How to draw anthro heads

By Kelly | June 4, 2007

A quick example of how I approach heads:

tutorial anthro head drawing step 1

It helps to think in terms of 3D objects. The main mass of the head is a sphere, with the attached muzzle and ear shapes varying depending on which species you’re trying to depict.

I’ll start with the rough sphere and some crosshairs on top to set the angle and position of features I’ll draw later.

Then, on top I’ll sketch out the form of the eyes and eye sockets, and the muzzle form below. Eyes are usually placed above the center crosshair. A good rule of thumb is that the eyes are spaced one eye-width apart.

After that I’ll add in other forms like cheek-fluff and hair, and start working out details.

The main objective here is to figure out form and pose before adding any details!

More Examples

These are old but should give you some idea how I approach different species:

177 Responses to “How to draw anthro heads”

Pages: [18] 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 … 1 » Show All

177
Kikitosan Says:
June 19th, 2010 at 11:55 am
This was very helpful. I’m not used to draw bases first, but I have to, because often my drawings of anthro characters get sucky & look ugly <__< Thanks for this, it was really helpful! I will get drawing now, I'm sooo exited! I'm gonna fix my fursona @u@
176
MonkeyKingXIII Says:
June 18th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
ok, these are nice. a little cliche, but very well drawn.

Now, a suggestion…how about tutorials on (don’t freak about here)

MONKEYS!!! (^o^)

Now, before you get all frantic and tell me that those don’t count as anthros because they already have thumbs and are basically smaller, hairier humans that throw poo @ everything that moves (which is HIGHLY offensive and stereotypical, btw! >_<), think about it. How many stories/webcomics/anime-style drawings out there have anything other than foxes, the occasional dragon, and oh yeah, WOLVES!!! I'd say…17% at the least. Where's the originallity, people!? And I'm not talking about anthros in caves, tribes, space suits (except for Falco from Starfox…and Brawl, lol) or forests. I'm talkin' modern day settings, teens dressed in awesome urban punk clothes, crazy jackets, chainlinks, baggy pants, funny hats, and DREADLOCKS!!! ?anime-style? (ahem…T?T) yeah…

I highly doubt anyone's gonna see this post, but it can't hurt to try…

and if nobody wants to post any tutorials on monkeys, then maybe they can do some on falcons. Any takers?

…
175
Sukizar Says:
June 16th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Could you produce a tutorial for hoofed animal’s heads? I primary need a sheep’s head, so if you could squeeze that in at all, I would be very grateful.
174
endecis15 Says:
June 15th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
could you put a training for dragon head please
173
alanna Says:
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
umm do anthros go through the fulll range of almost animal to almost human or are they almost alwaysmostly human
172
Nuke Says:
May 29th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Could you perhaps put more detail in “Cats”? Cause I want to draw tigers like that one with the cute smile :3 And I dont seem to get the head real good. It allways comes out to a dogfox. O_o And I rather have cats. x3
171
AnthroSkunk Says:
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:01 pm
I Was Wondering If You Can Show Tutorials On Skunks Because I Really Need Help On It.