How I learned to draw anime faces in 30 days ( + XP-PEN GIVEAWAY )

Summary

In this engaging video, the artist embarks on a 30-day challenge to master anime art, sharing insights on facial structures, proportions, and avoiding the Uncanny Valley effect. With the support of XP pen's tablet, the artist explores the balance between visual appeal and structural accuracy in anime drawing. The video also features a giveaway, inviting viewers to participate in a 'draw this in your style' challenge for a chance to win an XP pen tablet.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker admits that drawing anime is harder than it seems and decides to challenge themselves by practicing more.
• 🎨 The video includes a sponsored segment for XP pen, who provided a 22-inch screen tablet for review and a giveaway.
• 🖌️ The speaker shares their first impressions of the XP pen tablet, highlighting its spacious screen, sleek design, and anti-glare matte film.
• 🔍 The importance of understanding anime facial structure and proportions is emphasized, with the speaker detailing their learning process.
• 📚 The speaker used Pinterest and art station to gather references of appealing anime faces for study.
• 📝 The process of tracing over anime faces to understand proportions and then redrawing them was part of the study strategy.
• 🤔 The speaker encountered the Uncanny Valley effect in their initial attempts and sought advice from a friend with experience in anime art.
• 👁️ The advice received emphasized the importance of facial feature placement for visual appeal over strict anatomical accuracy.
• 🎭 The speaker learned to think in terms of 2D shapes rather than 3D structure for anime art to avoid overworking the piece.
• 🎨 The video concludes with the speaker successfully completing anime pieces, applying the knowledge and techniques learned.
• 🎁 The video ends with a giveaway announcement for an XP pen tablet and a smaller screenless tablet, with details on how to enter.

Q & A

What was the main challenge the artist faced when trying to draw anime?

The main challenge the artist faced was understanding the structure of anime faces, the proportions, and how to avoid giving their drawings the Uncanny Valley effect.

What did the artist decide to do to improve their anime drawing skills?

The artist decided to challenge themselves by doing more anime drawings and studying the style, focusing on facial structure, proportions, and painting techniques to finish anime paintings.

What advice did the artist's friend, who specializes in anime art, provide?

The friend advised focusing on visual appeal first and justifying it with structure later, keeping the face flat to avoid the Uncanny Valley effect, and making proportional adjustments specific to anime style.

What tool did the artist use to gather references for their anime studies?

The artist used Pinterest and ArtStation to put together a reference board of appealing anime faces they wanted to replicate.

How did the artist approach the initial study of anime facial structure?

The artist started by tracing over references to map out basic forms and noticing particularities about proportions, then tried to redraw realistic people into anime characters based on references.

What was the issue with the artist's first attempt at an anime painting?

The issue was that the painting had the Uncanny Valley effect and the artist didn't know how to paint anime noses correctly, leading to an overworked and unsatisfactory result.

What is the significance of the anti-glare matte film on the XP-Pen tablet mentioned in the script?

The anti-glare matte film is significant because it helps in seeing the colors and values accurately without the interference of external light sources, which is beneficial for digital artists.

How did the artist change their approach after receiving advice from their friend?

The artist started thinking in terms of 2D shapes rather than 3D structure, focusing on visual appeal and exaggerating facial features and proportions as seen in anime.

What was the character chosen for the artist's final successful anime piece?

The character chosen was Black Swan, inspired by a cool cutscene and her interaction with a creature called unto death.

What giveaway was mentioned at the end of the script, and how can one enter?

A tablet giveaway was mentioned, including an XP-Pen 22 plus and a Deco LW. To enter, participants need to draw a specific character in any pose and lighting, using a provided hashtag and tagging the artist, with a deadline of August 31st.

What criteria will the artist use to judge the giveaway entries?

The artist will judge the entries based on creativity, acting, and overall visual appeal.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Artistic Growth: Embracing Anime Drawing Challenges

The speaker begins by acknowledging the difficulty of anime drawing and their decision to challenge themselves by practicing it over 30 days. They share their journey from not knowing how to draw proper anime faces to completing anime paintings. The speaker also discusses the support from XP pen, who provided a tablet for review and a giveaway opportunity. The review highlights the tablet's features, such as its spacious screen, sleek design, and anti-glare matte film, which the speaker appreciates for its eye comfort and color accuracy. The speaker's goal is to understand the style, study the key differences, and avoid the Uncanny Valley effect in anime art, with advice from a friend who specializes in anime.

05:01

📚 Learning Curve: Overcoming Anime Art Obstacles

The speaker describes their process of learning anime art, starting with creating a reference board of appealing anime faces and studying the structure and proportions of anime characters. They discuss the initial struggle with creating an anime painting, which led to the realization of the importance of understanding the 2D nature of anime art over the 3D structure. The speaker emphasizes the advice from their friend Kuno, who highlighted the priority of visual appeal in anime over strict anatomical accuracy. They also touch on the flexibility of anime facial features and the influence of expressions on the overall look of the character.

10:03

🎭 Creative Evolution: Refining Anime Art Techniques

Building on the advice received, the speaker focuses on visual appeal and the 2D aspects of anime art, learning to exaggerate shapes and features while maintaining a balance between structure and style. They discuss the importance of studying exaggerated expressions and the flow of shapes in anime, as well as the need to expand their visual library of anime styles. The speaker also shares their experience with using Clip Studio for the first time, noting its stroke smoothing feature, and their approach to completing anime pieces by applying the knowledge gained from their studies.

15:03

🎁 Community Engagement: Anime Art Giveaway and Challenge

The speaker concludes the video script by announcing a tablet giveaway sponsored by XP pen, including both a 22-inch screen tablet and a smaller screenless model called The Deco LW. They invite viewers to participate in a 'Draw This In Your Style' challenge, encouraging creativity and unique interpretations of a provided character. The challenge has a deadline of August 31st, with the speaker promising to select and feature top entries on their social media, awarding the winners with the sponsored tablets based on creativity, acting, and visual appeal.

Keywords

💡Anime

Anime refers to a style of animation that originated in Japan and is characterized by vibrant characters and fantastical themes. In the video, the creator discusses their journey in learning to draw anime, highlighting the challenges and techniques involved in mastering this style. The term is used to describe the visual appeal and stylized nature of the art form the creator is studying.

💡Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley is a concept in aesthetics that describes the discomfort or eeriness felt when a replication of a human looks and acts almost, but not exactly, like a real human. In the script, the creator mentions avoiding the Uncanny Valley effect in their anime drawings, which refers to the challenge of making anime characters look human-like without crossing into a realm that feels unnatural or unsettling.

💡Proportions

Proportions in art refer to the relative size and scale of different parts of a figure or object. The video discusses the unique proportions often found in anime, such as long legs, thin limbs, and enlarged heads, which are key to capturing the style's distinctive look. The creator's learning process involved understanding and applying these proportions to their drawings.

💡Facial Structure

Facial structure pertains to the arrangement and shape of the features on a face. The script mentions the creator's quest to understand how the facial structure works in anime, including the placement of features like eyes, noses, and mouths. This is crucial for achieving the stylized yet recognizable look of anime characters.

💡Study

In the context of the video, 'study' refers to the practice of drawing from references to understand and replicate the style and techniques of anime art. The creator uses this term to describe their methodical approach to learning, which involves tracing, mapping out forms, and comparing their work with reference images to improve their skills.

💡Visual Appeal

Visual appeal is the quality of being pleasing or attractive to the eye. The video emphasizes the importance of visual appeal in anime art, where the creator learned to prioritize the visual impact of their drawings over strict adherence to anatomical accuracy. This concept is central to the stylization found in anime.

💡2D and 3D Thinking

The terms '2D' and '3D thinking' in the script refer to two different approaches to art. 2D thinking focuses on visual appeal through shapes and flat designs, common in anime, while 3D thinking emphasizes depth, form, and structure, typical in realistic art. The creator discusses the importance of adopting a 2D mindset to avoid the Uncanny Valley effect in their anime drawings.

💡Expression

Expression in art is the conveyance of emotion or sentiment through the depiction of a character's features. The video script discusses how anime expressions are influenced by the placement of the eyes and can be exaggerated for dramatic effect. The creator learned to use expressions to enhance the acting and visual appeal of their anime characters.

💡Gesture

Gesture in art refers to the movement or pose of a figure that conveys a sense of action or emotion. The script mentions the creator's focus on the flow of gesture to guide the viewer's eyes in their anime drawings. This is an important aspect of creating dynamic and engaging anime art.

💡XP Pen

XP Pen is a brand mentioned in the script that provided the creator with a digital drawing tablet for the video. The creator reviews the tablet, discussing its features such as size, design, and pressure sensitivity, which are important for digital artists, especially those learning to draw anime.

💡Giveaway

A giveaway in this context refers to a contest or promotion where the creator is offering to give away an XP Pen tablet and a Deco LW tablet to viewers. The script describes the rules for entering the giveaway, which involves creating art based on the character presented in the video and using a specific hashtag.

Highlights

The challenge of learning to draw anime and the creator's initial struggle with it.

A 30-day commitment to improve anime drawing skills and the learning process involved.

Sponsorship and review of XP pen's 22in screen tablet for digital art.

The importance of tablet size and screen texture for digital artists.

Advantages of the anti-glare matte film on the XP pen tablet for better color visibility.

The significance of pressure sensitivity in digital drawing tablets for brush accuracy.

The creator's personal journey from realism to stylized anime art.

Misunderstandings about the simplicity of anime art and the need to unlearn certain artistic rules.

The strategy of using references and studies to understand anime facial structures.

The trial and error process of creating an anime painting and learning from failures.

Advice from a friend with extensive anime drawing experience on facial feature placement.

The concept of prioritizing visual appeal over strict anatomical structure in anime art.

Insights on the flexibility of anime facial expressions and their impact on character design.

The distinction between 2D and 3D thinking in art and its application to anime.

Proportional adjustments and the typical features of anime characters.

The approach to avoid the Uncanny Valley effect in anime drawings.

The creator's realization and shift from 3D structural thinking to 2D shape language.

The process of gathering references and sketching for a successful anime piece.

Incorporating experimental colors and balancing visual weight in the final anime artwork.

Using Clip Studio's stroke smoothening feature for clean line art.

The completion of the first successful anime piece and the lessons learned.

The announcement of a tablet giveaway and the 'Draw This In Your Style' challenge.

Criteria for judging the challenge entries based on creativity, acting, and visual appeal.

Transcripts

do your anime drawings look like this or

this first of

all that couldn't possibly be

[Music]

me okay fine fine you got me I'll admit

it anime is a lot harder than it seems

which is why I decided to challenge

myself by doing more of it and from

barely knowing how to draw proper anime

faces to being able to finish anime

paintings like these by the end of the

30 days here's everything I've learned

including how I went about studying the

style the key differences I've learned

from those studies along with some

perspective shifting advice from my

friend who specializes in anime art

[Music]

so really quickly thanks to our sponsor

today XP pen who was kind enough to send

me their 22in screen tablet and today

I'll be giving it a really honest review

really quickly and I'll also be giving

this away along with a screenless tablet

uh from them called The Deco LW at the

end of the video so definitely stick

around to the end to figure out how you

can possibly enter the win I grew up

mainly using huon because it was a

cheaper alternative but I've had my fair

share of experience using screen tablets

so I am quite curious to try XP pens

tablet for the first time and so first

impressions as someone who started

digital art with screen tablet I can

attest to the fact that size does matter

and so first impressions very spacious

it's got a big screen nice Sleek design

simple to set up the monitor feels

perfectly textured so it doesn't feel

too slippery like glass or too textured

the biggest Plus for me is the

anti-glare matte film because the first

tablet I've ever used had a highly

reflective surface which would make it

incredibly hard to actually see the

colors and values when there's external

light sources shining on the tablet and

bouncing into your eyes so what I did

was I would close the curtains to draw

in the dark which was not good for my

eyes which is why any tablet that has

this anti-glare matte film is usually a

big plus for me along with the 16,000

levels of pressure which is double of

your typical tablet which in theory

should really help in the accuracy of

your brush settings like line weight

through pen pressure or pen tilt all in

all it's a pretty solid tablet I can

feel the quality so if you're in the

market looking for a good quality screen

tablet definitely go check them out so

thanks again to XP pen for the sponsor

and back to the

video as someone who grew up watching

anime and still do to this day I really

enjoy the style because of how visually

appealing yet simple it looks and

because I mainly started learning art

through realism I assumed that if I knew

the rules rules to realism stylized art

like anime wouldn't be too hard

considering it's simplified and

exaggerated to reality if I understood

the rules then how hard could bending

them be right but upon remembering my

many failed anime attempts in the past I

knew that I could be severely

underestimating how much I actually

needed to learn this won't be easy I

mean how does this structure work do

anime faces have noses or snouts how the

[ __ ] does this make any sense I was on a

quest to find the answers to these

questions my my brain was too wired in

one way of thinking and I needed to open

my

[Music]

mind so here were the main points I

wanted to tackle number one how does the

anime facial structure work in different

angles number two what are their

proportions and number three how do I go

about painting them without giving them

The Uncanny Valley effect and like I

mentioned in my previous video about art

Improvement when you don't know how to

do something just do it rather than

wasting your time on trying to plan

everything out problems will come up

either way and just deal with them as

you go so to start I immediately went on

Pinterest and art station to put

together a reference Board of the most

appealing anime faces I could find and

the ones that I wanted to replicate I

also used some AI ref and while I don't

support AI stealing artwork to train

their systems without having the rights

we might as well use what's already out

there to our advantage as a learning

tool after all it is trained off really

good

artists once I had my reference say I

started doing studies aka the input

during these initial rounds of studies

my main focus was to better understand

the structure of anime faces so my first

inclination was to trace over and map

out the basic forms while noticing any

particularities about the proportions

and after that I tried to immediately

Implement what I learned about the forms

and proportions by trying to redraw a

realistic person based on a reference

into an anime character and I think this

is an efficient study strategy

especially because the reference does

all the hard work for you you don't need

to figure out the Expressions angles or

the pose all you need to do is to

readjust the proportions and forms to

match the anime style so I did a couple

reps of that while constantly comparing

what I was drawing with other anime ref

proportions and after doing a couple

more sets I prepared myself to make an

actual anime painting at the time

freerun was very popular so I chose her

and long story short it didn't go as

planned while at first glance it

actually looked okay and admittedly I

could have taken it to a finish if I

worked on it long enough but the longer

I worked on it the worse it got it had

exactly what I disliked about my

previous paintings which was The Uncanny

Valley effect and more importantly I

still didn't know how to paint anime

noses since working more and more on it

was making it feel well overworked

instead of pushing forward I chose to

cut my losses and went back to the

drawing board to re-evaluate because

there was something really important

that I was

missing and so it was back to the

drawing board and in my time of of need

my friend Kuno with a millennia of anime

drawing experience who literally came

straight out of the womb to draw anime

came in clutch with some advice that

really changed my perspective on things

and while I don't have time to explain

every single point he went over here are

my main takeaways besides some of the

tips I learned about proportions which I

will get into later the biggest thing is

this and what he means by facial feature

placement is kind of a meme is that the

placement of the facial features on the

face doesn't always structurally make

sense for example look at these drawings

in some the eyes are really close to the

side of the face and while anatomically

it doesn't really make sense the visual

appeal or graphic read comes first

before the structure and the structure

doesn't actually matter as much as

people think when it comes to anime it's

once we have the visual appeal then we

can justify it with structure to make

things look more sound it's a simplified

version of reality so Clarity visual

appeal and simplicity is King at its

extreme you can think of it almost like

an emoji Kuno also mentioned that anime

expressions are heavily influenced by

how the eyes sit on the head and the

anime faces can be so malleable because

there is no one right way to place the

eyes depending on the expression or

style this explains why some anime

drawings have the eyes or mouth on the

edge of the face and still get away with

it the key was to justify the graphical

shapes afterwards with a little bit of

structure to make it make sense

sometimes the Expressions can even break

the conventional structure to emphasize

the acting and because I love to

visualize Concepts into systems you can

think of it as a spectrum on one side we

have the 2D way of thinking emphasis on

visual appeal and shape language and on

the other the 3D way of thinking

emphasizes showing form and structure I

would even say that it's kind of similar

to not 10 versus kiso where one studies

purely the graphical read through light

and dark shapes while the other studies

how to show structure through the use of

light and Shadow one is not necessarily

harder than the other just different

modes of thinking now equipped with this

knowledge the reason this had The

Uncanny Valley effect was because I

tried to justify a 2d Style with a 3D

way of thinking similar to why the

reception of liveaction Pokémon or sonic

wasn't well received was because they

were using 2D Concepts as well and

forcing them to be 3D not to say that

it's completely impossible there

definitely are artists who have found a

good in between luno suggested that I

should avoid shading the face for the

most part while the rest of the body

could still be shaded now let's talk

proportions generally speaking anime

figures have incredibly long legs thin

limbs tiny rib cages whether it's male

or female and for female characters they

usually have an hourglass figure so wide

hips and a tiny rib cage now for the

head the cranium is going to be enlarged

along with their hair so make sure you

give it a lot of volume faces usually

have big eyes with cat-like proportions

between the eyes and the nose and here's

a more broad tip that kind of applies to

just drawing faces in general where you

place the ears in relation to the eyes

tell tells the viewer at what angle the

subject's head is tilted in so make sure

you're aware of that when you're drawing

faces so here are the main takeaways

focus on visual appeal and then justify

it with structure keep the face flat and

don't try to paint too much to avoid The

Uncanny Valley effect and finally the

proportional adjustments we talked about

round

two now with all this new found

knowledge I knew what I had to do stop

thinking about things in terms of 3D

structure and start thinking in terms of

2D shapes so to kick this off I

immediately went to grab some references

with exaggerated shapes and I found that

a lot of anime shots with extreme

emotions would fit this category I tried

to be as Loose as possible so a lot of

these drawings were either

proportionally off or structurally

flawed but that was the goal I had to

discipline that need to make the

structure make sense out of me it was

almost like I was a recovering League

addict every time they heard this

sound it was like an itch that I needed

to scratch every time I saw something

something that didn't make structural

sense like why I overworked Fan's face

rather than leaving it 2D and flat but

the more consciously I overcame the urge

the easier it became I was also trying

to simultaneously implement the things I

learned from the previous study for

example exaggerating the flow of shapes

the size of the cranium and adding

different kinds of hairstyles with

volume and also making a mental note on

any facial proportions or placement of

facial features that were really

surprising to me part of it was like

expanding my anime visual library on

what's acceptable to exaggerate by

taking mental notes on the small details

and another part was loosening up my

eyes and my brain to stop thinking so

structurally

[Music]

and by the end of everything with a few

more study sessions over a period of a

week I felt like I was ready to attempt

more anime pieces and apply everything

I've studied the solution seemed simple

I found the fix to The Uncanny Valley

effect solidified my understanding of

how to exaggerate facial feature

placement and proportions and also

expanded my anime visual Library by just

a little and while I could have

continued to study even further like I

mentioned in my previous video it was

really important that I balanced out my

input the studies I was doing with my

output actually applying what I studied

it was a challenge that I was pretty

confident that I could handle and now

for the last step the final boss was the

[Music]

execution so I chose the character Black

Swan here after after seeing a really

cool cuts scene along with her fighting

this creature called unto death and as

always Gathering reference is the first

step this time I separated my references

into a few categories the characters

themselves to reference their design

details Expressions interesting pose

angles I could explore anime shape

language that I found cool and a ton of

color SL mood reference I had been

seeing a lot of art from Twitter lately

that had a lot of experimental colors

and I really wanted to test the waters

with that and see what I could make this

piece in particular was a huge

inspiration for me and so after

Gathering the references I started

sketching and while for other finished

pieces I usually sketch a bunch of

thumbnails before I choose the path I

want to take I decided to only go with

the first idea cuz I wasn't trying to

make this a portfolio piece or anything

it was just uh a fun experimental piece

I also made a 3D reference later to help

me figure out the structure of the body

and the pose and to those who are

curious how I did it I made a really

simple tutorial from start to finish on

how I did this in this video at this

time anyway I not only wanted to

practice anime but also add other

challenges outside of my comfort zone

for example using very experimental

colors like I mentioned earlier by

playing with saturation and different

Hues adding two different characters

with equally as strong visual weight and

learning to balance the two focal points

and focusing on the flow of gesture to

guide the viewer's eyes and in the end

to wrap everything together I cleaned up

the line art by using clip studio for

the first time because I was told that

clip Studio had a very nice stroke

smoothening feature helping your lines

feel more clean and less bumped I didn't

want to overwork it like the last time

and I felt like I've already practiced

what I came to practice and so I called

it a

day and so I finished my first

successful anime piece and in the

remaining time that I had of the 30 days

I was also able to complete two more

anime pieces and I kind of reverted back

to my old ways with this one when all I

had to do was not paint the face but

that's something I can always work on

while I definitely can't say that I've

mastered the anime style and I still

have a lot to learn I was able to get a

taste of what I could potentially be

capable of and that not only excited me

but also made me look forward to

creating even more awesome pieces in the

future this learning experience over the

period of 30 days was another piece of

the puzzle to understanding visual

appeal and another skill unlocked in my

mental library to potentially use in the

future for problem solving I didn't

really want to get into the specifics of

the process like how I went from Gray

scale to color or for example balancing

foreground versus background elements

just because I wanted to keep this video

short and to the point but for those who

are curious I'll be posting my full

speed pain process without commentary on

my Gum Road for free another thing is

that I feel like in the previous video I

was a little vague at times about the

advice I gave in terms of art

Improvement and so I hope that I was

actually able to show you guys how I

might put what I talked about into

practice here wait wait hold on I I lied

I realized after I recorded that that

actually gumroad requires the price to

be at least $1 if the file size is

bigger than a certain size um so the

speed paints will actually be up for $1

unfortunately

[Music]

thanks for sticking around to the end of

the video or if you skipped here that's

fine too like I mentioned in the

beginning there is going to be a tablet

giveaway it's going to be this tablet

along with the Deco LW which is like a

smaller screenless tablet that XP pen

was kind enough to offer to add to the

giveaway and because I already have a

tablet that I've been using for quite

some time now that I'm more used to I

thought I'd just give it away to someone

else who might need it and so to enter

the challenge all you need to do is to

draw this character in any pose with any

lighting that you choose it's going to

be a draw this in your style challenge

use this hashtag and make sure you tag

me in the post and the deadline will be

on August 31st I'll be choosing my top

five favorite pieces and I'll enter them

into a random generator like kind of a

raffle and two of those five people will

either win the XP pen 22 plus or The

Deco LW but I'll also be posting any

cool ones that I see on my story I'll

mostly be judging off of creativity

acting and overall visual appeal like I

talked about in this video so definitely

try to have fun with it you can have her

interacting with an animal or eating

some food uh either way good luck and

have fun