This Tutorial was Completed on 7-29-01.

It is important to know and understand why we draw things the way we draw them. To understand the reasons behind our methods of drawing the human face, we must examine the shape of the skull.

The mass of the skull is round. Thus the reason for starting with a cirlce. The jaw that comes down from the main skull gets smaller towards the base. The “pointed” anime chin is an exageration of this feature.

The round part of the skull begins coming inwards at the eye sockets. The holes in the skull for the eye sockets are larger then the eyes themselves are, thus the eyes are inside an indent in the head. The eyebrows are located on the bone above the eye socket, that is why this area is usually drawn as coming outwards from the head.

The cheekbones come out, but from there down there is no more bone to support the skin, only muscle, so at this point, the face really curves inwards and then down to the base of the jaw.

This is reality. Now lets examine how this applies to anime.

Portrait

Every head starts with a circle. Some people like to start with the features of the face; the eyes, nose, mouth, and then draw in the shape around them. I don’t suggest this at all, if making a picture of a character.

Methods such as those may be good for doodles and practice, but for a picture that you intend to finalize, and especially for a picture of a character you intend to draw more then once, it is important that you draw the shape of the head first. This allows for you to keep the character’s features consistent.

The circle itself is the round part of the skull. The part on the circle where we start to pull the face shape inwards is where the eyebrows will be located. They are the last point where the bone points out the most. On some characters you will bring out the cheek bones too, but it is based on style, preference, and the intended appearance of the character.

Notice on the first image of the skull (the portrait view) the base of the jaw curves inwards to a point where it then curves inwards at a much grater rate. Compart this to the profile view. The lowest point is the tip of the chin. The lowest part of the back jaw comes up to the same point as that first incline ending on the portrait view. (Now you know what it’s drawn that way!)

On this face, the eyes are a medium size. The nose if pointed and fairly long. Even when an anime nose is a small nose, it’s tip is still located fairly low from the eyes. The bridge of the nose isn’t drawn much here, but it is still there.

And remember to leave enough space between the eyes, for another eye. If you can fit a third eye there, you know they are spaced far enough apart.

3/4ths View

Same face, different view. Many people I have spoken with say that they have the most trouble with the 3/4ths view of the anime face. Unfortunetly this is the most widely used view of the face. Since the face is usually seen at some angle, and not directly forward or perfectly side-ways, it is nessecary to become familiar with drawing a face at an angle.

From the main mass of the skull (the circle) the head begins to indent where the eye brows will be. The 3/4ths view is where the difference between characters and styles are the most apparant. Some characters have a highly defined jaw. This character does not. If a jaw was to be used, instead of a direct curve coming down from the brow to the jaw, an outward curve would begin below the base of the eye.

The point where the jawline ends up the side of the head is where the base of the ear is. Not all characters will have the whole jawline defined. This is usually up to styalistic preference. I almost always draw it, especially in 3/4ths view. Remember, though, that the top edge of the ear is equal with the tops of the eyes. Avoid making the ear too small.

When placing the eyes in the 3/4ths view remember that the eye furthest from the point of view (POV) will be the smallest. While it is “smaller” you don’t resize the entire eye. You “squish” the eye horizontally, so it isn’t as wide. This gives the illusion that that eye is partially side-ways, which it would be on this part of the head. Leave some space between the far edge of the eye and the side of the head, and remember to leave enough room between the eyes to avoid putting them too close together.

Profile

I think that a direct profile is the most difficult view to draw a head at. The profile is different in every character. The shape of the head and face, and the shape and size of the nose varies frequently in anime characters and each variation changes the way the profile looks.

The blue guides to the right point out a few key elements to the profile.

First, the point at which the forehead begins to come down from the rest of the head will meet up with the tip of the chin. On some characters the curve for the eyes will come inside this line, on others it will not. (On this head there is no large indent at the top of the bridge of the nose, it is generally straight.)

This character has a long nose. Notice at the base of the nose when it is coming out to the top lip how it is curved. Don’t make this a sharp angle, try to keep it smooth. The blue guides to the left of the mouth show the basic shape and path of the lines. Notice ont he area below the lower lip how it curves in and then out again for the chin. Some character’s chins coming out more then this, and some character’s chins come out less.

The eye in profile is not very different from the eye in the other views. It is frequently shorter horizontally, and the base of the eye should be curved. Imagine that this line is following the top of the cheak. So it is slanted downwards towards the front of the face slightly.

Also, when looking forward the pupil’s front is flat. Some artists curve it slightly. It’s a styalistic preference; you should do what you think looks best in your mind’s eye.

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