PUBLISHER NOTES

Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and

may be obtained from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-1-947215-15-3

How to Draw Anime by Joseph Stevenson

text and illustrations copyright 2020
Golden Valley Publishing, LLC.

__ How to Draw, How to Draw by Joseph Stevenson are trademarks of

_ Golden Valley Publishing and the design of this book's jacket is a trade
dress of Golden Valley Publishing. All rights reserved.

Book design by Joseph Stevenson

Cover design by Joseph Stevenson

Published in 2020 by Golden Valley Publishing, LLC.

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

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EYES
The eyes are at the center of
Anime drawing and are
arguably the hardest to
master.

Drawing Anime characters will

require a lot of discipline and
practice.

The eyes are no exception and

require a lot of time to master.

Eyes are what change the look of

your anime character. Often you
can have the hair, mouth and
other features stay the same but
change the eyes and your
character will completely change.

There are multiple styles of eyes ‘

all of which we can't cover in just

one book. We will cover though
some of the more popular ones
and give you the tools you need
to start drawing your own eyes in
no time at all. Let's get you
started!
THREE TYPES OF EYES
In Anime drawings, there are three main styles of eyes.
We will go into the details of each in the following
pages. The eyes styles we are going to cover in this
book are:

Semi-Realistic

Common
SEMI-REALISTIC
We will start with the most common eye type which
iS semi-realistic:
i

atin ie
al

To start, begin with the eyelashes. For basic eyes it

should look like two raindrops pointing at each
other, the largest part of the drop pointing inwards.
They do not have to be identical but should have
similar lengths and heights.

<a. > em

The height and width is a personal preference. As

you practice you can adjust the brows to change
emotions. When you have a shape you are satisfied
with fill inthe eyebrows with your pen or drawing
tool.

You can correct any shape , a

problems here.
 Once you have both eyebrows filled in, you can start
on the eyelids. The eyelids follow the shape of the
eyebrows in the middle but towards the ends they
change direction and curve up.

a ae

_ This shape will give you the

top of the eye, but we
_ need to make it thicker so that we can show the eye
lashes.

Do this by adding in what look like shark fins along

the top of the lines.

Add them to the sides of the eyes as well.

Pro-Tip: Practice makes perfect. Practice

drawing wavy lines focusing on smooth
lines. This will help when drawing eyes.
Now that you have all the fins drawn you can fill in
the lashes and outline of the eye with your pen.

a Pay ily.

If your eyes don't look like the ones above try

making smoother lines with your pen while you fill in
the eyes.

If that still doesn't work, go back and try again.

This portion of the eyes are the hardest. The shape
of the eyes are determined at the beginning and can
be very difficult to master. As you practice drawing
smoother lines in directions you want, your hands
will be able to hold the pen more steadily and your
eyes will begin to look how you want them to.

Continue to practice drawing the eyelids and

eyelashes until you are able to draw them without
looking at the book or other pictures for reference.

You should be able to adjust the size, direction and

overall look of the eyes based on how you want them
shaped in your head vs. what you see from another
drawing in front of you.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
Next draw the bottom of the eyelid. This can be
just a small curved line. It should make the shape of
the eye.
a > aa

ee

Once this is drawn add two half circles which will

make up the pupil. The half circles should be
centered. Now add two smaller circles in the eyes
as shown. These are going to be the reflected light
in the eyes.

ee a,

PA Sac ad _——

Add one "U" shape to the bottom of each eye.

Finish the eyes by filling in the eye all exepct the
small circles for light reflections and the “U" shape
at the bottom of the eyes.

iin. — ). =

et “Seen

Fill in the “U" shapes with grey or if you are using

color any color you would want the eyes to be.

Make sure you don't fill in the second light

reflection but instead color around it.

If you are using a pen which is recommended for

drawing Anime, try using a pencil to lightly color in
the pupil area of the eye.

Practice drawing the eyes from memory, changing

up shapes and adding in your own creativity.

Pro-Tip: Try waiting to draw the second

light circle until you use the pupil color to
avoid a dark line in the “U" shape.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
COMMON
The next type of eye that we will cover is the Common
eye:
ATER ST ~~

_ Common eyes are so named because they essentially

are the most common style of eyes. The steps are
very similar to the semi-realistic eye drawing steps.

There are a few differences between the two that

should be noted:

1. Common eyes don't have all the fins at the top of

_ the eyelashes.

2. Common eyes have thicker bottoms of the eyes vs.

just a line on the semi-realistic eyes.

_ The eyebrows however are drawn the same way.

(ar pager ti at
Keep the eyebrows and upper eyelids uniform to each
other instead of opposite.

RT aS
ae Zw

The eyelashes will generally follow the same rules as

with semi-realistic. On each one though you will still
add one fin on the top of the eye lash, and one to the
side of the eye which will outline the eyeball like
before.
SSS em

Add in the eyeballs last with semi-circles that fill

from the center of the eye.

Pro-Tip: Practice drawing shapes over and

over. This will make drawing the shapes
in eyes much easier and more rote.
 Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.

ee
Mena:
Me
eS
Before moving on, fill in the drawing with your pen
except for the pupil area.

Now draw two circles again for the reflection of

light that will be in the eyes. Add ina “U" shape to
the bottom half of the pupils in the eye.

Finish with filling the pupils dark and the “U" shape
with eye color or just grey.

i
_ When you compare both finished types of eyes you
will see a lot of similarities between them.

Semi-Realistic

ae fe

et

Common

i So” ~

Both have reflections in their pupils, both have “U"

shapes towards the bottom of the pupil, both have
_ lashes, eyebrows and eyelids.

The biggest difference between the two is that

_ semi-realistic eyes have more details in them than
common eyes do. There are more lashes, points,
curves etc.

Now its time to move on to the last eye-type.

Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
CHIBI
The last type of eyes we will cover are called
"Chibi":

Chibi is a type of anime that features large heads

and large eyes.

Usually the characters have smaller bodies so they

look more cartoonish and less realistic.

To draw chibi eyes you will use the same steps but
with a few variations and more rounded shapes.

Pro-Tip: Chibi has a lot less detail than

other anime. Focus on rounded shapes
to make your cute chibi look great!
Like the other eyes, start with the eyebrows. They
will be shaped just like the others as two rain-drops
that are pointed towards each other.

eS aa

Unlike the other eyes however you will start by

drawing two ovals below the brows. Add once circle
for the light reflection and then a “U" shape behind
that circle on the bottom half of the circle. Chibi
eyes have less steps than the other two styles.

— Ce
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
Now fill in the eyes with black and the pupils with
the eye color you would like. You can also use grey
with Chibi.

— iain.

You can end here if you like but adding lashes will
allow you to change the emotion of your chibi much
easier. Add lashes by drawing a swoosh shape above
each eyeball. One end should be pointy with the
other one wider that is on the edge of the eye.

— a

AQ eB)
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
You should now be able to draw three of the most
popular types of anime eyes:

Semi-Realistic

Chibi
Up to this point we have covered eyes looking
Straight. As you learn to change angles of the head
and proportions, the steps for drawing the eyes will
remain the same.

The shapes however will change to match the

direction the eyes are looking. Here are some
examples. .
 ——
Looking to the Side

0
The steps are the same, but to have your character
look to the left, make one eye smaller and more
narrow than the other.

Do the opposite if you want your eyes to look the

other way. To make the eyes look further in one
direction, exagerate the sizes and changes you
make.

Pro-Tip: Use pictures or other drawings

to find examples of the size changes to
eyes as directions change.
 Looking Up

Pp >.
4
_ Instead of having vertical shaped eyes changing
width which will change the direction of the eyes
from side to side, lets try having the eyes look up.

To do this instead of making them not as wide you

make the eyes not as tall.

Notice though that all of the shapes in the eye have

to be adjusted. The light shape, the "U" shape, and
the pupil itself all have to be changed to be more of
an oval shape in order to make it look like the head
is looking up.

You can actually use the exact same eyes to have

your chibi character look down.

Use the same principles to determine what direc-

tion your character is looking.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
CONCLUSION
Eyes are again one of the harder parts of the body
to draw in anime. From the details in the eyes
themselves to the shape of the eyes or direction
they are looking, mastering eyes will take a lot of
practice.

As you go through the rest of this book, make sure

you come back and occasionally practice
drawing the eyes.

You will notice that

as you master
drawing the eyes
you will get
better at
drawing other
areas as well.

Don't get
discouraged
as you continue
to learn to
draw anime.
Most artists
take years to
master their
drawings.
 HEADS
In anime drawing, heads are the main shape that
contain the rest of the detail of the face. Most
heads are the shape of an oval or circle, depending
on the height of the character.

OOO
OOO
Heads should be drawn first before the eyes, hair,
mouth or nose.

At first look these heads look basically the same,

but with a closer look you can see differences
between each of them. The small changes are what
make characters look differenct from each other.
HEAD TYPES
The main changes in a head are the height between
different types. There are two major types.

Elongated Rounded

By making a head elongated it will give your

character the appearance of being skinny and tall or
both.

A rounded head makes a good style for short

characters or children. You can also adjust the
heights for women vs. men.

Pro-Tip: Changing the size of the ears

can also increase the percieved height and
width of the head.
Regardless of the head type you draw, always start
with drawing a cross before anything else.

As you can see below, weather you are drawing a

rounded or elongated head, a cross will help you find
the center of the head.

The cross also marks important features on the

face that will have to be drawn later.

The cross marks the top of the ears, bottom of the

eyebrows, and top of the eyeballs.

The vertical line will also mark the center of the

nose and middle of the chin.
After you have drawn your cross, you'll then want to
decide what type of head you will draw.

Once you know the size you want, draw lines where
the top of the head is and the chin. Additionally
draw lines where the side of the head will go.

Make sure the side lines are the head, and not
where the ears will go.

By drawing the lines first you can have a guide to

connect the entire circle or oval of the head
together.

Last of all connect the lines together to form your

head.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
CHIN TYPES
For now your heads probably look like circles or
ovals. This is normal since we haven't made any
changes to the chins.

The chins will change the head type to be a more

rounded or pointed head. you can have a rounded
head with a pointed chin or rounded chin. The same
goes for an elongated head.

Pointed Chin Rounded Chin

/ ae
Changing the face type is as easy as changing the
chin. You can experiment by using different chins on
different head styles.

Try a pointed chin on a rounded head to get a

different look than a rounded chin on a rounded
head.
| Practice drawing chins on each of the heads below.
Start by drawing a line where you want the chin.

Next connect the sides of the face to the chin line

you have drawn.

Do different chin types from rounded to elongated

and everything inbetween. Each head should look a
little different.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
EARS
The last part of the head that can change is the
ears. Ears generally have two variations as well with
many options between those variations.

Bigger on the Bottom Bigger on the Top

CL ne y,
Ears have usually a more rounded part on the top or
bottom of the ear.

On the left head you'll see a rounded bottom and on

the right you'll see a rounded top.

Some ears can also be rounded in the middle. You

can change the location of the rounded part based
on your liking. There is no specific ear for a specific
head type. Some anime drawings have no rounded
part.
 Practice drawing ears on the different head types
below. If it helps you can draw a cross on the heads
first to determine where the ears should go on the
heads.

OOP
GOOG
The top of the ears should go just below the
bottom of the cross part of the “t".

You can move the ears anywhere you want

but the
correct position to line up properly with
eyes etc. is
below the cross.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
CONCLUSION
The head is the main canvas that you will be working
on throughout this book on drawing anime. A
properly drawn head will make adding details like
eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair much easier.

Go back and continue to practice

drawing different head
shapes to get better

if
at it.
a \
Make sure to
draw all head
types while
using different
ears and chins
on your
| |
characters.

As you continue
to practice
you'll find it
becoming easier
and easier .
to get the
results you Mh \ |
desire. | |
MOUTHS
There are too many types of mouths to list themall. |

0)
Here are just a few.
 Mouths in anime are meant to be more of a
secondary feature vs. something like the eyes which
are primary.

Watch how we can change the complete expression

_ of a character just by changing the eyes, but do
| nothing with the mouth.

Angry Worried

At first glance before reading you may not have

noticed the mouths didn't change at all. At a closer
look though you'll see that the mouths are identical
along with the hair and face but the eyes make the
character completely change emotions and therfore
the whole face looks different.
Since we know that the mouth shape is meant to
support the expression of the eyes, we need to
determine the shape based on how your character is
feeling.

Before we do that however we have to find the

right place to put the mouth on your character. You
can do that with a couple of steps.

From the drawings above you'll see that the mouth

should be just below the center of a cross. It+
should also be centered on the vertical line. Draw
the cross mid-way between the bottom of the eyes
and the chin. The vertical line should be centered in
the middle of the head.
|_ Practice drawing mouths below. Don't worry about
_ the shape but instead the correct placement.
|
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
 _ Now let's talk about mouth types. There are three
main mouth types in anime:

Line Only

Open Dark

| Open Light
LINE-ONLY
Line-only mouths are the most basic to draw. No
matter the shape the mouth is one line.

Practice drawing line-only mouths below. Use a

variation of sad, happy, mad etc.
|
|

—
ae
etme

ESSA
oe
ICRI
EEE
NSE
LIRR
ANN
ite
ARED
he
_ Practice makes perfect. Draw Line-Only mouths
__ in the faces below:
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
 OPEN-LIGHT
This type of mouth requires two lines. Use open
light for laughing, talking, joy etc. To draw the open
mouth start with the one-line approach but for
either the top or bottom lip, then add a second line
for the opposite lip.

Open light is the most difficult to draw because you

have to account for the top and bottom lips.

You also can't easily hide mistakes with this type of

mouth so your lines need to be as precise as
possible. The mouth is somewhat easy to draw when
~ you get the handle on it, remember to keep it simple
since the mouth isn't one of the main features.

Pro-Tip: When drawing any mouth, look

in the mirror and change your expression,
then use that expression in your drawing.
Practice makes perfect. Draw Open-Light mouths
in the faces below:
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
OPEN-DARK
This style is the same as open-light but with the
mouth filled in with pen. Use this for talking,
laughing, surprise, etc.

When you draw open-dark, start with and open light

mouth and then fill in the area. Usually open dark is
used for emotions like sadness, anger, bad
surprises and more.

As you compare the same mouth shapes for

open-light and open dark, imagine the differences in

lols)
emotion that would work for each style.
I Practice makes perfect. Draw Open-Dark mouths
_ In the faces below:

Bee
eles
eye
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
CONCLUSION
The mouth is a part of the head that adds just a
little expression to the entire face. Use the mouth
to show the emotion of the face but mainly to
support the emotion already being
shown by the eyes.

As you practice
drawing mouths
focus on making
them fit in
— the correct
areas so
that your
anime
character
will look
realistic and
well done.

Like all anime

drawing, the
mouth takes a
lot of practice
while learning to
_ draw. Keep
practicing and
your skills will
- continue to grow.
GIRLS HAIR

aTnO u&
There are many different hair styles for anime
girls. Teaching them all wouldn't be possible.

Hair is arguably the hardest part of the head to

draw in an anime character. This is due to the detail
required and importance of symmetry with the head
shape and other features.

We'll cover the basics of drawing hair on anime girl

characters in this section. The goal is not to show
specific hair styles, but instead principles that will
allow you to draw many styles.
Hair generally follows the contour of the face.
Start with drawing a line that will be the edge of
the hair around the head with a small space. This
should be the outside of the hair.

Then anywhere you want the hair to have more

volume add ina little more space like at the bottom
of the hair where the hair will reach to touch the
shoulders.

Pro-Tip: Hair is about flow and detail.

Practice your strokes over and over to get
better at drawing smooth hair.
Once you have the outline of your hair, you can add
detail. In most cases you can draw the detail of the
hair on just half of the head. Once it looks how you
like you can just copy or fold the paper in half and
trace it on the other side of the head.

In this sketch you'll notice we've only completed

half the hair. When we finish details we can draw
the same mirrored hair on the other side of the
head. This helps us to make sure we like the look
before we draw the entire head of hair.
As demonstrated below, a mirror of the hair on the
other side of the head will make your drawing
complete.

There aren't any variations but in anime drawing

most of the time the hair should be mirrored.

In the next pages we will cover how to do the

details of the hair. You can either do the full head
or just half. Practicing with just half will help you
start drawing mirrored hair styles on your
characters.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
HAIR DETAILS
To draw the details in the hair, first start with
shapes. Keep the shapes light so you can erase or
draw over them.

Most hair styles have basic shapes in them to form

the general look of the hair.

As demonstrated below look at the different

shapes that outline the hair styles from the
beginning of this section. Most shapes are basic
ones including circles, rectangles, triangles, etc.
AOA
Practice drawing shapes over the hair styles below.
There is no right or wrong way to do this.

7 OA
The main point of this exercise is to help you learn
to spot shapes in hair styles.

As you move on you will draw the shapes first, but

identifying them will give you ideas in your own hair
styles.

If you get lost go back a page for ideas.

Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
HAIR DETAILS
Let's start with one of the more simple hair styles.
With this style it's just a few basic shapes to
create a basic but great looking style. The style you
see below has a few shapes that make it up.

This is the finished look based on the shapes being

filled in with details of the hair.

You may recall from the previous page that this hair
style has mostly rectangles, one half circle on the
top of the head and a couple of triangles where the
hair drapes over the forehead.
Most hair styles use clean straight or curved lines
throughout the head.

When drawing a hair style, draw the outline of the

hair first, then add shapes throughout the outline.

AI

Fill in details of the hair within the shapes. Make

sure your shapes are drawn lightly so they can be
erased later.

Connect any lines to finish the hair style up. Above

is the hair style we have been working on with just
the basic lines. )
Practice using the head below to draw a hair Style.
Use the following steps:

1. Draw an outline of the hair around the head.

2. Draw shapes inside the outline where you want

the details to go.

3. Draw lines inside the shapes that will represent

the direction the hair will flow.

4. Last finish by connecting the lines and erasing

any trace of the shapes.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned sofar.
 Acaecy
Using the examples below, practice drawing your
| own heads and hair.

ae
CONCLUSION
Drawing hair is by far one of the more difficult
anime characteristics to master. As with all drawing
the only way to get better at it, is to practice.

As you get
better at
drawing
hair, try
using
different
hair styles
you find
to experiment
and try on your
own.

The styles you have

learned so far are
for the drawing
steps only in
anime
hair for girls.

There are additional steps like shading and

color that will be covered in another book.

For now practice the basics!

BOYS HAIR
Boys hair styles are just as varying and difficult to
draw as girls styles. As you can see below there are
just as many options.

OO
Ow SG
Additionally there is actually an added level of
complexity when drawing boys hair.

This is because of ears and chins being more visible

on boys than girls.

If the symmetry is not correct on the hair, the

face will look wrong.
Hair generally follows the contour of the face just
the same as for girls. There are a couple of
differences to consider.

For boys the hair doesn't drop usually all the way to
the shoulders. Instead the outline should stop
about mid-way down the sides of the head.

This is also where you start the ears.

Pro-Tip: Boys hair although more difficult

Boys hair also uses shapes to determine the outline
of the hair. The easy part though is that boys hair
uses mainly one shape.

MAAC
AAR
As you can see from the above heads, the main
shape is a half moon shape on it's side. This general
shape will be the base that you will work off of
when drawing boys hair.

There will be some variations but this shape should

give the main size of the boys hair.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
After you draw the half moon shape you can add
more details to the hair. If you look at the main
shapes of a boys hair is there anything you notice?

You probably notice that all the hair chunks point

down. If you look closer they also look like a bunch
of shark fins, or knife blades. Imagine drawing
those as you practice drawing hair.

Pro-Tip: Drawing hair does not have to be

hard. Move your pen back and forth in the
same area and you'll find it's actually easy.
Practice drawing hair on the figure below by using
the following steps:

1. Draw an outline of the hair to half way down the

side of the head.

2. Draw a half moon shape along the outline and

through the forehead.

3. Draw the shapes of fins or knife blades pointing

down from the half-moon shape on the head.

4. Erase any extra lines in your hair that do not go

along with the details that should be there.
Practice Makes Perfect! Use the page
below to practice drawing what you have
learned so far.
Practice on your own drawing the heads below. Try
switching features up to get better at creating your
own.
CONCLUSION
Like drawing girls hair, boys hair takes practice and
patience as you learn how to do it correctly. There
are some tricks that will help you get better at it
that we have added to this chapter. In the end
however nothing
will help you more
than practice.

Use real-life
examples
or even
people you
know as
models
while learning
to draw hair
onboth boys
and girls.

As you
continue
to practice
drawing
hair and other
features, your
anime
characters will begin to look amazing!
lse this page to practice what you have learned. |
Use this page to practice what you've learned.
Use this page to practice what you've learned.
Use this page to practice what youve learne
d.
Use this page to practice what youve lea
rned.
Use this page to practice what you've lea
rned.
| '\
Use this page to practice what you have learned. |
Use this page to practice what you've le
arned.
Use this page to practice what you've learned.
 HOVVARO RAY
ANIRIE
Learn to Draw ANIME with Joseph
Stevenson in this comprehensive
suide suitable for all ages.

Joseph takes you along a journey

learning to draw anime in a simple
beginner format.

See more from Joseph online at

josephstevenson.com

TT

Hil
i 1555¢

OUT
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‘——
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