Drawing Manga/Anime p1: Basics, head, and eyes

It's been a couple days since I told you guys we're going to be working on Manga/Anime so I guess we shall get started.  Yay.  I can barely contain my enthusiasm. Just so you know, I'm really breaking this up into small parts.  So you may want to check back in a week or so.  Today we're going to go over the things to keep in mind about manga/anime, drawing the face and getting the eyes done.  If you want the entire tutorial all at once come back later.  (I'm breaking it up like this to give myself more time.)

There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to manga/anime. 

• They eyes are almost always huge
• The nose and mouth are small
• The face comes to a point (or nearly) at the chin.
• The hair is usually wispy and wild. 
• The height (proportion) is basically the same as drawing a real person (6-8 head lengths) and they are always unnaturally skinny (unless you're drawing a fat one). 

When drawing the body I always start with the head since we measure the height by head lengths.   Drawing the head is pretty simple.  First you'll draw a circle.  Then at the bottom of that circle, draw the jaw line.  Then draw the chin which will point like a triangle.  

Adjusting the jawline and chin will give you different face shapes. 

So far pretty simple. Now lets focus on the eyes.  There are different shaped eyes that help show emotion and age.  They are almost always big.  The only time they will not look ginormous is when they are closed.  

Chick eyes

Here's three examples of girls anime eyes.  

• Mysterious eyes - Eyes that look like they know something worth knowing.  They're kind of diamond shaped.  
• Young eyes - I see them as young eyes because they look very naive.  Also the more rounded eye represents playfulness and happiness.  
• Sad sultry eyes - They look very sad but have a sensuality to them.  These eyes are hooded (you see the upper lid).  

Guy eyes

• Serious eyes - These usually indicate there's some kind of anger behind them.  
• Young eyes -  Not very different from the girls. He's just lacking eyelashes. 
• Tired sultry eyes -  These types of eyes look tired on a man instead of sad (that's how it looks to me).  And they're still very sensual.  

Ok, that's all we're covering today.  In two or three days there shall be more.  :) 

Check ya later!!