Character Design | Mechanical Design | Scene Painting < Anime Aesthetic

Body | The Head

In anime, faces are very streamlined, but are used to convey the wide range of human emotions. The designs are so simplified that the smallest curve can change the entire chracter's expression. Characters often have mutliple styes of faces, such as the normal face, the serious face, and the ultra cartoony or super deformed face, all used for the same characters at various times depending on what the situation calls for.

Most important are the big glossy eyes, said to be part of the legacy of Disney, who had a big influence on pioneering Japanese animators, but are also used because of the high level of emotion that having large eyes affords.

The wildly cute Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth (c)CLAMP

Hair is another widely recognized feature of anime characters. Not only do characters often have outrangeously huge hair styles, but anime hair comes in all various colors not naturally found on people. Used primarily to help dstinguish character from character, the colors often times suggest somthing about personality traits. For instance, red is often used for wild personalities like Hikaru of Magical Knight Rayearth or Hanamichi Sakuragi of Slam Dunk! Hair is usually given the 3 shade treatment of highlight, regular color, and shadow and tends to be drawn very angularly.