How to Draw Bored Anime or Manga Eyes

Posted on by animeoutline

This tutorial shows how to draw anime eyes with a bored expression. It consists of a line by line drawing video and step by step illustrated examples.

You can see a preview of the eight drawing stages for the bored eyes in the example above. In addition to a bored look the same expression can also be used to show daydreaming, indifference or disinterest.

While the steps (if done carefully) do not require you to erase any parts of the drawing, it’s still recommended that you start the tutorial in pencil (unless drawing digitally) so that you can easily correct any mistakes.

You can see a step by step video for the bored eye expression above. Watch it for a line by line breakdown of the drawing process and read below for more detailed instructions. Please don’t forget to leave a like and to subscribe. Also be sure to check out the AnimeOutline channel for more content.

Step 1 – Draw the Outer Shape of the Bored Eyes

Begin by outlining the outer shape of of each eye as shown in the example.

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

Step 2 – Draw the Eyelashes

Using the outlines from the previous step as a guide draw the inner shapes of the eyelashes (as shown above).

Step 3 – Draw the Irises

The irises are a very important part to showing this particular expression. For a bored look draw them rolled up leaving a good amount of space between them and the bottoms of the eyes.

For drawing these same eyes with a normal expression see:

How to Draw Anime Eyes (Normal Expression)

Step 4 – Draw the Eyebrows

Another important aspect of conveying a bored look are the eyebrows. Draw them with their inner ends (the sides pointing towards the center of the head) raised. Leave the outer ends at about the same level as you would for a normal expression.

Step 5 – Draw the Reflections & Pupils

Bored anime eyes detilas drawing — Bored anime eyes details drawing

Inside each of the irises draw the the pupils and the reflections. You can draw these in whatever order you prefer.

For a bored expression the number of reflections is not particularly important but you can generally go with two. One for the main light source and one for the reflected light.

Step 6 – Draw a Hint of the Eyelids

Add the eyelids by drawing a curve above each eye (closer to their inner ends). The curves of the eyelids can follow the upper shapes of the eyes.

Step 7 – Add Hints of Individual Lashes

For the last set of details draw some hints of individual eyelashes at the outer/upper part of each eye. Similar to anime style hair you can add these in fairly large clumps. You also generally want to make them symmetrical (same for both eyes).

For tutorials on drawing anime eyelashes see:

Step 8 – Add Shading & Finish the Bored Eyes Drawing

Finally finish the drawing by darkening/shading the various parts of the eyes. Do this as follows:

Eyebrows – black
Eyelashes – black
Irises (upper parts) – black
Highlights – white
Pupils – black
Irises (lower parts) – grey

You can also easily turn this into a colored drawing. For example simply replace the grey with something like blue. You can also go with something more unusual. As these are anime/manga eyes you can use pretty much any color you like.

Conclusion

This tutorial shows how to draw bored anime or manga eyes. As already mentioned this expression can also be used to show a daydreaming, indifferent or disinterested look.

Hopefully you’ve found this guide helpful and easy to follow. For more on drawing anime manga style eyes and eye expressions also see the following tutorials: