Anime-style artwork requires the same fundamental skills required of any artist—a steady hand, an eye for proportion, and lots and lots of practice. At some point in your life, if and when you decide to pursue an art career (or devote yourself to it as a hobby) you will learn these basics through taking art classes and/or self-study. Since AnimeStyle Pro is specifically intended to as an anime-specific drawing site, we’ll just hit the highlights here while staying focused on the style itself.

That said, it is still very important that you know what kind of practice is necessary to become a skilled anime-style artist, and it involves some of the very basic art techniques utilized by most traditional artists, regardless of the style they work in. Though there are many young artists that go straight to drawing big-eyed girls (even many of the Japanese animators), Cindy personally does not recommend that route, however fun it may be at the beginning. There are other instruction books and websites that do just that, but we feel that the anime style is built on a much deeper foundation than the superficial attractiveness that it is so well-known for. Limiting yourself to drawing exaggerated forms will only hinder you from making further progress, as you’ll lack the foundation to enable yourself to grow and improve.

Our objective in this upcoming premium content section is to clearly define what the anime style is based upon, and help you use that understanding to expand and sharpen your artistic skills through three types of line-drawing exercises.