Another Approach to Drawing Anime Faces

By Rick Feathers

Drawing anime faces can be loads of fun and here is an approach that will open another side of your creativity.

In my 4th year of art class, I remember an assignment the teacher gave us to do. It really opened my eyes and gave me new insights in my creative skills as an artist. I want to share it with you.

The assignment was for us to draw a self portrait of ourselves. Sounds easy enough right? Just get a photograph of yourself, and draw what you see. Well, it was more than that. I wasn’t asked to draw my self portrait from a picture, but I was to draw as I looked into a mirror.

I thought this was an interesting approach, and because he was a good teacher and artist, I figured that there was more that he wanted us to learn from this experience.

When I got back home, ideas were already flowing in my mind about how I would accomplish this assignment. I wanted both my hands free to draw and hold my sketch pad, so I decided to sit in front of my dresser mirror.

So here I was looking at myself in the mirror - something I did everyday. But this time it felt a little unusual because I had to draw the face that was staring back at me.

Here is the cool and creative part. I winked at myself, made funny faces, put on a hat and sunglasses, smiled different ways, and combed my hair in different styles. The possibilities of all the ways I could have drawn my face were endless.

Yes, I did finally decide on what I wanted my portrait to look like. I wore a black, straight rim cowboy hat with the front flap slightly down. With the hat on, my eyes were slightly shadowed from the light above, and with no smile on my face, I looked like the mysterious stranger in a western. I thought, “Hey, this turned out pretty good,” as I finished the drawing.

In my next art class, everyone had their self portrait with them. We all gathered around the instructor’s desk as he critiqued each portrait. I can still remember his double take when he got to mine. He looked at me, he looked at the drawing then back to me, and then I heard him say “I don’t usually give A’s in my class, but I will today.” And he printed an A in the upper corner of my portrait and wrote, “Good job.”

In drawing anime faces, you can take the unusual approach to drawing faces, or you can try any other method that will bring out the best of your creativity. Faces display a lot of emotions and can say a lot in one picture.

Be creative, look in the mirror, and draw a unique character all your own. Trust me, you will definitely be surprised by all the different combinations of anime faces you can create.

Let the pencil flow!