be even narrower than that .
One reason for this is the curve of the head.
Another reason for this is that due to perspective the farther away objects are drawn smaller that objects of the same size that are closer to the viewer.
For more on perspective see:
Read Also: How To Draw Anime Noses Front View
Section 4 Coloring And Shading
Youre getting close to finishing. Excited yet?
If you used a tablet or drawing pad, your image should already be on your computer. You can go ahead and open it in Painter or whatever program you prefer to use for shading and coloring.
If you created your sketch on paper, make sure its free of any debris and scan it into your PC.
When it comes to picture editing software, the possibilities are endless. There are hundreds of books out there that go over every feature and offer thousands of tips and tricks, but were going to keep it basic for this tutorial and give you a very broad overview of what goes into coloring and shading digitally.
So, you should now have your image on your computer. Go ahead and open your drawing in your program of choice.
Its a good idea to separate areas of your drawing out into several layers. Create a layer for the background, a layer for the hair, a layer for the skin, and a layer for the eyes. This makes things easier if you make a mistake and need to undo something.
Choose whichever area youd like to start with first and with the brush tool and color of your choice, begin filling in the whitespace. Take your time so you dont go outside the lines . Repeat this step for each layer until your entire image is colored how you like.
Like I said, using picture editing software can get very, very complicated, so just take your time trying out new things and see what you can come up with.
How To Draw Arms For Anime

Did you know that the arm is the same length as the torso?
What about other tidbits of advice like the forearm is the same length as the upper arm and the elbow is always at the belly button?
This tutorial is packed full of memorable information teaching you how to draw the armmuscles and allin many different poses while sticking to the anime style.
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Coloring And Shading Anime Eyes
Another coloring tutorial for anime eyes. Even if the tutorial is not in English, you can still see how the iris is constructed by drawing multiple layers in different layer modes and colors.
Feels like the more layers you add, the more complicated it becomes and the more interest it gets when watching the final image.
Learn How To Draw In Shapes
Another thing, that I see a lot of beginner artist do, is to draw in Lines. The reality is, there are no actual lines in the real world. Lines are just an illusion.The World consists entirely of shapes. If you learn how to draw these shapes then you will never need to draw another line! This is also known as the painterly approach.
If you are confused, what I mean by shapes, then let me give you an example. Let´s say, you want to draw a ball, the most obvious shape is the circle, that will show the dimension of the ball. But then there are shapes defining the light side of the ball, shapes that define the cast shadow and the bounce light and shapes, that define the reflection of the ball in the surface of the underground and so on. All these shapes will create the illusion of a ball.
Also Check: Draw Anime Boy Body
How To Draw Male Anime Face In 3/4 View Step By Step
This tutorial shows how to draw a male anime or manga style male face in 3/4 view with detailed step by step drawing examples.
It can be fairly challenging to make a proper 3/4 view drawing of the head including heads and faces in the anime style.
To make things easier to understand this tutorial provides a very detailed breakdown of the drawing process with sixteen steps in total.
If you are going to be following the tutorial using pencil and paper its recommended that you start with light lines as you will need to erase parts of the drawing in between some of the steps.
One Character Six Manga Styles
Have you been planning to create your own manga but just feel discouraged?
Youll need to pick a style to work in, organize a story, and master the art style. It takes a while but this video can help.
A good way to solidify your style is to draw your character in multiple other manga styles. Follow along with this tutorial and try to adapt your character to all six different styles.
Read Also: Picture Converter To Anime
How To Draw Short Hair For Anime And Manga
Another great tutorial from Mikey, video tutorial on how you can design anime looking hair. Drawing hair from the top of the head and using simple shapes to show the structure of the hair before going into details.
The tutorial also covers the part of drawing the famous light reflection to the hair. Drawing hair is not simple even though this tutorial makes it look like it.
Mikey really knows what he is talking about.
How To Draw A Basic Head Construction Pt 1/2
You have to know how to draw head before you can really draw the face. Right?
Reinaldo Quintero or REIQ has been drawing anime and manga art for years already and really has a style of his own.
This video is all about the basics of how to head is formed, and it is split into two parts. So if you decided to watch one, do also watch the other.
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Drawing Anime Environment And Backgrounds
As a cherry on top of the cake. Draw a background for your awesome character. What better way to showcase your character than with an environment supporting your beautiful anime character.
Even anime environments have that certain feel to them. The key being a semi-cel shade style that is present in the scenery.
Hard-edged shadows but also subtle transitions in color really do create a mesmerizing effect. Having these elements present in the scenery creates a very anime-like look and feel to an environment.
If you think about anime movies from the likes of Makoto Shinkai and Hayao Miyazaki which brought you the fantastic sceneries of The Garden of Words or My Neighbor Totoro. The immense beauty that those movies have inside is just staggering.
The colorful backdrops behind the characters only give you a sense of wonder and make it easy to dive into the world presented.
That kind of effect a background can have for your character. It really is something to consider of adding.
Hopefully, this article provided you with enough resources to keep your hand busy drawing. Anime and manga art is awesome and the simple aesthetics of the art style is something people tend to like. Simple eyes, curvy bodies, distinct facial features, yet you can easily go the realistic route and draw something very realistic looking and still keep the anime vibe intact.
Learning To Draw Anime

Does learning to draw Anime take long?
It may take some time to learn how to draw Anime. Besides, all students have different abilities. Our practice shows that most of the students can draw already in 1-2 months after following this guide.
What drawing tools do I need to have?
Above all is to enjoy drawing. Even basic tools are good for the start. They may help you enjoy the process. Simple pencils and copy paper are a must for learning how to draw.
Can I use a book if Iâm an advanced artist?
If youâre an experienced artist who wants to improve your Anime drawing, this book will still be a useful tool, just as it is for beginners. The drawings in this book are designed to have simpler and more advanced versions. The last versions are more detailed, which makes them interesting to work with for trained artists, while the first ones are easy to follow for beginners.
What do I do if I cannot draw?
Everyone can get good at drawing. From what weâve seen so far, the three things that help the most are time, practice, and guidance. Over so many years, we never met anyone who couldnât make it having those three things combined.
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How To Draw Eyes From Realistic To Anime
REIQ shows in the video how you can draw eyes realistically and how to draw them in anime style.
The basis for drawing realistic eyes is always to follow specific rules when possible or when aiming to draw more mature eyes rather than lets say chibi version of eyes.
The video covers different emotions that can be expressed with eyelids and eyebrows. All the while keeping the details to a minimum and showing the structure of the eye.
This video basically has everything you need to know about anime eyes. But if requiring more heres some.