The three examples shown here are certaintly not your only options by any measure. These are simply a way of showing you how small changes in the shape can affect the kind of character protrayed by the face. It’s easier to create the face for a character when you have an idea in your mind about their personality. The personality shines through in the face. This rule is especially true in anime art. You can often just look at a character and you already have a good idea of what their personality and traits are.

Small adjustments can be made to a face, and it will become a completly different face. Having a rounded out cheek in comparrison with a very flat, straight down face. This, then in comparrison with a face with a much more rounded brow as well as a rounded cheek. All coming from the same basic face, altered in small ways.

The shape of the face isn't the only thing that effects personality. The eyes and the mouth play a very large role in the way the character is precieved.

Rule number one, No Lips. Anime mouths are rarely, if ever drawn with the lips defined. And when they are, it looks bad. Lips just don’t look good drawn on an anime character. When they are added, it is in color only. Don’t outline the lips.

When a mouth is open it is made up of two parts. The top, and the bottom. Seems simple enough, but it’s not always as easy as it sounds. The top lip can be drawn curved upwards in the center or curved downwards. These mouths are almost all designed for a 3/4ths angled face and the center curve of the mouth is shown in that. If the face is tilted sideways, the two sides of the face are not equal. The side furthest from the POV is shorter horizontally. This applies to the mouth too.

The second and third mouths are the general teeth clenched in anger kind of mouths. Notice how in these the bottom lip curves up slightly in the center while in all the other mouths the bottom lip always curves down. The upper curve of this one line is what defines this feature. Also notice how the line defining the teeth is not highly detailed, nor does it continue all the way across the teeth. In cases such as these, less is better. Too much detail can crowd the small mouth and make it look messy.