Fused anime

Updated 9-27-00

The eyes are the windows to the character soul!

I have had quite a few people ask me - "Why don't Japanese people draw Japanese people? I mean - Japanese people have smaller eyes - so why do they draw them so big in anime?" Well - the answer to that is actually REALLY SIMPLE. They realized a long while back, when anime and manga were first beginning to develope, that the larger the eyes and faces, the more expressive they could make the people.

Emotions are best shown using the face, and not just the actions. The eyes - their shape, the size of the pupils - the forehead - the nose, and shape of the mouth - They all play a huge role in the way you interpret the emotional state of the character!

That is why - in general - anime characters' eyes are abnormally large.

Anime eyes come in all shapes and sizes, often variying slightly characters, based on their personality. However - in general - most all eyes are drawn the same way.

Anime Eye Anotomy

Think of the eye as having three main parts.

The 'top'
The 'base'
The Pupil

The top determines the shape of the eye, and plays one of the largest roles. Sometimes the tops is thin, and other times it's very thick. Often, it begins thin at the end of the eye nearest the nose, and sort of fans out and becomes much thicker as you get to the end. This is to give the appearance of eye lashes.
Sometimes a few individual eye lashes are drawn in at the end, and sometimes they are not. It often depends on the character, and your style of drawing.

The base often begins as a horizontal line that goes along the bottom of the pupil to show the 'base' of the eye. Sometimes it actually connects on both ends with the top, and often, it does not. Sometimes it ends as a horizontal line, but more often, it continues on the outer edge of the eye, and curves up to either meet with the lower end of the top, or stops just short of meeting.
The size and shape of the pupil is often varied, depending on the desired look of the character. Sometimes they are very small, and do not actually touch the top or base of the eyes. Sometimes they are very tall ovals and connect with both.

These are examples of 4 different types of eyes - each with slight variations - and 4 character portraits to go with them. Match the eyes with the corresponding character to the left. While the differences in 3 of the eyes, are very small, when cobined with the faces and hair, it helps to define the characters.
The last of the four eyes is used on a male character. However this is not the only reason for it's drastic difference from the other three. I based the shape of the eye on the characters personality, and the idea that I wanted to portray with the face.

Expressions

To express emotions on the face the eyes will change shape - and the shape of the nose and mouth will vary as well. Here are exampels of 4 different expressions.

Noses

As simple as they are in anime, I still have many people ask me questions on how to draw noses, so I'm posting a few examples below to help you all out.

A noses shape changes depending on the angle the face is at - a nose will look different if the person is looking strait at you, versus looking to the side, or at profile.
Number 1 is a long slender nose (seen frequently on male bishounen characters in shoujou manga) - it is slightly at a 3/4ths angle.
Number 2 is at more of an angle then 1, and is slightly shorter too. It also comes out more.
Number 3 is rarely seen on the 'main character' - but rather on big husky guys, or supporting male characters.
Number 4 is seen frequently - it sticks out quite a bit and isn't too long. This is also a 3/4ths view of the nose.
Number 5 is sort of the front facing version of number one, but more rounded. The side outline sort of represents the shadow - but mostly it represents where the nose meets down with the rest of the face. Numbers 6 and 7 are the same nose, only 6 is at a 3/4ths angle and 7 is almost strait forward.

Mouths

Another subject matter, that a number of people seem to have trouble with is the mouth. One thing that people don't seem to register when they first try to draw a mouth on a character is that you DO NOT DRAW THE LIPS. If you ever pay attention to actual anime and manga - you will never (or at least almost never) see any outlines lips. On certain characters you may see a little extra color added to show that she (or he in some cases!) is wearing lipstick - but the lips themselves are not outlined.

1 -The first mouth is your general, every-day closed mouth. Not too much expression in it, but a small simple line can say a lot on the right face, and with the right nose/eyes/eyebrows.
2 - A bit more definition to it - this is a small frown. The line at the bottom shows that the lower lip is coming out a bit - it is the shadow at the base of the lip and at the top of the chin.
3 - A tiny, cute little smile. This can be adorable with the right eyes.
4 - Nice wide-open, excited smile.
5 - Depending on the eyes and other facial expressions put with it, this could be a smile, a large mouth going Ahhh! from disapointment, or from shock! Experiment!
6 - A small annoyed lip curl
7 - The large, clenched angry teeth!
8 - The over-sized yelling/shocked mouth. This would fill up the entire face from one side to the next. You see this a lot when a character has just been shocked, or is in the process of bitching at someone. It exagerates the emotion in the face, and gives the words/situation for feeling.

Ears

Yes! I do intend to cover the topic of ears! However not too throughly ^__^;;

It's Fairly simple - just remember that on a strait forward face, and on a 3/4ths angle face, the ear will get slimer in width - but the height will not decrease too much.

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.

In the Full Expansion Chapter, I explain step-by-step on several diverse types of heads. I've cut those out of the web version. Here is a compilation of several types of heads for you to examine and compare.

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.

Above three sets of eyes are seen. They are all the Same Eye, just with three differenet expressions. Anime eyes change drastically depending on what emotion is being expressed.

When the character blinks, the eyes will close down and the eye lashes will be shown in the same location that the base of the eyes currently are, when open. When you blink, the upper eye-lid comes down much more then the lower lid comes up.

The eyes of a villian are commonly very small and frequently have a sharp angle. When you draw the top line, draw the bottom line almost directly below it.

No matter what style the eye is, when in profile the bottom eye-lid line will be tilted to follow the curve of the cheek. And the front side of the pupil will be semi-straight to straight, when looking forward.

Remember when you are drawing the eyes on a 3/4ths angled face that the eye furthest from the Point of View is much smaller horizontally then the other eye. This includes the pupil.