Introduction

Hello! In this tutorial, let's learn how to draw some anime or manga styled portraits! Please note that I mainly specialize in female portraits (at least for now ;u;)

Anatomy

For drawing pretty and anatomically correct faces, let’s see how the famous loomis head method works. Here is a step by step process of how to use the Loomis head method. This method is a baseline to a typical head and does not serve as a concrete rule to varying head shapes and proportions!

First of all, this method suggests that a head can be split into three sections: the distance between the brow, tip of nose and chin are equal. The mouth is right between the nose and chin. It is important to take note that the top half of the head is not a sphere, but rather a sphere with its sides chopped off. Now let’s take a look at the loomis head method from different angles.

From other angles, the loomis head takes into account foreshadowing, meaning facial features such as the eyes and ears wrap around the head.

Here is a picture summarising the proportions of the face from the loomis head method. I added a scale showing that the distance between the eyes is the length of an eye. Clearly, the ear sits between the eyes and nose, and will be higher or lower depending on the head’s angle. As the head tilts up, ears become lower than the eyes, and as the head tilts down, the eyes become higher than the eyes, for example.

Here is a picture summarising the proportions of the head in relation to the ribcage (upper torso). The diagram shows a female body and ribcage, but the reality is that a female’s ribcage is slightly smaller and shorter than a male’s ribcage. For males, the distance from the top of the head to the pit of the neck is roughly the same as the length of the ribcage!

 

Proko has youtube videos on anatomy, and for portraits I think his clavicle (collar bone) and neck muscle (trapezium, sternocleidomastoids) videos are great for portraits.

An ear can be complicated to draw at first glance.

It’s easier to remember the general look of an ear by splitting it into three parts: Pink - outer part of ear. Blue - the y-shaped anti-helix. Yellow green - tragus, small piece of skin in front of ear canal.

The placement of the ear is at a slight angle.

Below is a rough step by step process of drawing and coloring an ear. Although, I usually simplify the ear as drawing the whole ear can make it look unnecessarily detailed for anime/semi-realistic portraits.

For tutorials on eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows etc, I recommend pinterest tutorial pics and youtube videos! Studying the facial structure and proportions of pretty girls and boys on pinterest can also help you build your own desired aesthetic of pretty faces.

Hair

For the hair, I recommend visualizing the hair as flat strands that twist and turn in 3D space. This is definitely more of a simplification that I use when drawing in anime style rather than realistic. But this helps with drawing hair shapes that seem convincing! ;) I also imagine the back layer of hair as mostly in shadow (pink).

In terms of drawing the actual hair overall, I suggest first drawing thick groups of hair first, and then splitting the groups into smaller hair strands later as shown. This can help create a cohesive form rather than a clump of intertwined mess c: Also, vary the width and length of hair periodically to avoid static and dull looking hair!

Using what we've learnt about hair strands twisting like ribbons in 3D space and grouping hair, we can draw arrows representing how hair flows (down) from the roots. Be careful and be consistent with where the hair is coming from (the root) as being careless may result in odd looking or too flat hair. Remember the head is mainly round although somewhat flat at the top plane!

I've compiled some examples of male hairstyles, although I mainly draw females. From short prickly hair to long wavy hair to bowl cuts to man buns, there's plenty of options when it comes to drawing male hairstyles!

Here are some of my favorite female hairstyles. I like to add single hair strands randomly at the very end after drawing and colouring the hair. I especially adore braids messy wavy volumes! Depending on who you want to draw (family member, own original character or established character), I recommend browsing on Pinterest for unique and pretty hairstyles!

Facial expressions

Although I typically don't draw strong facial expressions, here is a rough representation. Lifting of eyebrows and bottom eyelids usually indicate a happy or laughing emotion (1). The opposite applies to angry or sad emotions, which usually entails the lowering of eyebrows and even some protruding muscles between eyebrows for portraying extra lividness! (2). Personally neutral expressions such as curiosity or attention is what I opt for for more elegant or relaxed portraits.

Here are some bust up female portrait displaying a variety of emotions. Take note of the body language and shape language such as the lifting of shoulders (merry) and arms being closer together (scared or nervous).

Poses and props

>>> Portraits with figures holding something

For female figures or characters, I like to include flowers or accessories as props for a more elegant pose. Below are examples of poses with props such as single flower stems and drinks. Even without props, in half body or full figure portraits, the hands and arms play important roles in achieving expressive poses that convey certain attitudes.

>>> Portraits with figures looking away from ‘camera’

By drawing the subject looking away, they can become even more graceful as it would almost feel like you're intruding or capturing a non-prepared or more spontaneous beauty or charm! This coupled with a hair brushing pose can really bring out a radiating portrait piece. Note (pink) that our body naturally balances itself. By tilting the head and ribcage at opposite angles rather than at the same angle, the figure of the portrait can appear more dynamic rather than stiff.

>>> Portraits with figures looking at ‘camera’

By posing the subject as facing towards the side and still having their attention on the 'camera', we depict the figure as charmed, interested or focused on 'us', and thus resulting in a more directly engaging portrait piece. For full body portraits, even more various poses can be expressed through the knees and legs.

Composition

>>> Rule of thirds

Situating facial features or body parts where lines of the rule of thirds lie will direct more attention to those areas and less to areas that are not on the lines. This is why aligning the eyes at the first horizontal line of the rule of thirds can do justice to a portrait. Also, just by putting a figure off-center on one of the vertical lines can create more of the focus on her. Rather than a static portrait, we now have a more dynamic and interesting piece! Remember, this is certainly not a concrete 'rule' and serves better as a starting step.

>>> Leaving space

For three-quarter portraits and especially side profile portraits, consider the direction of the body and eyes. Leave space in front of the subject so that the subject has space to look into rather than looking directly out of the frame. Definitely also leave space above the head. You don’t want the viewer to feel cramped or crowded as they look into the frame.

For more interesting composition choices, play with triangles! I find that subtly incorporating triangular spaces in between the figure and background or within the figure creates a cohesive and harmonious layout for a portrait.

Composition wise, once you have learned and practiced the rules, it’s time to start pushing the boundaries and breaking them. But, as I said above, do it for a reason. Know why you’re composing a portrait the way you are, and what affect it will have on the mood of the final image.

 

Painting portrait demonstration

First, make a sketch (for me, my first sketch will be my final line art). I use dae pen 4 for sketching, which can be downloaded here. Today, I decided to just go with a typical school girl for an anime styled / semi-realistic bust up portrait!

Next, block in the base colours using a solid opacity pen or brush. I wanted a more watercoloury and sketchy portrait so I used the default 'Oil Paint' brush at 70 amount of paint and 70 density of paint. Since I plan to make the background light, it didn't really matter. Use separate layers for the skin, hair, shirt, bow and straps for more convenience! :3

 

Oh, I also locked transparent pixels and went over the line art layer which a soft airbrush of a brighter red color compared to the original dark brown around the skin, hair and inner corners of the eyes to give the lines a bit of a spark.

With a lighter ambient light from the top in mind, use a mixture of the soft airbrush (for soft shadow edges that are facing the direction of the light) and the default oil paint brush for the hard shadow edges that are opposite direction from the light. So top edge = soft, bottom edge = hard. Paint some saturated pinks and blues at the edges of the dull grey shadows for the subsurface scattering effect.

On a layer on top of everything, use a sharp pen for highlights on the eye. For that, I like to first use a bright color such as hot pink, then the actual near white color for the highlight. I also added some highlights on the hair to add some vibrancy. I added some cute blush using the same soft airbrush, and used the gradient tool (below the fill bucket tool) to create a white to purple gradient for a simple background. Tada! All done ^-^

The next step is optional, but for a more interesting lighting condition, first make a layer and turn on the 'multiply' layer mode and fill the layer with any color that you want. I did a yellow tone. This will be the main shadow value. Then make a layer above that and turn on the 'color dodge' layer mode and use the soft airbrush to brush in highlights. I find that this method is quite straight forward and yet it produces a great result for an extra tough to the final portrait!

Thank you !

Thank you so much for reading up until now! I hope this tip has helped you in any way ^0^ Now don't mind me while I go learn male anatomy.. (starts procrastinating ;u;)