how to make an anime character in photoshop

by Ms. Kari Boyer 7 min read
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How to Create a Slick Anime Character in Photoshop

  • Step 1. Use the ruler to create two guides in the center of the document, a horizontal and vertical one. Use the center...
  • Step 2. The next line will present the side of our character's head. Select the Line Tool, make sure the Weight is set...
  • Step 3. Now we are going to make a "freehand" line. ... It's always good...

Full Answer

How to make anime art in Photoshop?

How to Create an Anime Artwork in Photoshop. Step 1 – The Outline. Most people draw the outline on paper then use a scanner to load the outline into Photoshop. Begin by opening the outline image ... Step 2 – Separating the Outline. Step 3 – Base Color. Step 4 – Adding Shadows. Step 5 – Dodge and ...

How do I create a character sketch in Photoshop?

Create a New 800 x 800px canvas (Ctrl + N) with a white background, and you're ready to begin. With any character sketch, the very first thing you'll need to do is to draw a very rough idea of the layout. In this case the layout is for a bust, or portrait, drawing, so you'll be drawing the head shape, neck and shoulders.

How to create a slick anime character in Photoshop?

How to Create a Slick Anime Character in Photoshop 1 Use the ruler to create two guides in the center of the document, a horizontal and vertical one. ... 2 The next line will present the side of our character's head. Select the Line Tool, make sure the Weight is set at 1px. 3 Now we are going to make a "freehand" line. ... More items...

How do I Make my anime character look good?

When you move on to the hair lines, start with the top of the head and the bangs as you will find the rest of the hair easier once you have these down. I've added a parting at the top of the head, as you can see below, which is another way to add that little extra bit of detail to your anime character.

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Do anime characters have eyelashes?

In an anime drawing, the eyes are often an important and defining factor of the image, so I've given a few examples of different styles of eye that you could try for your drawing. Female characters often have eyelashes of some sort, and male characters tend not to.

Do you need to add guides to anime?

As you become familiar with drawing in the anime style, you may not need to always add these guides, and as your own sketch may be a different size to mine, I can't give an exact distance to add the guidelines, so for now, add yours so they appear a similar distance from the red line as mine.

Can you delete hair sketch?

Once you've finished making your new hair sketch, you can delete the "hair1" layer. Now you'll need to erase any surplus lines from your "sketch" layer that would be covered by hair, like you did for the clothing. In this case, it will be the sides of the head and some of the clothing where the longer bangs are in front.

Step 1

First thing you'll need is that wonderful line art you prepared in the previous tutorial. Alternatively, if you didn't join us for part one and are just here to learn how to color using the popular cell shade technique, then you will need a line art, on a separate layer to a white background, which you have permission to color.

Step 2

You'll need to change your white background to vector so that we'll have a full vector piece at the end rather than the background being raster. The simplest way to do this would be to make a white square using the Shape Tool (U) over your background and naming it "white," and then deleting your former white background layer.

Step 3

With everything organized, we're ready to go. With your Pen Tool (P) set to Shapes, as detailed in part one of this tutorial set, and with your "skin" folder selected, create a shape in color #FFF8EA for the skin. This shape should follow the line art, and include any areas where the skin is showing - in this case, the neck, face and ears.

Step 4

This may look like a big step, but its not really. Using color #FFCDA9 create a new shape above your skin base shape layer that will go around the edge of the face and hair, creating shadows where the darkest areas would be. Follow the shapes of the hair strands to make the shading feel more believable.

Step 5

Once you're happy with the placement of your shading, go back to your original skin base color, and create a new shape layer underneath the shading layers for the neck. To this shape, add a gradient overlay that fades from your skin base color at the bottom, up to the color of your shading layer.

Step 6

Now add another gradient shape layer, but this time on the face. This gradient should be a little more subtle than the one on the neck.

Step 7

Moving on to the eyes, choose a color that is slightly off white. I've picked a pale blue-gray tone. Make a new folder above the skin folder and name it "eyes". Then, create shapes in your off-white color for the eye whites, filling the area within the top and the bottom shapes of the eyes.

How to make an outline in Photoshop?

Most people draw the outline on paper then use a scanner to load the outline into Photoshop. Begin by opening the outline image into Photoshop. Use the Levels tool (Image > Adjustments > Levels) to correct the contrast of the outline.

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Step 1

Create a New 800 x 800px canvas (Ctrl + N) with a white background, and you’re ready to begin. With any character sketch, the very first thing you’ll need to do is to draw a very rough idea of the layout. In this case the layout is for a bust, or portrait, drawing, so you’ll be drawing the head shape, neck and shoulders.

Step 2

Once you’re happy with your general layout, lower the Opacity of that layer to 30% so that you can still see your layout, but will also clearly see anything you add over the top. You’ll need to create a new layer now (Ctrl + Shift + N) for the main sketch.

Step 3

Using the Pen Tool (P), start a new path from the center of your chin line up to where the edge of your circle touches the lower part of the head on your original layout. Do this both sides of the head so it looks like the example on the left of the image below.

Step 4

You can now stroke the two paths you just made with the same 3px standard brush you used for the circle. The example is done in red to show the new lines, but you can continue yours in black.

Step 5

Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) above your current layers and name it “guides.” This layer wont be part of the final drawing, but will help you with the placement of the facial features. Draw a red line from the very bottom of the main circle across the whole head shape.

Step 6

Next, draw another blue line across where your cheek lines meet the circle (the top blue line on the example below). This is where the top of the character’s eyes will start. The final blue line will act as a guide for where the bottom of the eyes will be. Mine is the same distance above the nose line as the nose line is from the original red line.

Step 7

Hide your “guides” layer. Erase the bottom half of the circle that would be inside the head shape, and neaten your chin line a little. You can also now add the rest of the main sketch to the “sketch” layer.

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