How to Draw an Anime Girl

• Craft bigger-than-normal eyes and keep the mouth a little smaller than a more realistic style.
• Get creative for the anime girl's hair and clothing. You have a lot of freedom for this part as long as you nail the facial features.
• Try using a drawing template or copying an outline and then putting your own spin on it!

Head and Face

Draw a circle and add a vertical centerline. Use pencil to make it easier to erase your mistakes and guide lines when you’re done. Anime characters tend to have very round heads, so start with a clean circle to work off of. Then, draw a straight centerline running through the center of the circle. The centerline will help you build the other features of the girl’s face. Keep all of your guide lines extremely light so that you can easily erase them when you’re done. Struggling to draw a neat circle? Try dragging your wrist in a fast circle and sketch out a bunch of lighter shapes. Then, erase anything that doesn’t fit your perfect circle!

Draw a horizontal midline. Add a straight, horizontal line through the middle of the circle. This will serve as guide for the other features you’re going to develop going forward. Like the vertical line you drew, keep the horizontal midline very light so that you can erase it in the future.

Build out the chin. Then, develop the chin by adding jawbones leading down from the sides of your circle. Craft a rounder chin for a more youthful look, or a sharper chin with a pointed jaw for a more mature vibe. The sharper and more angular you make the chin, the older the woman will look. For good examples of this, look at the difference between Mako and Satsuki from Kill la Kill, or Lady Eboshi and San in Princess Mononoke.

Add 2 ears and use them for an additional horizontal guide line. Place the top of each ear just below the spot where the horizontal center line meets the edge of the circle. Make the upper half of each ear a little larger than the lobes. The ears should end on the same horizontal plane as the bottom of the circle (not the chin). Then, draw another horizontal guide line running through the middle of the ears. You may ultimately cover the ears with a big hairstyle, but the ears will still help you craft a symmetrical face.

Craft 2 large eyes in between your 2 horizontal midlines. The eyes should sit in between the two horizontal guide lines you’ve drawn. For a simple style, draw two large, round eye outlines. Add a large iris inside of each eye. Then, draw two smaller circles inside of each eye to show light reflecting. Anime eyes should be big. The smaller and narrower you make your eyes, the less anime-esque it will look. The gap between the two eyes should be equivalent to the size of one of the eyes. If you’re struggling to draw eyes, try drawing an anime girl with closed eyes! Just draw two upper eyelash and it will look like the eyes are closed.

Add a small mouth between the chin and bottom of the circle. Add a thin, narrow mouth in the middle of the vertical centerline. Aim to place the mouth roughly halfway between the bottom of the first circle you drew and the chin. You can arc the edges of the mouth upward for a brighter, happier vibe, or aim the edges downward for a more surly or angry look. Anime eyes should be big and the lips should small. This is a good rule of thumb if you want to draw any anime characters!

Add some expressive eyebrows and build out the eyelashes. You have a ton of freedom when it comes to the eyebrows; make them round and smooth for a welcoming expression, or angle them inwards to the nose for an angrier look. Adjust the thickness and angle based on your preferences. It’s 100% okay to just have a thin line as your eyebrow. Alternatively, you can add a thicker, bushier eyebrow for a more stylized look. Add a thick upper eyelash with a few cattail-style flourishes for a more mature, seductive look. Speaking of noses, you may have noticed your drawing doesn’t have one! Most anime characters don’t have a nose, or they have a tiny little notch. Feel free to add one if you’d like.

Build out the hair starting from the center part. There are plenty of ways to draw anime hair, and you can make it as big and complex or small and simple as you’d like. For female characters, work your way out from the vertical centerline and use round, triangular shapes to build the hair out. You can keep it very simple if you want a more youthful look. A simple bowl cut or short hair with bangs requires very few lines. The more “outward” you draw the hair (picture Goku’s hair from Dragonball Z), the less realistic the hair will look.

Erase all of your guiding lines and flesh out the details. Soften up any harsh lines you’ve drawn or fill out any thin lines you’d like to accent. Add small pieces of hair, or expression-lines on the cheeks, forehead, or chin. Then, erase any line that you don’t want to remain and you’re done! You can ink the drawing when you’re done if you want a more TV-anime style, or leave the pencil as it is for a manga vibe.

Full Body

Mark off the full height of the body (about 8 full heads). The total length of the body should be equivalent to 8 times the length of the head you’ve drawn. Use some light pencil marks to indicate the dimensions of the body. Grid paper (or drawing a grid out) based on the size of the head you’ve drawn can really make this a lot easier. You can make the body 5-7 heads in length if you want a more cartoonish look.

Add an hourglass-shaped torso and waistline. Draw a small neck leading down from the base of the chin. Then, soften up the shoulders with round lines that lead up to the neck. Draw lines leading from the edges of each shoulder down towards an imagined set of hips and then fan them out until you reach the belt-line. This should look a bit like a bulky hourglass, or the outline of an “8” with a more defined top and bottom.

Sketch the shape of the arms and legs using single lines. Starting at the exterior edge of each shoulder, draw 2 lines leading away from your character’s torso to make the outer edge of the arms. At the exterior edge of each hip, draw 2 lines leading down for your character’s hips to make the legs. To keep your drawing from looking like a stick figure, put a little inward bend in the middle of the legs to give your character dynamic knees. You can angle the arms and legs in whatever direction you’d like. You could even bend one of the elbows up to have your drawing make a peace sign for a super iconic look!

Fill out the shape of the legs and arms. Develop your character’s arms by adding a bottom line for each arm (keep the upper portion thicker than the lower portion of each arm). Build out the legs by adding thicker thighs and thinner calves (keep it tight at the knee). Don’t use perfectly straight lines here. Arms and legs tend to be slightly round. Each section of the limbs should have a little roundness to it, but be careful not to overdo it; if you make a bicep, forearm, thigh, or calf too large, your character will look bloated.

Build out the clothing based on your personal preferences. There are so many ways to draw an anime girl’s clothing, so feel free to get creative! Keep it super simple by drawing a basic T-shirt and some shorts, or try something a little more elaborate by drawing a tight suit jacket with a collared shirt underneath. If you opt for a skirt, add pleats by drawing separate sections that fold over one another to give it depth. The “iconic” anime girl look incorporates a ribbon where a necktie might go, which is always a fun option! Remember, women traditionally wear bottoms higher on their hips, so aim to place the tops of skirts and pants a little higher if things look “off.”

Add feminine flourishes, like bows or high socks, and erase guide lines. The little touches can really make an anime sketch come to life, so throw in some ribbons, bows, earrings, or jewelry. High socks are a popular anime motif as well. Once you’ve crafted everything, erase any guiding lines and you’re done! Be careful about overdoing it with the breasts. Add a little light shading where the bottom wiring of a bra might be, but don’t draw 2 circles or it will look unnatural. You can keep your drawing in pencil, outline it with a marker for a black and white look, or color it in entirely.