How to Draw an Anime Character

Co-authored by Renée Plevy and Kyle Hall

Anime is a popular animation and drawing style that originated in Japan. Drawing anime characters can seem overwhelming, especially when you’re looking at your favorite anime that was drawn by professionals. Fortunately, anyone can learn how to draw anime characters, and the process is fairly simple if you break it down into small steps.

Example

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Drawing an Anime Head and Face

1
Draw an oval and divide it into 4 sections. This will be the basic outline of your anime character’s head. The proportions don’t have to be exact, but make the oval narrower at the bottom since that will be the chin. Once you’ve drawn the oval, draw a horizontal line through the center of it. Then, draw a vertical line through the center of it that intersects with the horizontal line. Later, you'll use these lines as guides to draw the facial features.^{[1]
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- If you want your character to have a wider face, widen the bottom of the oval so it’s just slightly narrower than the top. Or, if you want your character to have a slender face, make the bottom of the oval even narrower than the top. There's no single head shape used for all anime characters, so you can experiment until you find one you like.
2
Draw the eyes underneath the horizontal line. Anime eyes are big and exaggerated, and they usually take up about 1/4 to 1/5 of the height of the face. To draw one, start by drawing a thick upper lash line just underneath the horizontal line you drew and on one side of the vertical line. Then, draw a semicircle coming down off the upper lash line, and draw a black pupil in the center of it. Next, draw a narrow, horizontal line underneath the circle for the lower lash line. Finally, shade in the circle around the pupil, leaving some white space so it looks like light is reflecting off of your character’s eyes. Do the same thing on the other side of the vertical line to make the other eye.^{[2]
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Tip: Adjust the shape and size of the eyes depending on whether you’re drawing a masculine or feminine anime character. For a feminine character, make the eyes taller and rounder, and add a few thick eyelashes coming off the upper lash line. For a masculine character, make the eyes shorter and smaller.

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3
Sketch the eyebrows above the horizontal line. Draw a long, downward curving line for each eyebrow. Make them slightly longer than the upper lash line you drew for the eyes. Then, thicken the ends of the brows that are at the center of the face.^{[3]
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- If you’re drawing a feminine anime character, make the eyebrows fairly thin. For a masculine character, thicken the eyebrows so they’re more prominent on the face.
4
Add the nose halfway between the horizontal line and the chin. Anime noses are subtle, and they’re usually only defined when you’re looking at a character from the side. To draw your character’s nose, draw a short, simple vertical line along the center of the face at the halfway point between the horizontal line and the chin. Make the line longer if you want your character’s nose to be big.^{[4]
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- Make the nose the smallest feature on your character’s face.
- The nose will overlap with the vertical line you drew. To see it better, make it darker than the vertical line, or erase the vertical line around the nose.
- Masculine anime characters sometimes have noses that are more pronounced, but that’s not always the case. If you want your character’s nose to be more noticeable, draw a short horizontal line under the vertical line to represent the bottom of your character’s nose. Also, draw a triangle-shaped shadow on the side of the nose so it looks like the light is hitting your character from the side.
- For certain styles of anime, like chibi, you don’t even need to draw a nose at all!
5
Draw the mouth about halfway between the nose and chin. Similar to anime noses, anime mouths are simple and subtle. To draw your character’s mouth, draw a horizontal line that’s about as long as the space between their eyes. Don’t worry about drawing lips. Make the mouth the second smallest feature on your character’s face, after the nose.^{[5]
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- Curve the line upward if you want your character to be smiling or downward if you want them to be upset.
- If you want your character to be smiling and showing their teeth, draw an upward curving line underneath the horizontal line you drew for their mouth. The white space between the curved line and the horizontal line should be about half as tall as the mouth is long. That space will be your character’s teeth.
6
Add the ears to the side of the head. If you want your character to have long hair that’s covering their ears, skip drawing the ears. However, if your character’s hair is going to be short, draw a narrow oval on each side of the head. Have the top of the ears line up with the horizontal line running through the center of the face, and have the bottoms line up with the bottom of the nose. Then, draw the flaps of the ear inside each oval.^{[6]
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- Experiment with the size of your character’s ears if you want them to be bigger or smaller.
7
Draw the hair on your character's head. The hairstyle you choose for your character is up to you, but generally, anime hair features pointed ends and distinct sections. You can draw a short, buzzed hairstyle, a medium-length style, or long, flowy hair. Whichever hairstyle you choose, avoid drawing individual strands of hair. Instead, draw big sections of hair, like 4 or 5 spikes at the ends.^{[7]
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- If your character has long hair, you could draw 2 pigtails, one at each side of the head, with spiked ends. Or, you could draw their hair pulled up with a round bun at the top. Alternatively, you could give your character bangs by drawing 3 or 4 distinct sections of hair coming down over their forehead.
- For a shorter hairstyle, you could draw 3 or 4 distinct sections of hair swooping to the side over your character’s forehead. Or, you could draw a hairstyle without any bangs and draw a few lines running from their hairline to the back of their head so it looks like their hair is combed back. Alternatively, you could draw a chin-length bob that’s divided into several thick sections.
8
Erase the horizontal and vertical guidelines you drew. Erase them carefully so you don’t remove any of the facial features by mistake. Use a small eraser so you’re less likely to make mistakes.
- Once you erase both lines, your character’s head and face are finished!

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Sketching an Anime Body

1
Draw a stick-figure outline of your character’s body. Use straight lines for the arms, torso, and legs. Make the arms and torso similar in length, and make the legs about 1/3 longer. Then, draw triangles or ovals for the hands and feet. Make the hands about 1/5 the length of the arm, and make the feet about 1/6 the length of the legs.^{[8]
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- To get the proportions right, make your stick-figure outline about 7 times as tall as your character’s head.
- Have the arm lines start about 1/5 of the way down the line you draw for the torso.
- Have the stick-figure outline of your character capture whatever pose you want them to be in. For example, if you want your character to be sitting, draw their legs so they're bent. Or, if you want your character to be waving, draw one of their arms so it's bent.
2
Outline the general shapes of your character’s body. Drawing over the stick-figure outline you made, sketch a rough outline of your character’s torso, arms, hips, and legs. Don’t worry about making the outline precise yet. At this point, you just want to represent the different parts of the body with basic shapes.
- Draw ovals for the upper and lower arms and legs, and then draw a circle at each joint for the knees and elbows. Proportionally, make your character’s upper and lower arms the same length and size. Make their upper legs thicker than their lower legs.
- For the torso, draw a quadrilateral (a 4-sided shape) that’s wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Eventually, the wide corners at the top will become your character’s shoulders.
- To outline the hips, draw an oval over the point where the torso and upper legs meet.
- Anime characters tend to be tall and thin, but you can experiment with different heights and body shapes!
3
Connect and refine the general shapes you drew. Trace around the outer edges of your character’s body so you have one seamless outline. At this point, start refining the different parts of the body so they look more realistic, like your character’s hands, shoulders, hips, and neck. When you’re finished, you’ll have a full, detailed outline of your character’s body around the more abstract outlines you drew before.^{[9]
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- To connect and refine the legs, draw around the outer edges of each shape that makes up the legs (the ovals for the upper and lower legs, the circles for the knees, and the shapes you drew for the feet) so you have one seamless outline of each leg. Make the outline smooth (without any gaps) so the legs look realistic.
- For the upper body, you’d do the same with the arms and torso. Round out the corners of the torso for the shoulders, and draw 2 lines curving up away from the center of the torso for the neck. Also, connect the shape you drew for the hips to the torso and the upper legs.
Tip: If you’re drawing a masculine anime character, broaden the chest, waist, and shoulders. If you’re drawing a female anime character, narrow the shoulders, make the hips wider, and outline the breasts. Also, take the waist in so it’s narrower.
4
Erase the stick-figure outline and shapes you drew. Be careful erasing so you don’t accidentally remove any of the refined, final outlines that you drew. When you’re finished, you should be left with a neat, seamless outline of your character’s body without any of the original guidelines you drew inside of it.^{[10]
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5
Add your anime character’s clothes. Draw the clothes over the outline of your character’s body. For example, for your character’s shirt, draw the sleeves over their arms and the body of the shirt over their torso. Then, erase any lines that are inside of the clothes since those parts of your character’s body are covered up. For example, if your character is wearing shorts, erase the outline of their upper legs that’s inside of the shorts since you wouldn’t be able to see that part of their legs.^{[11]
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- As you’re drawing the clothes, think about where they would naturally crease and fold if someone were actually wearing them. Then, draw the creases and folds to make the clothes look more realistic. You can also look at images of clothes online to see how they crease.
- You can choose any kind of outfit for your anime character. Some conventional anime outfits you might consider include school uniforms, formal dresses and suits, and traditional Japanese attire.
- To improve your drawing skills find a good teacher.
- Do plenty of sketching and read about drawing.^{[12]
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- Make an effort to develop an artist's eye.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I draw the hair so that it looks good?

Community Answer

When drawing hair, remember that hair doesn't always hug the skull. Try to make it look fluffy by having it extend over the sides of the face. Also, don't try to draw every single strand; basic outlines or "clumps" works better. Lastly, consider making the hair appear more dynamic by drawing it blowing slightly to one side.
Question

How do I get the arms/eyes to look symmetrical?

Community Answer

Draw them together, instead of finishing one side before moving to the other. Lightly sketch out all your shapes first to ensure symmetry before getting too far into pieces of your drawing.
Question

How can I improve my anime-drawing skills?

Community Answer

The best way to improve is to keep practicing. You can watch anime to get an idea of how anime characters look. Another way to improve is to draw with friends, so they can give you new tips and techniques.