How to Draw Anime Characters in 60 Seconds (5 Steps)

by Chris Von Wilpert, BBusMan • Last updated September 24, 2024

Expert Verified by Leandro Langeani, BBA

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In this post I’m going to show you how to draw anime characters in 60 seconds, that look as good as this:

Here are the exact steps to do it:

1. Choose a Gender in Candy AI

Go to Candy AI and navigate to ‘Create Character’ in the menu. Select the gender of your character, then choose the "Anime" style and hit ‘Next’.

2. Customize Your Anime

Personalize your character by selecting the options in each step. You’ll be able to customize your anime’s voice, occupation, body type, mood, hairstyle, and more.

3. Start Chatting With Your Anime

Once your character is created, you can begin interacting with them. Start chatting and see how they respond with the personality traits and emotions you've assigned to them.

That’s it!

Anime Drawing Examples

Here are some examples of animes I drew following the above steps:

Characteristics: confident, interior designer, petite, 18 years old, Asian

Characteristics: sage, flight attendant, friend, petite, 18 years old, Caucasian

Characteristics: caregiver, firefighter, art, petite, Black/Afro, 18 years old

How to draw anime characters for beginners?

Drawing anime characters can be a fun and rewarding experience even for total beginners. To start, focus on mastering facial features, body shapes, and expressions to bring your characters to life. Sticking to basic shapes like oval or squares will help you create the foundation of your character's head and body.

First, start the face by drawing an oval shape as a base for the head. Add horizontal and vertical guidelines to divide it into sections that'll help place facial features such as eyes, noses, and mouths — which are typically drawn with simple lines in anime. 

For instance: female characters often have larger eyes while males might have narrower ones. Experiment with different eye shapes until you find one that suits your character best! Remember also to try distinct hairstyles — classic anime hairstyles are always popular among fans.

Then, work on defining body proportions by using curved lines that connect various parts of the figure together. Female anime characters usually have hourglass-shaped bodies whereas males tend towards broader shoulders and short necks (think Dragon Ball). Keep in mind that renowned portrait artists like John Howard Sanden recommend keeping necklines closer when sketching female figures.

Lastly, remember to add personality through facial expressions! Practice drawing angry expressions or friendly smiles so your favorite character looks more authentic and relatable — whether they're heroines from Japanese classics or villains in contemporary series.

How to draw like a pro anime?

To draw like a pro in the anime world, it's essential to master three key aspects: anatomic proportions, facial features and expressions, and dynamic poses. By honing these skills through practice and observation of your favorite anime series or artists' work, you'll be able to create characters that resonate with fans.

If you’re new to anime, you may consider using generative AI to skip right to the pro level. Using a tool like Candy AI can save you all the hassle of drawing anime characters from scratch by learning every skill in the book. 

Instead of spending years mastering facial features, body shapes, and expressions, this innovative technology allows you to simply select your preferences and let AI do its magic. By incorporating your chosen elements such as eye styles, hair types, outfits, or even specific ethnicities into its process, Candy AI generates unique and visually appealing anime characters, just the way you dream ‘em.

This not only saves time but also provides an opportunity for beginners to learn from the AI generated content while experimenting with different combinations in order to create their own original masterpieces. So if you're an aspiring artist or just an avid anime fan looking for a quick way to bring your character ideas to life — give Candy AI a try!

Is it hard to draw an anime character?

Drawing an anime character can be challenging for beginners, but with practice and persistence, it becomes easier over time. The difficulty lies in mastering the facial features, body proportions, and expressions that are specific to the anime style.

For example, getting anime eyes right is crucial as they're often large and expressive compared to other art styles. Similarly, there’s hairstyles — from classic spiky hairdos to more intricate designs, this requires attention to detail. Then, capturing dynamic poses seen in action-packed sequences of popular manga or anime series might be a challenge for those new to this form of art.

However, don't let these challenges discourage you! Start by breaking down complex forms into simpler shapes like ovals or four-sided figures when drawing heads and bodies. Use guidelines such as horizontal lines for eye placement or vertical ones for nose/mouth alignment, as those will help your characters to look proportionate and balanced, overall.

Another great approach is to study works created by renowned artists within the genre itself (like Dragon Ball's Akira Toriyama) alongside observing real-life references/models — so as to better understand nuances behind creating anime.

Can I make myself an anime character?

Absolutely! You can turn yourself into an anime character using DeepSwap, a cutting-edge AI technology that specializes in generating images by swapping features from one image to another. By using this tool, you can transform your own photo into an anime-style representation with one click.

To do so, simply upload a clear and well-lit picture of yourself as the source image. DeepSwap's advanced algorithms will analyze your image and seamlessly turn it into an impressive anime-style drawing — transforming your real-life appearance into an authentic-looking anime character!

This process not only saves time but also offers endless possibilities for personalization since you have full control over which image you'll upload of yourself.

What is the best software to draw anime characters?

We ranked and reviewed the best anime AI art generators in this article.

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