This video tutorial shows you how you draw an anime fox. It gives tips for making the character more fox-like while still retaining an anime style.
The fox girl, or “kitsune” as they are typically referred to is a frequent and well-known character across a variety of kinds of manga and anime with a fantasy component the characters.
The main focus of this tutorial is on drawing this cartoon character, by giving an anime character certain features reminiscent of foxes. One of the most obvious is the ears of a fox, but there are some more subtle items you could add too.
It is important to note that you’ll have to erase portions of the drawing in a few stages. If you’re drawing digitally, we recommend beginning this tutorial using pencil and drawing your lines in a light manner. This also makes it much easier to rectify any errors that could be made. You can draw over your sketch once you are sure that everything is right.
For more information on drawing techniques, look up:
- Beginner Guide to Drawing Anime & Manga
- Common Mistakes When Drawing Anime & Manga
- Beginner Guide to Picking Colors When Drawing Anime & Manga
Step 1 – Draw the Fox Girl’s Head
Start by drawing an upward line across the middle of the drawing area. This line helps you determine whether the sides of your face and head are roughly equal in size.
Following this, as illustrated in the illustration, draw a circle for what is the crown of your head. Leave enough room above it to accommodate the ears.
From the circle, trace the lower part that is the top of your head. The head should become narrower as it descends, beginning with an angled pair of straight lines, which then change into a couple of curvatures around the cheeks. Then, they should transform into straight lines which continue toward the middle of the face and end up joining by the small cheek curve.
Step 2 – Draw the Neck & Shoulders
Beginning at the bottom of the head, draw the neck. Since this is a stylized anime character, the neck should be quite thin in comparison to the head.
The neck must then shift to the shoulder muscles, and finally the shoulders.
For more details on drawing anime’s neck, check out:
How to Draw Anime Neck & Shoulders
Step 3- Position the Eyes
To put the eyes of the head vertically with straight lines, then put them just a little small distance below.
At this point, do not draw any of the inside details as these are added in subsequent stages.
In this instance, the person will be wearing a mild smile, so the eyes are drawn a little less narrow than for normal expressions. It is also possible to draw the eyelashes/eyelids on the bottom of the eye slightly to emphasize the.
When you space the eyes, you should have them spaced so as to allow an additional eye between them, like in the picture above.
Step 4 – Draw the Eyebrows
In this instance, the eyebrows are likely to be dense, particularly towards their outer edges. They should be slightly raised above the eyes. They should be placed so that the distance from them to the tops of your mascara (for this particular type of character) is supposed to be slightly smaller than the eye’s height.
Step 5 – Position the Nose
Draw the nose midway across the middle horizontal on the forehead and base on the cheek. In contrast to the eyes, there is no need to draw a second horizontal line for putting it, but you may decide to.
In this instance, the nose will appear as a dot or a very tiny horizontal dash.
For additional examples of drawing anime-style noses, check out:
How to Draw Anime and Manga Noses
Step 6 – Position the Mouth
The mouth should be slightly higher than a midway point of the top on the side of the nose to the lower part of your chin (as illustrated in the illustration).
In this instance, the fox lady will have a smile that is light. To make the mouth appear more animal-like make the smile appear more animal-like by drawing the show curves, which are broken down the middle.
For more information about drawing anime mouths, check out:
- How to Draw Anime Mouths Tutorial
- How to Draw Anime and Manga Mouth Expressions
Step 7 – Draw the Fox Ears
The most distinctive characteristic of a fox girl is her ears. They can be drawn directly into the hair, however, it’s best to at least have an understanding of how they connect to the hair. This is why we include the fox ears prior to the hair.
Start by drawing the outline of each ear, then you can include the areas in which the ears curve to show their outside sides.
To give the appearance of fur, you can draw small splits near the ear’s tip.
Step 8 – Draw the Hair in the Front
Hair that is drawn will be divided into sides, front and back sections. The details on this technique through the next tutorials.
- How to Draw Anime and Manga Hair – Female
- How to Draw Anime Hair in 3/4 View Step by Step
Begin drawing the hair on the front of your head. In this instance, it will be drawn in red. The hair is formed in large, clumps which are a little like tails.
Draw the clumps on your outlined head and ears. Then, you can erase the lower part of the ear (are in the areas where they’re hidden) but keep the hair’s outline for guidance as you position the remainder of the hair.
Step 9 – Draw the Hair on the Sides
Then add the side sections (shown in green). In this instance, it will consist of two huge clumps of hair which are again shaped as the tails of a fox.
Draw the clumps using some curve so they appear somewhat “hugging” the face.
Step 10 – Draw the Hair at the Back
Add the hair to your background (shown by the blue). It is possible to draw this area by adding a few smaller clumps towards the bottom, which stick out slightly towards the sides.
After you’ve drawn the hair, you are able to remove the areas of the face and head that are covered.
Step 11 – Draw the Ear Fur/Fluff
As is typical for animal ears, you could show the fur or feathers that are sticking out. Draw it like hair, in big clumps, as illustrated in the picture.
Step 12 – Draw the Clothes
While there is only just a little of the body, you can still see some clothing.
In this scenario, the fox girl is dressed in traditional Japanese outfits. Shrine maidens are also called a “Miko” outfit.
It is possible to draw the collar that is typical of this dress, as seen in the picture.
Step 13 – Draw the Details of the Eyes
After all, the main parts of the character are defined it is possible to add smaller details like the eyes.
Within each eye, draw the pupil in two bright spots. It is also possible to expose a small portion of the lids by drawing an elongated line slightly over (closer to the outer end of) every eye. Then, make the eyelashes appear more full with dark or pencil shading. Finally, give small hints of individual lashes.
For a step-by-step guide on drawing anime female eyes, check out:
How to Draw Female Anime Eyes Tutorial
Although the eyes aren’t exactly the same, the steps to draw them are alike.
After you have completed this step, you are able to trace over the lines using the darker stroke of your pencil. If you are confident about your ability to draw, you could also try using markers or a black pen.
Step 14 – Apply Color
To make the character appear more like a fox, she’ll have hair that is yellow or orange and ears. Keep the fluff on the ears and hair white. You can also keep some white areas to create highlights within the hair.
Note that if you draw digitally, it is possible to layer all the white areas onto the color, instead of coloring them around them.
For more ideas on drawing hair highlights in anime style, check out:
Different Ways to Draw Anime Hair Highlights
You could also put white ends in the side hair clumps to make them appear as if they are the tails of the fox (yellow/orange with white tips).
Then, you can paint the neck and face area, and provide the girl with a hint of blush. Draw the blush in two red lines under each eye right above the color of the face.
For more information on making anime-style blush, read:
How to Draw Anime & Manga Blush in Different Ways
You can also make the eyes green, and the inside of the collar of the dress is red (very typical of the typical “Miko” dress).
If you wish the eyes to appear closer to those of a real fox, you could make them brown or orange in place of the green.
Step 15 – Add Shading & Finish the Fox Girl Drawing
To complete the drawing, you can add some shading as well as a gradient on the contour lines.
To create the blush, simply mix with a little red in the lines you traced in the previous step.
The shadows in this tutorial (as in many similar tutorials at AnimationOutline) will be incorporated into areas where shadows are likely to be seen under normal lighting conditions, such as a bright area or a daytime outdoor.
Make the shadows appear as follows:
- Darken completely the inner ear canals of the ear (less light can reach them)
- A shade inside each clump of ear fluff with the points of the shadows formed as if they were clumps of hair or fur
- Below the hairline on the sides and forehead of the face (cast by a hair)
- The eyelids (as these zones are indented, less light is able to reach them)
- The upper areas of the eyes are the whites and the irises (cast by eyelashes as well as reflections of the eyelashes within the iris)
- One side to the side (from within the nasal itself)
- A little below the mouth (creates an impression of the lower lip)
- The neck is in the form of the chin (cast on the neck by a head)
- On the lower portions of the hair, it clumps
For more information on shading anime hair, see:
After you have added the shading, you will have a completed sketch of the fox.
Conclusion
Fox girls, also known as “kitsune” are quite popular characters in manga and anime. Like other characters with animal features, their main characteristic is their ears. Alongside these, there are other, smaller, and less obvious features you can include to help a character look more like a fox (as shown in this tutorial).
Typically, you should add enough details to give you an idea of the animal you would like the character to represent while keeping the anime style.
If you’d like to draw a character of a fantasy nature, check out:
- How to Draw Anime Wolf Girl Step by Step
- How to Draw an Anime Elf Girl Step by Step
- How to Draw an Anime Vampire Girl Step by Step
- How to Draw an Anime Panda Girl Step by Step
- How to Draw Anime Cat Girl Ears Step by Step
- How to Draw an Anime Girl in a Mask Step by Step