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How To Draw Anime Faces: Guides To Drawing Anime Boy & Girl Faces [Video & Step-by-Step Illustrations]
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Time to learn how to draw an anime face!​​

Anime faces are easy to recognize: their main characteristic are those big, expressive eyes with a reflective gleam that take up one-third of the face (if not more).

But it’s not just the eyes that make drawing anime faces unique.

In this beginner-friendly guide, BioWar’s lead comic book artist Gonçalo Lopes will show you how to draw anime faces with guides for drawing both girls and boys.

Now let’s explore what makes this drawing style so unique step-by-step!

Key Characteristics Of Anime Face Drawings

When learning how to draw anime faces, focus on these distinct characteristics:

  • Oversized eyes
  • Small nose
  • Tiny mouth
  • Pointy chin
  • Often wild, vividly colored hair
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The Tools You’ll Need For Anime Face Drawings

To learn how to draw anime faces, the right tools can make your job a lot easier.

We recommend:

  • An H pencil: This type of pencil leaves a light trace on paper, so it’s perfect when you’re learning how to draw and create basic outlines. The light trace is easy to erase, so you can easily fix any mistakes. the trace, the easier it is to erase mistakes and unnecessary details. Example: Staedtler’s Mars Lumograph H pencil.
  • An HB pencil: We recommend using this pencil to softly shade your drawing and make the lines more prominent. Example: Staedtler’s Mars Lumograph HB pencil.
  • A kneaded eraser: This type of eraser is soft, so you can change its shape and erase unwanted bits without messing up the rest of your drawing. easily erase even ear easy to stretch so you can tweak its shape as needed; as such, it’s perfect not just to remove mistakes but also to highlight parts of your mouth sketch. Example: Faber Castell’s kneaded eraser.
  • Lightly textured sketch paper: The reason we suggest you get this kind of paper is because of its smooth surface, which means that your drawing experience is guaranteed to be pleasant! Example: Moleskine’s Art Sketchbook.

If you already have a pencil you enjoy using, by all means, stick with it as you learn how to draw anime faces.

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How To Draw Anime Girl’s Face In 15 Steps

To show you how to draw an anime girl’s face, we’re going to take you through 15 steps, starting with the basics.

Step 1. Draw The Head Base

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

The first step to drawing an anime girl’s face is to sketch a circle, like this:

Illustration of a circle. Image used in the “How To Draw Anime Faces” blog post.​
Let’s kick things off with a simple circle!​

We’re going to use the basic shapes, including the circle and the square, to simplify the process of drawing anime faces.

A lot of beginners struggle with the proportions and find it challenging to get them right, so using basic shapes helps make the drawing process a lot easier!

Make sure not to apply too much pressure on your pencil at this stage because these are just the outlines that you’ll erase when you’re done drawing.

Step 2. Add The Guidelines For The Eyes

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Anime eyes are oversized and they take up the majority of a character’s face.

They are exaggerated on purpose because anime artists use them to reflect characters’ emotions and their personalities!

If you’re a beginner, you may find it difficult to decide just how big the eyes should be.

That’s why the best thing to do is make guidelines for the eyes.

Draw a vertical line that splits the circle in half.

Then, add a horizontal line that also goes through the circle’s middle. This line marks the position where the upper eyelids should be.

The lower eyelids have to be placed low, near the circle’s bottom, like so:

Illustration of a circle with the guidelines for the eyes.​
Guidelines make drawing the eyes easier!​

As you can see, we also added another horizontal line slightly above the area where the upper eyelids will be. That’s where we’ll draw the eyebrows later on!

If you wish to learn how to draw realistic eyes non-anime style, check out our step-by-step guide on drawing eyes!

Step 3. Position The Chin And The Neck

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Anime characters have sharply-structured, pointy chins, which makes them easy to draw.

Start by sketching one short straight line on either side of the anime girl’s face.

Make sure to angle the lines slightly toward the center of the face. The lower end of these two lines is where the cheeks will be.

Then, connect these two lines with the vertical line to form the jaw and the chin:

Illustration of a chin and the neck.​
Anime characters have sharp jaws and pointy chins!​

As for the neck, you can draw it using two straight, simple lines which are connected to the jaw. Position these lines towards the centers of the jaw to make the neck thin and elegant.

Step 4. Draw The Jaw

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Although anime girl characters tend to have sharp jawlines, their features are softer than the boy’s. Keep this in mind as you draw anime faces.

Apply more pressure to your H pencil and go over the jawline and the chin, making them ever slightly rounder, like this:

Illustration of a jaw and the jawline.​
Anime girl characters have slightly softer facial features than the boys!

Step 5. Shade The Neck

Recommended pencils: an H and an HB pencil

Hold onto your H pencil and go over the neck outline to make the lines darker.

Then, pick up an HB pencil and shade the area under the chin, like this:

Enhanced lines of the neck and the chin.
Shade the area below the chin!​

This will give your anime girl’s face some dimension. See how the drawing is beginning to take shape?

Step 6. Draw The Ears

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Now’s the time to start adding some features to your anime face drawing.

First, let’s illustrate the ears.

They should be placed low, along the jawline. To find the ideal positioning, mark two faint lines first: one at the intersection of the circle and the cheek lines, and another slightly above the jaw angle.

Use these marks to draw simple C-shapes on either side of the face and add just one short line inside the ear to make it look like the ear has a rim, like this:

 Ear outline with the helix added.
Time to add the ears!​

Step 7. Draw The Eyelids

Recommended pencils: an H and an HB pencils

Now, let’s draw the eyelids using an H pencil.

Use the central (middle) line as the limit to the upper lid arch and the lower guideline as the limit for the lower lid.

Position both lids in the center of their respective face portions (so to speak), if not slightly closer to the ears than to the center of the face.

The lower eyelids look like short, slightly curved lines.

The upper eyelids resemble half circles, with the outer corners placed slightly lower than the inner corners:

Eyelids added to the face outline.
Let’s start sketching the eyes!​

Now, pick up your HB pencil, and make the upper eyelids dark and thick.

Then, add tiny eyelashes around the outer end of the eyes.

Step 8. Finish Drawing The Eyes

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Anime characters may have different types of eyes, but the most common shape is this:

Eye sketches with light reflections on both eyes.
The eyes are the most prominent feature on an anime character’s face! ​

Draw large, oval shapes for irises and large, oval pupils.

Oh, and make sure to leave room for the light reflection in both eyes!

By the way, we recently shared a guide on drawing realistic eyes, so, make sure to check it out!

Step 9. Add The Eyebrows

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

We drew a horizontal line for the eyebrows earlier, remember?

Let’s sketch some arched eyebrows making sure their top doesn’t go over the upper guideline. The eyebrow shape should pretty much mimic the shape of the upper lid like so:

Eyebrows drawn on the anime girl's face.
Sketch simple eyebrows! ​

Step 10. Draw The Mouth

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Lips may be the easiest feature to tackle when drawing anime faces.

Gonçalo drew the lips as a tiny, thin, slightly curved line so the girl character looks as if she has a soft smile on her face.

You should position the lips approximately halfway between the chin and the circle.

As for their width, make them as wide as the space between the lower eyelids:

The mouth added to the illustration of the anime girl's face.
A soft smile makes the face all the cuter! ​

For more details on how to draw lips realistically, read this guide on how to draw a mouth!

Step 11. Draw The Nose

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

How cute are anime noses?!

They’re usually very small and slightly pointy.

Draw the nose slightly below the lower guideline in the circle and right above the bottom of the circle:

Anime girl's nose drawn as small and pointy.
Anime noses are super small!

In most cases, anime noses don’t have nostrils, which makes them super easy to draw.

In case you’re interested in mastering the skill of drawing a nose in non-anime style in five steps, we got you covered!

Step 12. Add The Lines Under The Eyes

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Sometimes, anime characters have lines under their eyes that may look like fine lines, but that’s now what they are.

Instead, these lines further highlight the character’s emotions!

Since we’re drawing a cute, happy anime girl character, we’re going to add two tiny lines below each eye, like this:

Illustration of the lines under the eyes highlight the anime girl's emotions.​
How sweet does this anime girl’s face already look?!​

Step 13. Start Sketching The Hair

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Anime character’s hair differs from one character to the next.

Some have pink hair; others rock green or black hairstyles.

You can go crazy with how you’re going to style your character’s hair. The only thing that matters is that the hair reflects her personality!

We’re going to start by drawing a short bob:

The upper part of the hair from top to chin.
Hair is the extension of the character’s personality!​

Step 14. Finish Drawing The Hair

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Since we’re drawing a sweet and young anime girl, we think that she would like to wear low pigtails, don’t you agree?

Oh, and the bangs are a must for this cutie!

Finished illustration of low pigtails.
Low pigtails look super cute!​

Step 15. Erase The Guidelines

Recommended tool: a kneaded eraser

Congrats, you just finished drawing an anime girl’s face!

All that’s left to do now is get rid of the guidelines so that the finished drawing looks like this:

Finished drawing of the anime girl face.​
That’s a wrap on drawing the anime girl’s face!​

If you wish to learn how to illustrate realistic faces, follow this guide!

How To Draw Anime Boy’s Face In 14 Steps

Now, it’s time we showed you how to draw an anime boy’s face!

Step 1. Start With The Base

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

As you could see, the easiest way to draw anime faces is to start from the basic shapes.

So, let’s draw a circle first, shall we?

Illustration of a circle.​
Always start by drawing a circle!

Step 2. Add The Guidelines

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Now, let’s add the guidelines for the eyes and the eyebrows.

First, draw a vertical line to split the circle into halves.

Then, add a horizontal line through the middle to mark where the upper eyelids will be.

Add one more vertical line slightly above the one in the middle — this is where you’ll draw the eyebrows in a few steps.

And lastly, you need one more vertical line toward the bottom of the circle:

Guidelines added to facilitate the process of drawing anime faces.
The guidelines facilitate the process of drawing anime faces!

Step 3. Position The Chin And The Neck

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Let’s draw the chin now.

Use straight, thin lines to form a sharp jawline and a pointy chin, like so:

Outline of the chin and the jaw.​
It’s time to outline the jaw and the chin!​

Step 4. Draw The Jaw

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

When drawing anime faces, remember that boys’ faces have sharper features than girls’.

That’s why their jawline should have prominent jawlines, like this:

Illustration of the jaw.​
Anime boy faces have sharp jawlines! ​

Step 5. Draw The Neck

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

The boys’ necks are usually wider than the girls’, so make sure the difference shows on your drawings!

Illustration of the neck and the jaw.​
Time to add the neck to your character! ​

Step 6. Sketch The Ears

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Next up, draw the ears.

The top of the ears should reach the horizontal line that goes through the circle’s middle and the earlobe should be in line with the bottom of the circle.

Now that you have the two marks, simply connect them by drawing two C-lines:

Illustration of the ears, the neck and the jaw.​
Let’s give ears to this fella! ​

Step 7. Draw The Eyelids

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Anime boy faces can also have a variety of different eye styles, but we want this boy’s face to be as cute as the girl’s face we drew earlier.

So, let’s draw curved lines for the upper eyelids making sure their top touches the horizontal guideline.

This time around, we won’t add the pretty eyelashes since they don’t have to be so obvious on a boy’s face.

Then, draw the lower eyelids along the bottom horizontal line:

Illustration of the eyelids added to the anime character's face.​
This boy’s face is slowly starting to take shape!​

Step 8. Draw The Eyes

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Now, let’s sketch soft eyes, like the ones on the girl’s character.

As you could see, drawing the big, anime eyes is quite easy since the irises and pupils are oval.

Just don’t forget about the light reflection in the eye corners!

Illustration of the eyes with light reflections added to them.​
Big eyes add a particular charm to anime characters!​

Step 9. Draw The Eyebrows

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Boys usually have thicker eyebrows than the girls, so we gave this fella some eye-catching eyebrows:

Thick eyebrows added to the anime boy's face.​
Thick eyebrows make complement the sharp features of the anime boy’s face.​

Step 10. Draw The Lips

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

To draw the lips, go for a line that slightly curves upwards on one end.

That way your character will appear as if he were smirking!

Place the mouth along the circle’s bottom end and make them as wide as the space between the lower eyelids:

The anime boy's mouth slightly curves upwards on one end.
Let’s add more features to this anime boy’s face!​

Step 11. Draw The Nose

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Anime boy characters usually have small, pointed noses, like girls:

The nose added to the anime boy's face.
Here’s the nose!

Again, you don’t have to draw the nostrils.

A tiny nose right under the lower horizontal line in the circle is perfect!

Step 12. Start Drawing The Hair

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

We don’t want to go too wild with the hairstyles.

We want to keep our character’s hair tame, so we’re going to give him a typical boy haircut:

Sketch of the hair outline.​
Start outlining the hair! ​

You should feel free to experiment with different hairstyles if you like, but if you’re a beginner, keep things as simple as possible until you loosen up your arm and feel more comfortable drawing anime faces.

Step 13. Finish Drawing The Hair

Recommended pencil: an H pencil

Let’s finish drawing the hair.

We wanted to go for a messy look, so we drew the hair with lots of spikes:

Finished illustration of the hair.​
What a cute hairstyle, isn’t it?! ​

You don’t have to color the hair, because what matters is that you practice drawing the hair outline. You can experiment with different colors later on!

Step 14. Erase The Guidelines

Recommended tool: a kneaded eraser

Congratulations, you just finished drawing an anime boy’s face!

That wasn’t so hard now, was it?

Now, get your eraser and get rid of the guidelines and any superfluous details:

Finished anime boy face sketch.​
Your anime boy face is finished!​

Takeaways On How To Draw Anime Faces

To draw an anime face, all you need are:

  • An H pencil
  • An eraser
  • A piece of textured paper

You can also use an HB pencil to make your illustration more eye-catching and gently shade it to add more depth to it.

Whether you’re drawing an anime boy or an anime girl face, in both cases you should start by illustrating a circle first and then add the guidelines that will help you position the face elements.

Then, draw the eyes, the ears, the eyebrows, and the rest of your character’s face.

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