Q&A for How to Draw Anime or Manga Faces

Look at pictures of real faces, and try to have a set point from which the lighting is coming from.

Think of something unique. Maybe try mixing some names together or incorporate a physical attribute of your character into the name.

First, find a picture of a person for a reference to help with the skin shades. Have a skin palette or set of colors on hand to color the face in with. Eyes are extremely dependant on the style, but again, a reference or color palette may help in this situation. For the hair, decide on what basic color you want, and then fill it in as best as you can. Remember to make the shades either darker or lighter, depending on the light direction.

When you are bringing the chin down don't make it too pointy or too soft and make the cheekbones sharp and the lips thinner instead of thick

First determine the size of your character's lips. The Cupid's bow is less intense for a male character than it is for a female character. Try not to extend the lips past where the outer part of the eye reaches. When it comes to manga, you should draw thinner lips than normal.

Draw the base of the face then draw the facial features then copy the picture but change up the outfit or the colors.

It depends on what size or type of head you're drawing. Drawing a circle for manga/anime helps to measure the length and width of the top part of the head. So drawing it unevenly can make the balance of the upper face confusing. A perfect circle is probably best.

Draw one eye. Fold the paper vertically into 2 halves, and trace the eye you drew on the opposite half of the paper.

Try copic pens; you can buy them in art stores. Normal art pens/pencils will work, but copic pens are the best, which is why they cost more.

You can use Photoshop or Paint.net. Any program you can draw on works. The process will be a little different, just experiment and see how it turns out.

Anime is the art and manga is the Japanese version of graphic novels, which are read from right to left.

That depends on your type of drawing that you want. Shojo manga and anime often have exaggerated facial features, so the eyes will be pretty big. However, if you are doing shonen, they will be a normal size.

There are a couple of articles that might help you: Draw Anime Hair and Draw Manga Hair .

I think for the hair, shade a lighter color for the tips (ends) of the hair. I think for the clothes, shade under the arms, near the neck, and the bottom of the shirt/dress.

You lightly shade the face with the colour you want, then colour in darker on the sides and near the hair (it acts as a shadow). You might need to buy good quality pencils to work but any pencils would work.

You can try using Google Translate, or ask someone who knows Japanese.

Draw the white circles in the eyes and do not color them in. These white splashes serve as "reflections" of light in the eyes that make them look glossy.

Add cute accessories, like bows and hair clips. (This only works for a girl.) You also might want to try lighter, happier colors like pink, yellow, and even light blue. Incorporate these into your drawing to make it look not only cuter, but happier too.

Of course you can! You can use any drawing materials you have and like, pencils, markers, paint, whatever!

You might want to try balancing out the shading by making the shading darker in the places that are shaded.

You can draw on whatever paper you like. Some people like using notebook paper for a variety of reasons, and it is especially great for beginners because it provides lines you can use as guides, and is cheap. The main drawbacks are that you cannot erase those lines for a completely white background later, although there are digital tricks to remove them if you scan the image; and notebook paper is often quite thin and might tear more easily if you use a sharp pen, erase too often, or use a wet medium like watercolor or marker. Just keep these things in mind when deciding how to proceed with your drawing.

There are different types and sizes, just practice and practice.

Try to copy other people's manga heads or look for other articles online.

The face usually starts out as a circle and then you draw the chin by narrowing the bottom of the circle a bit.

It's almost like drawing an emoji toothy smile. Draw a curve first, almost like a semi-circle. Then on the top, draw another curve like a horizontal bracket. To draw the teeth on an open mouth smile with the teeth showing, you draw the semi-circle-curve then the horizontal-bracket-curve, then for the teeth just draw the "closing" partner to the top lip curve (a.k.a the horizontal-bracket-curve), then shade the sides of your teeth closer to the corners of your smile, leaving it completely white in the middle. Don't forget to add a smaller semi-circle-curve for your tongue! For a completely toothy grin, do two "open and closed" horizontal-bracket-curves. Then shade the teeth the way I said.

Experiment with different lines and curves until you find the weight/body shape you desire. It's your drawing, make it unique!

First, you have to choose which side you want the light to be coming from. Then, add a small circle at the top of the eye on the side where the light is hitting, and shade the bottom of the eye.

You can draw the hair any way you like, just don't make it too different and/or too bizarre.

You can make it as big or as little as you would like to, depending on the desired effect you are hoping to obtain.

Try to look at the most important lines and choose which ones are easiest to work with. I would recommend lines to locate the middle of the face, eyes ,and ears.