One thing I can’t stop drawing–whether I’m sketching my own characters or just doodling for fun–are faces. Who would’ve thought, right? It’s honestly the part I enjoy the most, and over time it’s become the area I’ve put the most practice into. So today, I want to walk you through my simple method for drawing anime faces. It’s the style I’ve stuck with for years, and what I’ll show you works even if you don’t have much drawing experience.

And yes, we’ll talk about how to draw faces from any angle. Because let’s be honest: if your method only works straight-on, it’s not that useful. So grab a pencil, maybe a sketchbook, and follow along.

Step 1: Start With the Head Shape

Every face begins with a circle. Don’t stress about making it perfect–you’ll erase most of it anyway. Split it down in the middle with a vertical line to keep things symmetrical.

When I draw a female face, I keep the jaw soft and roundish, maybe extended slightly. For males, I’ll stretch the jaw longer to make it look stronger. But hey, nothing stops you from flipping this: strong-jawed women, softer male characters, totally works.

Step 2: Place the Eyebrows

Eyebrows are like anchors. Once you place them, everything else becomes easier to position. Draw them just below the center of the circle. I usually keep anime brows simple: two tilted lines, slightly thicker toward the middle of the face. You can ignore the entire top half of the circle, since nothing goes there except the hair. I have a separate how to draw anime hair tutorial for that if you are interested. 

Step 3: Ears and Details

Now add the ears. They sit between the eyebrows and the jawline corner. Think of them like rounded parallelograms. If you want to level up, learn the main shapes of the ear (helix, tragus, anti-helix). It looks complex but once you learn the pattern, you can draw them from your memory forever.

Step 4: The Eyes

Anime eyes are where the magic happens. Start with a line and a curve–almost like the opposite of an eyebrow. From there, build up the shape based on the character’s vibe: thinner eyes for serious or male characters, and rounder ones for cute or female characters.

For eyelashes, start with a simple duplicate of the line you just drew. If you’re going for longer lashes, begin at the center of the eye and extend them past the initial shape.

Males can of course also have thicker eyelashes usually personally I’ll leave them the way they are. 

Now we can add the upper eyelid fold. It’s basically the same line as the top half of the eye, just slightly more accentuated. Make sure it doesn’t extend longer than the eye itself. If you want to get a little fancy, you can curve it downward at the end–similar to the way the eyebrow curves down. This small detail makes the eye look more anatomically correct.

It’s always important to keep about one eye’s width of space between the two eyes. If they’re too close, the character will look a little “derpy”, and if they’re too far apart, they’ll start to look alien. Best to avoid both extremes.

Step 5: Iris, Pupil, and Shine

The iris shape changes the whole mood. Big, round irises feel playful or cute. Smaller, narrow irises feel intense or intimidating. Add highlights for that classic anime sparkle, and darken the top edge of the iris to make the eyes pop.

I usually color my characters, so I skip this step. But if you’re working in line art, you can draw a circle or two in the same spot for both eyes, then fill in the pupil and darken the top of the iris to make it pop. That’s basically the anime starter pack.

Step 6: Nose and Mouth

Place the nose halfway between the eyes and chin. I like to start with a triangle shape–it helps me place it correctly no matter the angle. You can simplify or define it more depending on style.

The mouth goes halfway between the nose and chin. In anime, it’s often just a curve or small line, with a hint of the lower lip. Simple, but effective.

Step 7: Finishing Up the Line Art

To draw the neck, imagine two invisible lines extending down from the sides of your circle. Adjust the width depending on how strong or delicate you want the character to look. It’s a small detail, but it helps define the overall personality of your design.

Now let’s move on to the hair. Start by sketching the general shape first — think of it as soft, flowing ribbons or sharp, dynamic clumps rather than single strands. Keep a small gap between the scalp and the hairline to give it volume and life. Once the shape feels balanced, refine the outlines with varied line weights: thicker lines for shadowed areas or overlapping strands, thinner lines for highlights or lighter sections.

When your line art feels clean and expressive, you’re ready to move on to color. If you want to learn how to pick the right tones and make your characters pop, check out my Color Theory Tutorial — it breaks down lighting, hue, and contrast in a simple way for digital artists.

Drawing faces at different Angles

Here’s where it gets tricky. When the head tilts up or down, all the features move with it. Eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth all follow the curve of the face. Tilt down? The features drop lower, ears appear higher. Tilt up? The opposite happens–you see more chin, less forehead.

From the side, use a symmetry line to keep features aligned. The nose will block part of the far eye, and perspective makes the closer eye look narrower.

The more extreme the angle, the more dramatic these shifts become. My advice? Start simple. Save the wild angels for when you’re more comfortable. 

Wrapping it up

That’s the foundation of how I draw anime faces–from the basic circle to expressive eyes and tricky angles. Once you’ve got the hang of it, try adding hair and color (I’ve got another guide for anime hair if you’re curious).

And remember: practice is everything. Draw the same head shape a dozen times. Change the jaw, tweak the eyes, tilt it slightly each time. With repetition, your characters will stop looking flat and start coming to life.

So–ready to give it a shot?