Learn How to Draw Anime Eyes for Beginners

This article is going to teach beginners how to draw anime eyes easily. If you are interested in learning how to create big, beautiful anime eyes, this guide is for you!

When I was young, anime eyes are my favorite thing to draw because there are so many ways to make them. You can make them as big and as expressive as you like. There are no rules to drawing these beautiful, emotion-filled eyes and they can come in so many different colors as far as your imagination goes.

Anime eyes come in so many shapes and sizes. If you are an avid manga reader or a fan of anime, I’m sure you’ve been to the phase where you want to draw them yourself. 

If you are a beginner and don’t have any idea where to start, here is an easy guide for you to follow to draw your own anime eyes. 

Materials You Need

• Paper
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Color Materials (if you want to color them in)

How to Draw Anime Eyes

Sketching the outlines

1. Draw the Upper Eyelids: Start by sketching the upper lid of the eyes. You’ll want to make a curved line. In my case, I made rounded eyes and so the upper lids are very curved, almost semi-circles. Try to make both curved lines as identical as possible.
2. Draw the Lower Eyelids: Draw two lines on the bottom of the curved lines you just made. Make sure that you place them just below the upper eyelids with their tips almost connecting.
3. Draw the Iris: For the iris, draw an oval under the upper eyelids you drew. Put a space between the iris and the lower eyelids.
4. Draw the Pupils: Inside the iris, draw a smaller oval at the center. Make both pupils as identical as you can. I erased a lot of lines just to make both eyes look like twins.
5. Draw the Light Source Reflections: On the upper left of your iris (or upper right, it’s your choice), draw a circle. This will be the light reflection of the eyes and it should stay clean and blank.

Defining the Outline

1. Time to define the outlines of the eyes. Start at the upper eyelids. Make them thicker and darken them.
2. Draw lashes on your upper lid by flicking your pencil upward. I only like to put on a few eyelashes because I think it looks cuter that way, but you can draw as many lashes as you want.
3. Darken the lower eyelids and draw some lashes at the edge as well.
4. It’s time to define the iris of the eyes. Start by darkening the lines and making them thicker.
5. Shade and fill in the pupils until it is dark enough to your liking.
6. Darken the outline of the light reflection and erase the markings inside it. You want the light reflection to be as clean as possible.

Shading the Iris

1. Shading takes a little longer and so it’s perfectly fine for you to take your time here.
2. Start below the light reflections and make the shading go from dark to light as you go down the iris. Make the top portion of the iris darker, and as you go lower, lighten your pencil pressure to have a lighter shade. You can use your fingers to blend out the harsh lines as I did.
3. Then lightly shade the upper part of your eyes outside the iris and blend. And you are done!

And there you go, you’ve drawn your own anime eyes. Congratulations! I hope you enjoyed this short and easy tutorial. Don’t forget, practice makes perfect. So if you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can always do it again. Practicing your drawing skills will just make you better and better in time.

If you want to learn other things to draw, visit our guides and tutorials blog posts.

Enjoy your art journey!