This tutorial will show you how to draw an anime woman wearing a Santa Hat. This tutorial consists of 12 steps and includes detailed examples of each stage of the drawing process.
The example girl will be dressed in a Christmas outfit, and she will be smiling joyfully.
This tutorial is quite long as it provides a thorough breakdown of the drawing process. However, it should be easy to follow.
While the proportions in this tutorial are consistent with the 3dvkarts general guidelines, they may differ from other tutorials.
You will also need to erase some of your outlines as you move through the steps. You should draw with a pencil and paper. Make light lines to make it easier. Once you feel everything is in its right place, you can make them darker later.
Step 1 – Draw your Head
Begin by drawing a vertical line across the center of your drawing area. This is a guideline to help you determine if the widths of both sides of your face are fairly equal.
Draw the top of your head towards the upper end. This should look like a circle.
Continue to the lower half of the head and add the bottom. In the previous example, you can see how the different lines/curves are broken down.
Begin by drawing a pair of lines slightly angled towards your head. Next, draw a series of curves. Draw another set of lines that are slightly angled towards the center of the head, this time more so than the first set. Join the sides together by tracing a small curve at the base of your chin.
Step 2: Draw the neck and shoulders
To show the neck, extend another pair of lines from the top of your head. These lines should be able to transition into the shoulders/shoulders of each side.
See:
How to Draw Fingernails 6 Different Ways
Step 3 – Draw your eyes
To place your eyes, draw a horizontal line that divides your head into two equal halves. Draw the eyes below this line.
You can remove most of the inner details at this stage as the goal is to achieve the right size and position.
Eye Spacing
Place the eyes so they are not too far apart that another eye can be inserted between them.
Step 4 – Draw your Eyebrows
Draw the eyebrows above the eyes. These eyebrows will be raised for this expression. You will need to draw them slightly higher than normal and with their positioning slightly higher than normal.
The eyebrows in this example are quite thin, but not so thin that it is possible to draw them with one line. To give the eyebrows the correct thickness, especially towards the inner ends, you can draw several lines but keep them very light for this stage.
Step 5 – Draw your Ears
Place your ears so that their tops are close to the eye and their bottoms close to the halfway mark between the top of your eyes and the bottom part of your chin.
The hair will cover most of the inner parts of your ears, so leave them out.
Step 6 – Draw your nose
The nose should be drawn as a dot, with its bottom between the tops of the eyes (and the bottom of your chin).
Step 7 – Draw your mouth
This will mean that the girl will smile (teeth visible) and the placement of her mouth will be adjusted accordingly.
As shown in the illustration, draw it with its bottom between your nose and your chin.
More information on drawing cartoon mouths and teeth can be found here:
- How To Draw Manga Mouth Expressions
- Drawing Manga and Anime Teeth Tutorial
Step 8 – Draw your hair
The hair will be divided into three steps.
This article has more information:
How To Draw Manga Hair – Female
The hair should be drawn so that it overlaps the contour of the head and facial features. It is possible to erase any parts that have been covered up by the hair later.
You can also erase the guideline used to place the facial features before you start this step.
Please note that the hat will cover some hairs and you will have to retouch them. The full hairstyle is below to give you an idea of how it should look.
This is a simplified version of how to add hair. Also, see examples of drawing headwear and hats.
How To Draw Anime Hats and Headware
Draw the front of your hair
Draw the hair’s front as in the image above. This is anime hair so draw it in large clumps and with pointed ends.
Draw the sides of your hair
Draw the sides of your hair so that they are almost identical. Each side can look like a single clump, with a slight curve at the ends (to hug the face) and a split at its bottom tip.
Draw the back of your hair
Add the top/back section. This is the “background” section. To give volume to the hair, the top section of this section should roughly trace the contour of the top of your head.
The bottom section should have a similar number of small and medium-sized hair clumps to the front.
Do your hair a good job.
As mentioned above, you should remove any hairs or facial features from the head.
Step 9 – Draw your Clothes
This step will be further broken down into smaller steps that will include adding a Santa Hat, a ribbon, and partially visible clothes.
Draw the Santa Hat
As you have drawn your hair up, place the Santa hat on top.
This stage can be simplified to make the pom-pom look more like a circle.
Draw the Outfit
As shown in the image above, the upper part of the clothing.
Draw the Ribbon
Add a ribbon to the neck.
Step by Step Ribbon Drawing
In the above example, you can see how the ribbon is drawn.
- The lace should be tied around the neck.
- Add the knowledge in the middle
- Draw the “bow-tie”-looking bit of ribbon
- Add the ends of the laces that hang down.
Get rid of the clothes drawing
Clean up the drawing by erasing any clothing that is covering the body. As shown in the above example, you can add the fluff to your pom and fold the ribbon.
To maintain the shape of the pom-pom, draw the fluff in clumps over the circle. Once you are done, you can erase the circle.
Step 10 – Draw the small details
Next, draw the inner details of your eyes and eyelashes.
Here’s a breakdown of how to draw female anime eyes.
Tutorial Drawing Female Anime Eyes
You should also place a few of your eyelids over them.
A hint of the ear folds can be added to each ear’s visible portion (may not be easy to see in this example).
After you have completed this step, you can use a thicker stroke to darken your lines.
Step 11 – Color
Finally, you can colorize the drawing. The outfit will then be red-and-white. The eyes will be green and the hair will be brunette.
This will result in a beautiful combination of holiday colors.
More information on choosing colors for anime characters can be found here:
A Beginner’s Guide to Picking Colors for Drawing Anime & Manga
You will need to leave some white highlights on your hair, as shown in this example. These can be shaded very lightly with the same color as your hair.
You can add highlights to your hair digitally.
Learn more about how to draw hair highlights.
How to Draw Highlights in Anime Hair
Step 12 – Add the Blush & Shading
You can draw the blush using a series of lines and a mixture of some light red around it.
More information on drawing blush can be found here:
How to Draw Manga Blush in Different Styles
To finish the drawing, you can add some generic shading. If the character is outdoors during daylight, or indoors in well-lit rooms, shadows will be placed where they are most likely to occur.
As follows:
- The bottom of your hat’s “rim” and the bottom end of your pom pom
- The hair will be affected by the rim of a hat and the hair itself. (For more information on shading hair, see How To Shade Anime Hair Step By Step).
- On the forehead (cast with the hair).
- You can color the pupils the same shade of dark green, as they are naturally darker than the lower parts of your eyes.
- The eyelids
- To the right of the nose
- On the neck (cast from the head).
- As well as below the “bow-tie”, the ribbon can be seen on its inner side.
- As well as below the clothing, the “collar” is located at the bottom.
Conclusion
This tutorial incorporates many elements from other tutorials you can find on 3dvkarts. Although it was quite detailed in how to draw the various parts of your character, it should have been easy for you to follow.
You can also visit 3dvkarts…
You can find more tutorials about drawing clothes at:
- How To Draw Anime Socks Stockings & Tights
- How To Draw Anime Hats and Headware
- How To Draw Manga Clothes
- Step-by-step instructions on how to draw an anime panda girl
