Anime Hair Shading: Facts You need To Know

Anime hair generally comes with large clumps and are shaded without gradients. There are some facts which we need to know before we start with anime hair shading. Some are listed below:

• Generic shadings are most commonly used. The characters are well lit from most sides. 

• Try shading with a strong one directional light source.

• If you are using generalized shading, make them dark enough so that it looks good.  

• Be careful to note that when you shade too dark, it may look unnatural. When you shade too light, it may not be visible.

• Drawing the highlights is an important area to note. When shading hair, you can use a white correction pen or white paint to draw the highlights.

• Anime hairstyles can be simple, gradient, and realistic. The hair highlights can vary depending upon the medium and highlight type you choose as well.

Follow these simple tips and draw beautiful anime characters.

Essential Manga and Anime art supplies that you should have

Anime, like any other artwork, needs a few essential art supplies like pencils, pen, and paint brushes among others. Let’s explore some of them.

Paper Pencil for rough linework: Use H, HB, or B pencils, depending on the darkness you desire to have in your work.

Mechanical pencils for precision work: Use varying lead diameter to add depth to your lines.

Pen and ink or marker pens and ball pens: Marker pens are usually the cheaper amateur version of pen and ink. However, even professional artists use markers to give life to their artworks.

Paintbrushes: A lot of artists use brushes for their linework and coloring. A stable hand is mandatory if you dare to use brushes for drawing your outlines.

Inks: Try to use the best quality ink to make your art looks exceptional. You can use Indian ink, drawing ink, or industrial ink.

White ink: These are used to add details and highlights to your drawing. They can also be used to correct inking mistakes.

At the end of the day, all that matters is your desire to draw. Get a piece of paper and a pen and draw your heart out.

5 Tricks to make anything look kawaii

Cute and adorable kawaii drawings are a big trend now. Kawaii means cute in Japanese, and kawaii designs are in no way related to the chibi art style.

The best thing about kawaii drawings is that anyone can make literally anything look kawaii. A few tricks can make your kawaii designs even more adorable.

First and foremost, keep it simple. Try to leave the design as flat as you can without any real features and details. Note that missing ears and noses are the main features of kawaii drawings.

Secondly, use the right colors. Cute color palettes that are pleasant and soft are usually best suited for this purpose. Bright and pastels colors are preferred the most. Thirdly, avoid sharp edges. Make everything round, soft, and cute. Make even scary things look friendly.

The fourth trick is as simple as putting a face on anything that you come across. From fruits to foods to flowers, everything has to convey its emotions through a noseless face.

Fifth and final trick; big head and small body is recommended for the perfect kawaii cuties. Be it an animal or a human, follow these tip to get the most adorable characters that you’ve ever seen.

The Surrealistic World of Satoshi Kon: What You Need to Know

Despite passing away a decade ago, Satoshi Kon is one of the most celebrated animators in the world. His creations have been an inspiration to even Hollywood hits like Black Swan and Inception.

His directorial debut, Perfect Blue, was a psychological thriller and his movies are known for continuously switching between fantasy, reality, memory, film, fact, and fiction. Even though his second movie, Millennium Actress, shared a similar plot to perfect blue, it was more like an ode to Japanese cinema.

His third movie, Tokyo Godfathers, is a feel-good movie that discusses issues like homelessness, and family. Kon released his first television series, Paranoia Agent, which was and still is like a puzzle.

Kon’s final work, Paprika, is about a machine that allows one to enter the dreams of others.
The world of surrealism that Kon built within his short life span is unparallelled. His legacy lives through millions of admirers who still follow his works and the world of surrealism he made with conviction.

Drawing Tips: Drawing Anime Cat

Anime animals tend to be drawn with bigger heads. And there is a trick to draw Anime Cats as well. Cat drawing can be made easy by drawing a vertical line through the middle of the cat’s body. Draw the head of the cat in the shape of an oval. 

Some simple techniques for drawing anime cats are following:

• Draw the legs, tail, and ears: Draw the ears in the shape of a triangle. Draw legs as small and short while also drawing the tail. 

• Draw the cat’s face: Draw bigger eyes, smaller nose, and mouth.

• Draw the major fur clumps: Draw the clumps on the head, neck, tails, and chest. Draw the clumps pointed in different directions that vary in size to make the fur look natural.

• Draw the whiskers and paws: Draw whiskers around the mouth and above the eyes. 

• Draw some small fur clumps: To make a cat look more fluffy, add small furs throughout the body. Finally, apply color and add shading.

Follow these simple techniques and draw a cute anime cat.

Steps to Draw an Anime Female Body

Imagine messing up the body of your anime character after spending so much time on drawing its head. We all can understand the pain and frustration.

Here are five steps to draw a female anime body.

First, lightly sketch the basic shape of the head on top of the paper, leaving enough space to draw the hair on top and the body below.

Anime female characters are usually 6.5 heads tall. Draw a vertical line down from the top of the head and make markings using head length as the base.

Leave some space for the neck and draw two circles within the first two markings below the head. Join the circles to form an hourglass shape for the torso.

Draw arms starting from either side of the top edge of the torso. Add joints of elbows and wrists aligning with the narrowest part and bottom end of the body, respectively. 

Draw legs from the bottom of the torso to the end of the guides. Add the knees and ankles at four and six heads from the top, respectively.

Add features to the face and draw hands, feet, and clothing to complete your drawing.

Is Pen Tablet Required For Drawing Anime Characters? Find Out

Tablets are well suited for drawing anime cell-shading and line drawing art. The initial cost and learning curve are some drawbacks but using a tablet has many advantages as well. You can decide whether a tablet is required after considering the following points.

How much do you like drawing: Ensure that you have a love for drawing. Also, check if you are willing to take the time to learn.

Can you afford a drawing tablet: Unless you are a professional artist, you don’t need an expensive tablet. Get and ensure something that is working well before buying it.

How familiar are you with digital drawing software: Ensure you have enough skills to use digital drawing software. Try some fairly cheap and open source options before buying tablets.

Check the benefits of using a drawing tablet: By using tablets, it will be easy to erase and modify your work. Easy to store and organize your work. Easy to save space as no paper, canvas, and art supplies are required.

Consider the above factors and make a good decision.

Drawing Anime Male Face: Here are some tips

Anime characters tend to have large eyes, small noses, and simplified mouths with no lips. Additionally, younger male anime faces are drawn similar to female face drawings.

Older male characters are drawn with longer faces, wider chins, and small eyes meaning that there are a set of general concepts that one needs to know before drawing.

Some guidelines for drawing male anime face are listed below.

• Start with drawing a circle: Draw a horizontal and vertical line through the center of the circle.

• Sketching the lower face: Draw a short straight line and a curved line to enclose the mouth. Then outline the ears.

• Drawing Hair: Sketch hair with a series of curved lines of various lengths. Detail hair with a series of short and curved line drawings.

• Drawing the eyes: You can detail face drawings of anime character by drawing eyes. Draw three curved lines to get a triangular shape of the eye. Darken the eyelid and between two lines shade the pupil.

Give color to your anime character to look attractive. Follow these simple steps and draw beautiful anime male face characters.