This tutorial will show you how to draw manga and anime-style blushes. It also includes several examples of the most popular types.
A blush in manga and anime can signify emotions like love, embarrassment, or just be part of a character’s appearance.
There are four main types of blush styles.
- Striped– Shown with a series of small strokes
- Solid is usually shaped like an oval around the cheeks
- A gradient is a natural-looking blurred blush
- Combined– A combination of stripes and gradients, or a solid blush
This tutorial will show you how to draw a face that looks like the one in the tutorial.
How to Draw an Animation Girl’s Face and Head
Drawing Anime Blush with Strokes
It takes only a few lines to create a “striped” anime blush. Make two sets of angled lines around your cheeks. To create a more natural blush, make the outer and inner stripes shorter. You want a combination shape that fits inside a stretched oval. You can make the stripes exactly the same length.
Below is an example of a “striped” blush, which was drawn with all facial features.
You can make a larger “striped” blush by drawing it in one set of strokes that runs all the way across your nose. Again, you can make the strokes shorter in the middle than at the edges.
This blush is more appropriate for an emotional (in this instance, embarrassed) face.
Drawing a solid anime blush
This is the easiest blush to draw. This blush can be indicated with only two ovals on your cheeks. These “bean-like” shapes can be used instead.
This blush is generally used on “Chibi” or stylized anime characters, but it can also be used on serious-looking characters.
Check out this example to see how you might draw a chibi character:
How to Draw Chibi Anime Characters Step by Step
Below you can see the effect of the “solid” blush on an anime character.
Another option is to draw a larger version of the “solid” blush, with only one shape running across the nose and onto your cheeks. You might curve the shape slightly so that it doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of your nose.
As you can see, this blush looks great with all facial features.
Drawing a Gradient Animation Blush
The “blurred” or gradient brush looks slightly more natural. You can blend this blush by simply blending it from below each cheek.
The “blurred/gradient blush” looks great with the facial features as shown in the above example.
You can make a larger version by creating a shape that curves slightly higher than the bottom of your nose.
In the above image, you can also see the large “gradient blush” that is blended with facial features.
Drawing a Combined Anime Blush
Some manga and anime styles use a mixture of stripes and a gradient. This type of blush can be drawn by first drawing the gradient, then adding the stripes (especially if you are using a pencil to ensure that the strokes don’t get smudged).
In the above example, you can again see what the blush looks like on a full-faced face.
You can draw a bigger version of the combined blush by simply drawing it as one large “blur” over the nose and then adding a single line over it.
This final example shows you how this blush looks with your facial features.
Conclusion
Blush is a common feature in manga and anime. It is very simple to draw and can be used to highlight certain emotions or characters in anime.
See: for more information on how to draw anime characters with various personalities
Tutorial Drawing Anime Characters
You can also see similar articles:
- Common Mistakes When Drawing Anime & Manga
- How to Draw Highlights in Anime Hair
- 6 Different Ways to Draw Fingernails