By PROFESSIONAL ARTIST AP ART STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE Chelsea Xu

Hey, welcome back to school everyone! 

This is going to be another stressful year, but I hope everybody gives their all to achieve their goals.

Drawing is a fun little activity that I think will help you relax and fill your free time. Since I’m an artist, I know some simple steps that can get you along the path to becoming a drawing pro. The lesson today will be how to draw an anime head. If you are into anime, drawing is a great way to introduce yourself into the realm of fandoms. This applies to both traditional and digital artwork, so feel free to follow my steps for either of these two.

Are you ready?

Then, without further ado, let’s begin!

Step #1  

Draw a circle (it doesn’t have to be perfect), and in the middle of the circle draw cross-shaped lines that intersect each other as shown below.

Step #2

Now draw two curves downward that mirror each other on the horizontal line. Then soften the edges with an eraser because you don’t want them to look like pointed rectangles.

Step #3

Draw another horizontal line on the bottom tip of the circle. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfectly straight. 

Step #4

It’s eyebrow time! Draw two semi-arcs on the top horizontal line. You can draw them differently to add some more emotions in your character. 

Step #5

It’s time to draw eyes! Eyes are obviously located below the eyebrows. Since eyes have many shapes and sizes, you don’t have to follow my art style to draw eyes. Feel free to come up with your own!

Step #6

Alright, almost there! Here’s my way to draw anime noses. It’s easier to draw for me because it takes less time, but feel free to try other styles of noses as well.

Step #7

Smile! Just add two curves a distance below the nose, and you will get an amazing smile for the day!! I also added ears. For beginners, just worry about the shape and not the details. It can be really hard to get the sides equivalent to each other.

Step #8

It’s time to add hair! This is just a simple hairstyle that I’ve chosen to demonstrate. As you can see, every hair’s direction is different. But remember, each hair section must follow the pattern; do not draw them randomly without direction.  

Step #9

Erase the base lines that guided your drawing. If you are on paper, do not draw the base lines too heavily, and you can softly erase without touching any important parts. Ta-da!! Congratulations!! You’ve successfully drawn an anime head!!!

I hope this tutorial is helpful, and I’ll see you soon for PART 2!!!!

Editor: Luke Langlois