Place the top lash-line about halfway between the top and bottom of the head. The upper and lower lash lines should form a roughly triangular shape...
Peak the eyebrows in the middle to give the eyes a sad look. If you like, you can draw a small crease next to the inner end of each eyebrow for a l...
Anime is a shortened form of the English word “animation.” The term anime is used in Japan to distinguish animated cartoons from illustrated cartoo...
A basic understanding of the anatomy of the eye. Knowing common elements that make most eyes look like anime eyes. A step-by-step approach to drawing anime eyes while implementing these common elements. A quick note, before going further, I will use the term anime to mean both anime and manga for simplicity.
A drop shadow from the upper eyelid covers the iris and the sclera one third or sometimes half of the way down. (Confused about what iris and sclera are? Scroll up to the anatomy section of this article, or click here to be taken there).
Upper eyelid crease. – The upper eyelid crease is a horizontal indent formed above the upper eyelid that appears in some people. Notably, it is prominently indicated in most anime eye drawings, and stylized into a curved line. It helps situate the anime eye drawing so it is a good idea to take notice of it.
– the iris is a ring shaped membrane, with an adjustable circular opening (pupil) in the center. The iris is what people talk about when they talk about eye color. (Some people confuse it with the pupil, so here is a tip to remember it better: eye color = iris color)
Highlights from at least 2 light sources. White or bright circles or ovals appearing in stylized anime eyes are representative of highlights on the surface of the eye. Note here that usually one highlight is dominant and is depicted larger, and the second subordinate and depicted smaller.
Fortunately, we all have a stylizer machine called the brain! In anime, there is a spectrum of on one end, very large anime looking eyes, and some on the other end, that are pretty realistic with some stylization flare. I tend to like something in the middle, although a lot depends on the artwork itself.
Degrees of realism and stylization. In anime and manga, eyes are drawn in various degrees of stylization. Human anatomy in anime is stylized often to the point of being unrealistic, yet still very recognizable as the anime counterpart of the real world person the artwork is describing. This is an important point.
Anime eyes are generally very simple, just a mere reflection of the realistic ones we have on our faces; but this DOESN'T make them any less deep or important. You can simply cut down complicated shapes into more soft and simple ones; for example, most anime eyes are totally lacking the Tear Duct, or the lower eyelio.
This is the most used and common shape used to make anime eyes; and I think you can quite figure why: most protagonists have round eyes, mostly because they are gentle, and you have to feel secure when you look at them. So, if you're characther is sweet in the heart, a pair of cute, round eyes are the best for him.
Adding Lights. With a gentle brush and an ADD GLOW layer, let's pick a bright light-blue color and create super soft brush strokes in the bottom corner of the eye; this will add light to the eye without being too much or too little. I used the SOFT Hairbrush brush.
So, if you're characther is sweet in the heart, a pair of cute, round eyes are the best for him. This is also a shape that you can identify in a lot of anime eyes, and it can have two meanings; not necessarely a characther with "triangular " eyes is going to be evil, maybe he/she is just pretty strong .
Start by adding the base color of your liking, and then in a multiply layer start adding shadows with a gentle brush; (I'm mostly gonna use Watercolors one); create gentle strokes starting from the top corner of the iris.
To color the lineart without coming out of the edges, just "Lock transparent Pixel" by clicking that lock-icon with transparent pixels. When you have your layer locked, simply pick colors from around your piece that you like the most, and splash them around with a soft hairbrush.