How to draw an anime head from any angle

Why turning a head is hard

Most people learn faces from the front and try to rotate that flat picture in their head. It works for a slight turn, then the eyes slide, the nose floats and the jaw breaks. The problem is not the features: it is the missing volume underneath.

The fix is to draw the head as a 3D object you can turn, then let the features ride on it. A manga head is not a flat circle: it is a ball you carve, in four steps that never change, whichever way it turns. Once you trust those four steps, an angle is just the same construction turned a little more.

How to draw a head from any angle step by step

Start with a slight three-quarter view, then push the angle further each time. Keep every guideline light: you will draw over them several times, and you will erase them at the end.

1. Step 1Draw the skull

   Draw a sphere, or a slightly egg-shaped circle, for the skull. It is the main volume: everything else hangs on it. Decide now which way the head turns and tilts, before any other line.

   

2. Step 2Cut the side plane and draw the axis

   Cut a slice off the side of the sphere that faces you: that flat oval is the temple, where the ear will go. Then draw the axis of the face, a curved vertical line through the middle of the face. On a turned head, it moves toward the far side and wraps around the ball.

   

3. Step 3Draw the eye line and the jaw

   Cross the axis with the eye line, halfway down the head: it follows the surface of the face and turns with it. Then come down from each side of the skull to the chin, on the extension of the axis. Keep the chin thin and slightly pointed.

   

4. Step 4Turn a box inside the skull

   For a difficult angle, imagine a small box inside the head, its front face where the eyes, the nose and the mouth go. Turn it exactly like your guidelines. It is much easier to see how a box turns than a sphere, and the box keeps the features square to each other.

   

5. Step 5Place the features on the turned guides

   Put the eyes on the eye line, the nose and the mouth on the axis, and the ear on the side plane. In three-quarter view, the far eye gets narrower and moves closer to the nose, the tip of the nose sticks out past the axis, and the far side of the mouth gets shorter.

   

6. Step 6Add the hair and the final lines

   Draw the hair as a mass a little bigger than the skull, then the big locks starting from the parting, wrapping around the head like the construction lines. Go over the final lines and erase the construction. Draw the same character again from another angle to check that they stay recognizable.

   

How to draw a three-quarter view

The three-quarter view is the most common angle in manga because it shows both the shape of the face and its features. Move the axis about a quarter of the way toward the far side and curve it around the sphere. The side plane you see grows, and the ear moves toward the middle of the head.

The near eye keeps its shape, the far eye gets narrower and closer to the nose, and the tip of the nose overlaps the far cheek. On the far side, the outline of the face shows the brow, the cheekbone and the chin instead of the round shape of the skull.

How to draw a head in profile

In profile, the side plane faces you and the axis becomes the outline of the face: the brow, the nose, the mouth and the chin all sit on it. The jaw goes back from the chin toward the ear, which sits on the side plane, behind the middle of the head.

The eye becomes an arrowhead pointing toward the nose, with a thin oval iris, set back from the bridge of the nose. The nose comes out of the face outline as a small triangle, and the mouth leaves only a small notch under it, set back a little.

How to draw a head looking up or down

When the head tilts down, the top of the skull takes more room, the face gets shorter and the chin tucks in. The eye line curves downward in the middle, like a U, and the ears move up compared with the eyes. A head that drops also tells an emotion: sadness, shyness, a heavy thought.

When the head tilts back, the eye line arches upward in the middle, the underside of the jaw and the neck appear, and the ears move down compared with the eyes. The nostrils and the underside of the nose show more, and the eyes look closer to the top of the face.

High and low angles

A head can also be seen from above or below while it stays straight: that is the camera moving, not the character. Seen from above, the top of the skull and the forehead get bigger and the chin smaller, which often reads as small or vulnerable.

Seen from below, the chin and the underside of the nose are visible, the jaw looks heavier and the character looks strong or threatening. In both cases, curve the guidelines the same way as for a head tilting down or up, and keep these angles for the big moments of a story.

Common mistakes when drawing heads at an angle

Before you draw the eyes, the hair and the final outline, check that the head is correctly oriented. Most heads that look wrong at an angle were drawn as a front view and pushed sideways.

• Straight guidelines on a turned head: the face looks pasted on. Curve the axis and the eye line around the volume.
• Both eyes the same width: in three-quarter view, the far eye is always narrower.
• Ears that never move: they sit on the side plane and move with the turn and the tilt.
• Keeping the round skull as the face outline: on a turned head, the outline shows the brow, the cheekbone and the chin.
• Memorizing one angle: practice many small turns instead of one favorite pose.