How to Draw Excited Anime or Manga Eyes

Posted on by animeoutline

This tutorial shows how to draw anime eyes with an excited expression. It consists of eight steps with illustrated examples and a line by line drawing video.

This excited eye expression can be used to show a character that is very interested in, attracted to or emotional about something (generally in a positive way). Overall it’s very similar to a surprised look but with one key difference that is covered in step five (the reflections).

For drawing eyes with a surprised expression see:

How to Draw Surprised Anime or Manga Eyes

It’s recommended that you start the tutorial in pencils (unless drawing digitally) as you may need to erase a little bit of the drawing in one of the steps.

Above you can see the video for drawing the excited looking eyes. You can watch it and then read the more detailed drawing instructions below.

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Step 1 – Draw the Outline of the Eyes

Begin the drawing with the outer shape of each eye. Draw them wide open (vertically taller than in their relaxed state).

For drawing these eyes with a normal expression see:

How to Draw Anime Eyes (Normal Expression)

Space the eyes far enough apart that you can fit another one in between them. Also be sure to position them in a way where you have plenty of room above for the eyebrows.

Step 2 – Outline the Eyelashes

Outline the inner parts of the upper eyelashes as shown in the example. You can leave the bottom eyelashes as a single line.

Step 3 – Draw the Irises

Draw the irises as a pair of ovals inside each eye. Position them in a way where they do not touch the eyelashes (slightly close to the upper part of each eye).

Step 4 – Draw the Eyebrows

Draw the eyebrows higher up than for a normal expression and with their inner ends raised.

Step 5 – Draw the Inner Details

As already mentioned at the start of the tutorial there is one key difference between this expression and a surprised one. This difference are the reflections inside the eyes.

The most defining characteristic of this particular expression are the diamond or four-pointed star shaped reflections inside the eyes. These can either be drawn slightly to the side (as in the example) or directly in the middle of each iris/pupil.

When drawing the star shaped reflections you can erase a little bit of the iris where needed and add them in. After you can also add a few smaller circular reflections as well as the pupils.

For drawing eyes with hearts in them see:

How to Draw Anime “Love Eyes” (With Hearts)

Step 6 – Draw the Eyelids

For this really simple step add in a curve above each of the eyes to give a hint of the eyelids.

Step 7 – Add Hints of Individual Lashes

Add some hints of individual lashes to to the outer/upper corners of each eye. As these are anime eyes you can make them fairly thick as in the example. However, some artists can draw them as just a single line for each one.

Step 8 – Darken & Shade the Excited Eyes Drawing

For the last part of the drawing darken the following areas of the eye:

Pupils
Upper parts of the Irises
Eyelashes
Eyebrows

You can either make these black or use dark pencil shading.

Make the lower part of each iris grey or use just about any color you like. As these are anime eyes they are generally not bound by common eye colors.

Conclusion

Drawing anime eyes with an exited look is very similar to drawing ones with a surprised expression. However, the key difference for the exited eyes are the diamond/star shaped reflections. Depending on the style these can be drawn either be drawn directly in the center of each eye or slightly to one side like in the example.

If you find these kinds of simple and easy to follow tutorials help be sure to also check out the following: