Caroline
Anime is one of the most popular forms of animation in the world today. Produced mainly in Japan, this medium of animation is loved around the world, and you can expect to experience all manner of different stories.
Some have stories that are action-packed while others can be sad, comedic, scary or a mix of all these elements!
The character style is also very expressive and detailed, and anime expressions can convey a lot of emotion. It can also make learning how to draw a sad anime character a bit of a challenge, however.
It won’t be an impossible challenge though, and this tutorial is here to show you that it can be easier than expected.
Our step-by-step guide on how to draw a sad anime in just 6 steps will show you how it can be done!
How to Draw A Sad Anime – Let’s Get Started!
Step 1
We will keep things simple in this first step of our guide on how to draw a sad anime. The facial expression will be the trickiest part of this drawing, so we shall work our way up to that aspect slowly throughout this guide.
For now, we will be drawing the outline of the hairstyle for this character.
The good news is this is really easy to do, as all you need to do is draw a curved line.
This single line will serve as both the sides and the top of the hairstyle, and we will add more details to it as we go. For now, it’s on to step 2 of the guide!
Step 2 – Draw some more of the hairstyle
You started the outline of the hairstyle in the first step, and now you can start adding detail to it in this step of our guide on how to draw a sad anime.
For now, we will be drawing the hair going over the face. As is common in the anime style, the hair will be made up of several pointy sections.
Use some curved lines culminating in sharp points for the various sections of hair dropping over the face.
You can try to replicate the hair exactly as it appears in our reference image by closely copying the lines there if you struggle with this part.
Finally, add some thick, curved lines for her eyebrows. They will be positioned at the angle we show in the picture in order to help portray the sad expression we’re going for.
Step 3 – Now, draw the start of the face details
Now we shall be moving on to some of the trickier parts of this guide on how to draw a sad anime.
Don’t worry, however, for as long as you follow the images closely then you should have no problems!
First, you can begin by drawing her small, sounded eyes. These will have a lot of curved line details above them, and the eyelids will be dropped slightly over them.
Then, we shall be drawing some tears dropping from the eyes. These will be drawn as pooling under the eyes and then dropping down in thin sections.
Once you have drawn these rivers of tears, you can then finish off this step by drawing her face and ear outlines.
Step 4 – Next, draw some more of her facial details
This part of your sad anime drawing will see you adding more of the facial features for her. First, we shall draw her nose.
The nose will be drawn with some small, simple lines below her eyes. After the nose, draw her slightly open mouth by creating a rounded shape with a bit of a dip in the middle.
That will do it for her face right now, so to finish off this step you can then draw her neck and shoulders with more simple curved lines.
Then you will be ready to start adding the final touches and details in the next step!
Step 5 – Add the final details to your sad anime drawing
Now you’re ready to add the final details in this step of our guide on how to draw a sad anime.
We will be portraying this character to look like their face is blushing as they cry, and to portray this we will do a crosshatch pattern right above their nose.
When you have drawn this blushing detail, you’re ready for the final step! Before you proceed, you could also add any additional details of your own.
What can you think of to add to this picture to personalize it even further?
Step 6 – Finish off your sad anime drawing with color
This final step of your sad anime drawing will see you finish it off with some color. This is a step where you have a lot of freedom for how you can color it in!
In our reference image, we showed you one of the many ways that you could go about coloring the picture.
We used a lighter brown for her hair and then used a dull red over the crosshatch lines over her nose.
Anime characters often have bright and vivid hair, so you could use any color you can dream of to color it in!
Then, do you think you will go for brighter mediums such as acrylic paints and colored markers or will you use something like watercolor paints for a more subtle approach?
It’s up to you, so have fun and see what happens!
3 More tips to make your sad anime drawing easy!
These tips for making your sad anime sketch easier are sure to make you happier!
To get the full emotions from this drawing of a sad anime, there were loads of details included. This includes the tears falling from her eyes and the cross-hatching around her nose.
These are all great details, but they can make the drawing a bit more complicated and difficult to get the hang of. To make it easier, these details could be removed or simplified.
For example, the tears could be drawn with much simpler lines and you could use colors instead of the cross-hatching effect.
That is just a small selection of ways to make it easier, but anything you struggle with could be removed or modified.
One of the easiest ways that you could make this sad anime drawing easier would be by looking at real faces. There are a few ways that you could do this.
One of the easiest would be to use a mirror or a photo of your own face. When doing this, you would want to start by making the saddest face you can.
If this isn’t something you want to do, then you could get a friend or a family member to make the expression so that you can use it as a reference.
This could help you to add a personal touch to the image and make it more unique!
Another way to make this sad anime sketch easier would involve using different angles or perspectives.
For example, you may find it easier to draw if her face is at more of a three-quarter angle.
Or, you may generally find drawing bodies to be easier than drawing faces. If that is so, then you could draw a body for this face to be attached to.
That way, the face would be a smaller part of the image and would have less attention drawn to it. Also, it would be another way of making your picture look even more unique!
Your Sad Anime Drawing is Complete!
You have completed this guide on how to draw a sad anime, and you should be very proud of the finished product!
Drawing expressions is never an easy task, so we hope that this guide made it easy and fun for you to conquer this challenge.
When you’re done with the guide, you can also keep adding to it. Will you draw a background, change some details or incorporate some more ideas? This is your chance to really get creative with it!
This is far from all we have in store for you, so be sure to visit our website to check out more of our awesome drawing guides. We upload new ones often, so keep checking in!
Please also go ahead and share your finished sad anime drawing on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to admire!
