This step by footstep tutorial shows how to draw a semi-realistic looking female anime face that differs from the more traditional anime styles.

Realistic anime face drawing step by step
Realistic anime face up cartoon step by step

Drawing a realistic looking anime face is a little more challenging than drawing a "standard" anime or manga style confront. While the bodily cartoon process itself is not much more difficult the claiming comes in balancing between semi-realistic facial features and maintaining an anime look.

To aid with that challenge this tutorial provides a detailed breakdown of the drawing process. It includes an explanation of how to depict the head and each of the major facial features to achieve a more "realistic" look.

Exist sure to make light lines for the initial stages of the drawing so that you lot tin can easily erase parts of them subsequently. The lines in the examples are dark simply and then that you can see them. You tin can get over your drawing with darker lines after you are sure everything is in the correct place and later on you erase all o the guide lines and parts of the face that will be hidden by the hair.

Step 1 – Cartoon a Semi-Realistic Looking Anime Head

Realistic anime head drawing
Realistic anime caput drawing

Anime characters generally have fairly round faces. The bottom portion of an anime face is normally fatigued with ii major sets of lines, 1 going down from the top of the head to around the rima oris area and one more from there to the chin. The chin itself tends to be drawn either completely pointy or with a tiny curve.

For a more realistic looking anime face depict the caput in almost the same way but with a flatter and wider chin (closer to a real mentum). You lot can as well optionally make the head a lilliputian "taller" (longer vertically).

Outset the drawing with a vertical line to help you make certain both halves of the face are even. Adjacent you lot tin draw the rounded shape for the top of the head and project the lines of the lesser portion of the head as been described.

For dissimilar styles of anime heads you can encounter:

How to Draw Different Styles of Anime Heads & Faces

For examples of various styles of optics check:

How to Depict Unlike Types of Anime and Manga Eyes

Step two – Cartoon the Optics

Realistic anime eyes drawing
Realistic anime optics cartoon

Position the eyes the same equally you would for more traditional looking anime characters (as suggested in other tutorials here on AnimeOutline). To practice this past describe a horizontal line through the center of the face and draw the eyes below that line. Space the eyes so that you can fit some other centre between them.

Draw the eyes vertically narrower than common anime eyes but larger than real eyes.  Make the irises circular (anime irises and pupils are often vertically stretched).

You can leave the smaller details of the eyes such as the pupils reflections and eyelashes for later later on yous insure that all of the other facial features are correctly placed. For an caption of why you want to draw this way likewise every bit other anime related drawing advice see:

Beginner Guide to Cartoon Anime & Manga

Stride 3 – Drawing a Semi-Realistic Nose

Realistic anime nose drawing
Realistic anime nose drawing

While traditional anime noses are often just draw with a dot (in the forepart view) for a more realistic looking style you can describe a olfactory organ that is a lot closer in shape and proportions to a real ane.

Position the nose as you lot would for a traditional looking anime grapheme with the bottom of the nose existence between the chin and the horizontal halfway point through the face. (once again same as other tutorials here on AnimeOutline).

The unabridged drawing of the more realistic looking nose tin can pretty much be broken down into various curves. Draw two small curves for the nostrils, two more than curves to requite a hint of the sides of the nose. Advertizing the tip of the olfactory organ with one modest curve and finally show the bridge of the nose with 1 fairly long curved line. Be sure to but draw the last line on one side of the nose. your cartoon will look odd if you add together it on both sides.

For more variations of anime noses run across:

How to Describe Anime and Manga Noses

Pace 4 – Drawing the Ears

Realistic anime ears drawing
Realistic anime ears cartoon

Draw the ears pretty much every bit you would with most other anime styles. Draw the peak of the ears to align with the peak of the eyes and the bottom of the ears to align with the bottom of the nose.

For detailed examples of drawing anime ears check:

How to Draw Anime and Manga Ears

Please notation that the ears in this tutorial will eventually exist fully covered by the hair and erased for the terminal steps and so cartoon them is optional.

Step 5 – Drawing the Rima oris & Lips

Realistic anime mouth drawing
Realistic anime oral cavity drawing

Anime mouths are usually drawn without lips but you lot can add them if y'all want a more realistic looking mouth.

Position the mouth with the lesser lip halfway between the lesser of the olfactory organ and the bottom of the chin.

Depict the mouth itself as a bend with a break in the middle where the lines curve slightly downwards. You lot can also depict it wider than more traditional anime mouths.

For a very detailed explanation of drawing the lips you tin see the tutorial below:

How to Draw Anime Lips Tutorial

Footstep 6 – Drawing Semi-Realistic Anime Hair

Traditional vs realistic anime hair clumps
Traditional vs realistic anime hair clumps

Anime hair is generally fatigued in pointy clumps. For more than realistic looking hair you tin even so view it as a set of clumps but without the pointy ends. Instead exit the cease of the dodder "open" and draw some lines into these openings to requite an appearance of pilus strands. This will create a hair that is still adequately piece of cake to draw only looks more than realistic.

Realistic anime hair drawing breakdown
Realistic anime pilus drawing breakup

To better sympathize how to describe the hair it can likewise be very helpful to think of it as beingness separate into tree parts (as shown in the example above):

  • Cerise – Front Hair
  • Light-green – Side Hair
  • Blue – Dorsum/Peak Pilus

For drawing different types of more traditional anime hairstyles using this arroyo see:

How to Draw Anime and Manga Hair – Female

Realistic anime hair basic line drawing
Realistic anime hair bones line cartoon

Keeping the to a higher place in listen first the actual drawing of the pilus by outlining it's overall shape and adding the open concluded clumps as described above. Don't add together the smaller splits just nevertheless.

Realistic anime hair clumps drawing
Realistic anime pilus clumps drawing

Once you finish drawing the major shapes of the hair you tin then go alee and add the smaller splits in between the larger clumps to requite it a fiddling more detail.

Realistic anime hair drawing
Realistic anime hair drawing

When you are finished y'all should have a cartoon like to the example in a higher place.

For more on drawing anime hair you can also check out:

How to Depict Anime Hair Blowing in Different Directions

Step 7 – Cleaning upward the Drawing

Realistic anime face line drawing
Realistic anime face line cartoon

For this brusque footstep yous can simply erase the parts of the caput and face up that are covered by the hair. Once you are done you should have a clean line with all of the facial features in their places.

Step 8 – Drawing the Small Details of the Eyes

Realistic anime face drawing
Realistic anime confront drawing

After y'all take the bones line cartoon of the face yous can go ahead and add in the small details of the optics.

For a step past step breakdown of drawing anime eyes encounter:

How to Draw Female Anime Eyes Tutorial

While the eyes in that tutorial are slightly dissimilar from those in this example pretty much the same drawing steps still utilise. Simply tweak them to wait more like the the ones in the example above.

It was besides suggested at the start of this tutorial that you should brand low-cal lines for information technology's initial steps. One time yous've reached this point you lot can get over your drawing with darker lines.

Step 9 – Finishing the Drawing by Applying Shading

Realistic anime face drawing shaded drawing
Realistic anime face drawing shaded drawing

To finish the cartoon you lot can add some very basic shading.

For very generalized shading with no one clear light source shade the areas near likely to have shadows. These shadows will usually be:

  • Cast past the hair on the brow surface area
  • Effectually the eyelids
  • Bottom of the olfactory organ
  • Upper area of the cervix (cast by the head)
  • Inner/Groundwork area of the hair

For shading an anime character's face in different lighting weather see:

How to Shade an Anime Face in Different Lighting

Be certain to leave the area of the highlights in the hair white as well as a small highlight expanse on the lips.

For examples of various kinds of hair highlight come across:

Unlike Means to Draw Anime Hair Highlights

Conclusion

It can be a little bit tricky to observe the correct residuum between anime and realism when trying to draw a semi-realistic looking anime character. While this tutorial offers some guide lines there is no one set way to draw these types of characters. You can experiment for yourself by adding more realistic or more stylized facial features and see what kind of a results you come upwardly with.

For drawing more "traditional" looking female anime faces see:

  • How to Draw an Anime Girl's Head and Face
  • How to Depict a Cute Anime Girl Step by Step
  • How to Draw Anime Characters Tutorial
  • 8 Footstep Anime Woman'due south Head & Confront Drawing Tutorial
  • How to Depict a Cute Anime Girl Step by Footstep
  • How to Depict Anime Christmas Santa Chapeau Girl