How to Draw Scared Anime or Manga Eyes

Posted on by animeoutline

This tutorial shows how to draw anime eyes with a scared expression. It provides eight step by step examples along with a line by line drawing video.

A preview of the key stages for drawing the scared eyes is show above but the video provides an even more detailed breakdown.

The tutorial is done in a way where you don’t really need to erase part of the drawing if you don’t make a mistake. However, it’s still recommended that you follow along in pencil just in case you do (unless drawing digitally).

It’s recommended that you both watch the above video and read the more detailed explanations of how to draw below. Also, please don’t forget to leave a like and to subscribe to the AnimeOutline channel. Your likes are very helpful!

Step 1 – Draw the Outer Shape of the Scared Eyes

Begin by outlining the outer shape of the eyes. As these are anime/manga eyes their shapes will be defined by the outer shape of the eyelashes.

For a scared expression draw the eyes be wide open (taller than you would for a normal expression).

For a normal expression for this same pair of eyes see the following tutorial:

How to Draw Anime Eyes (Normal Expression)

Space the eyes far enough apart that the distance between them is equal to roughly the length of one eye (as shown above).

Step 2 – Draw the Eyelashes

Outline the inner shapes of the eyelashes as shown in the example above. You can use their outer shapes as a guide.

Step 3 – Draw the Irises

To show a scared look draw the irises much smaller than normal and make them oval in shape. This is a very important aspect of showing the scared look. Though in real life the size of irises does not change with different expressions adjusting it is fairly common practise for anime and manga artists to adjust it when showing emotions or personality types.

Step 4 – Draw the Eyebrows

Draw the eyebrows raised and with their inner ends curving upwards. Adding these upwards curves can help distinguish the scared expression from a surprised look (which can be very similar).

For drawing the surprised expression see:

How to Draw Surprised Anime or Manga Eyes

Step 5 – Draw the Reflections & Pupils

Inside each of the eyes draw a pair of highlights. These are the light reflecting from the smooth surface of the eyes. Make one reflection larger (for the main light source) and the second one smaller (for the reflected light).

Step 6 – Draw a Hint of the Eyelids

For this simple step draw a short curved line above each eye (a little closer to their inner ends) to create a hint of the eyelids.

Step 7 – Add Hints of Individual Lashes

Similar to hair anime and manga eyelashes are generally draw in large clumps. Draw a few of these at the outer/upper corners of each of the eyes.

For more on drawing eyelashes in these style see:

Step 8 – Add Shading & Finish the Bored Eyes Drawing

To make the drawing really stand out give it some very basic shading. If drawing on paper you can use darker pencil shading or a black marker for the black parts.

Shade as follows:

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

Alternatively you can color simply by replacing the grey with whatever you like.

Conclusion

The anime and manga styles tend to highly exaggerate some expressions through things like adjusting the size of the irises to better convey a particular emotion. The scared eyes shown in this tutorial give one example of this but there are many more.

For other examples of different emotions and drawing anime eyes in different way also see the following: