How to Draw Angry Anime or Manga Eyes (8 Steps)

Posted on by animeoutline

This tutorial shows how to draw anime or manga eyes with an angry expression. It consists of eight steps that go from a simple line drawing to basic shading.

There are many ways to give an anime or manga character an angry expression. One of the most important parts of one are of course the eyes. This tutorial shows one easy way of drawing these with an angry look. This is done by combining the important aspects of such an expression with key elements of the style.

The guide is very simple and beginner friendly. The eyes are drawn without too much detail and with very basic shading. However, it’s still recommended that you start it in pencil (if drawing on paper) just in case you make a mistake.

You can see a line by line drawing video of the eyes above with a more detailed explanation of the drawing steps below (be sure to look at both). Please don’t forget to leave a like. Also be sure to check out the AnimeOutline channel for more content.

Step 1 – Outline the Shape of the Angry Eyes

Begin by outlining the overall shapes of the eyes. For an angry look draw them narrower than you would for their relaxed state. Also draw the inner ends of the each eye lower down than the outer ends. This will again help make them look angry.

For drawing the same eyes with a normal/relaxed expression see:

How to Draw Anime Eyes (Normal Expression)

Space the eyes far enough apart that the distance between them is roughly equal to the length of one eye.

Step 2 – Outline the Eyelashes

Using the outer shape as a guide outline the inner shape of the eyelashes (as shown above).

Step 3 – Draw the Irises

As the eyes are narrower the irises will be less visible than normal. Because these are anime eyes draw them vertically stretched out (oval in shape if they were fully visible).

Step 4 – Draw the Eyebrows

The eyebrows are the most important aspect of getting angry looking eyes. Draw them with their inner ends significantly lower than for a normal expression. You also want the eyebrows to have a bit a of “wave” to their shapes where they first curve down and then start curving up near their bottoms.

Step 5 – Draw the Highlights

Draw a pair of highlights inside each eye (light reflecting from them). Add a large one to show the main light source and a smaller one for the reflection. For example one can be the sun the other the sun reflecting form some shiny surface.

Optionally you can draw the pupils first and then draw the highlights over top of them and erase the overlapping lines. Whatever you find more comfortable.

Step 6 – Draw the Pupils

Inside the irises draw the pupil. Try and position them directly in the center of each iris.

You want the pupils to have the same shapes but to be significantly smaller.

Step 7 – Add Hints of Individual Lashes

Finally add some hints of individual eyelashes to the outer ends of the eye outlines. Try and draw each one to be slightly curved (as shown above).

If you want to make the eyelashes something other than black you can erase the parts of the outlines that are at the base of each of the lashes. Otherwise you can leave them as they will simply merge into the shading.

Step 8 – Add Shading & Finish the Angry Eyes Drawing

Once you have all parts of the eyes outlined you can add some simple shading as follows:

Eyebrows – black
Eyelashes – black
Irises (upper parts) – black
Highlights – white
Pupils – black
Irises (lower parts) – grey (or any color you like)

Conclusion

This tutorial shows a fairly easy way to draw anime/manga style eyes with an angry look. As mentioned at the start this is done by combining the important aspects of an angry look (such as lowered eyebrows) with important aspects of the the style (such as the simplified eyelashes).

By following the steps and instructions you can create a drawing that is simple yet effective in conveying both the expression and the style. It can also look quite nice and grab a viewers attention.

For more similar tutorials also see the following:

For other tutorials on drawing facial features in the anime and manga style see: