Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists

Drawing is a skill you can always improve at. Everyone makes art and draws it in different ways. One style that is both common and very popular is anime art. Anime art uses thin lines and many details. Most people make anime art digitally, but some do it on paper! Today I will be teaching you all how to draw anime art digitally! (Or well, my version of it anyways!) Whether you are a newer artist or a complete newbie on this, it’s fine! The first recommendation I would make is to find a good art program like Firealpaca, Medibang, Ibis Paint X, Photoshop, Procreate, and more! However, do keep in mind that different art programs have different layouts, tools, and prices. Photoshop, Procreate, Clipstudio, and Paint Tool SAI are all amazing drawing programs but all cost real money. Some free alternatives are Firealpaca, Krita, Medibang, and Ibis Paint X, but Firealpaca and Krita are only on desktops, and Medibang and Ibis Paint X are mobile! Also, a little side note: for the bottom art, I used Medibang! Please note: The example drawing down below was made a few weeks ago, so this is a half body and not a headshot. STEPS: 1. Find a clear image or idea of what you want to draw 2. When drawing digitally, you should start with a large canvas size like 1000×1000 so you have room to add details and make those tiny little features that make anime art look like anime art. 3. You should also note that when drawing, just use a basic pen or pencil brush, nothing too special. Just keep it simple for now and experiment later! 4. Start sketching what you want to draw (sketching means drawing using very basic shapes like lines, circles, triangles, etc.) 5. Then start the more refined sketching—let’s put this into parts: 5.1 The Head: draw a circle, and then add 2 short lines to the sides and connect them 5.2 The Body: draw a rectangle (since this is a headshot, the rectangle is the whole body) 5.3 Hair: it is up to you how you want to draw the hair or if you want to at all. 5.4 Eyes- this is also up to you how you want to draw it or not What it should look similar to: 6. Now draw the lineart. Do one stroke at a time. Not many lines— just 1 line at a time to make it look clean. What it should look similar to: 7. Add color by using the eyedrop tool 8. Add shading (optional) What it should look similar to: At the end, you can add highlights if you like. Your final result should look somewhat like this, but you should always practice to get better!