Free Guide

How to Draw Anime Faces from Below and Above: A Step-by-Step Guide by Japanese Pro Artists

The short answer: Decide where the camera is first. From below, the eye line sits above the middle of the face and bends upward, the ears drop below it, and you see the underside of the jaw. From above, it flips: the eye line sits low and bends down, the ears go up, and the top of the head takes over.

If your looking-up faces come out like a front view with the eyes nudged higher, this is usually why. Below are the rules, shown on one bob-haired girl, plus that same girl turned through five angles from each direction.

The same anime girl with a bob cut drawn from below and from above, side by side — One girl, two camera angles: from below (left) and from above (right).

The six stages at a glance

Face from below with a center line and an eye line that bends upward

From below: the eye line curves upThe eye line rises above center and bends upward. The ears drop below it.

Face from below colored into the upper half, lower half, jaw underside and jaw-neck join

From below: a big jaw, a small topThe area above the nose gets narrow. The area down to the neck gets wide.

The girl seen from below at five angles: front, right 45 degrees, right 70 degrees, right side and back

From below: five anglesFront, 45°, 70°, side and back, all looking up.

Face from above with a center line and an eye line that bends downward

From above: the eye line curves downThe eye line drops below center and bends downward. The ears go above it.

Face from above colored into a large upper half and a small lower half

From above: a big top, a short chinThe area above the nose gets wide. The eye shape flips too.

The girl seen from above at five angles: front, right 45 degrees, right 70 degrees, right side and back

From above: five anglesFront, 45°, 70°, side and back, all looking down.

Step 01 · From below: the eye line curves up

Where do the eyes go when you draw a face from below?

Put the eye line above the middle of the face, bend it upward, and set the ears below it.

Seen from below, the parts of the face line up along curves. Japanese manga artists call this angle aori (a low angle). The eyes turn upward, and the line under each eye curves. So the eye line goes higher than the middle of the face and bends up as it follows the angle.

The ears drop below that eye line. You can see up into the nostrils now, so draw them in a little. And because the underside of the jaw is showing, draw the line where the jaw meets the neck. That join does a lot of the work of selling the angle.

Red-pen checkFlat eye line, ears level with the eyes? That reads as a front view. Bend the line up and drop the ears.

Face from below: dotted center line, an eye line that arcs upward, ears below it, nostrils and the jaw-neck line labeled — Dotted lines: the center of the face and the eye line, which arcs upward from below.

Step 02 · From below: a big jaw, a small top

Why does a face from below look so different from a front view?

From below, the face above the nose gets narrow and the area down to the neck gets wide.

Split the face at the nose. From below, the upper half (green) shrinks and the lower half (orange) grows. On top of that you get two areas a front view never shows: the underside of the jaw (blue) and the join between the jaw and the neck (pink).

The lower jaw line changes shape too. It doesn't come to a point the way a front-view chin does. It turns into a curve that bends inward, and the neck looks longer.

Red-pen checkStill drawing a pointed front-view chin? From below, the jaw line bends inward. It doesn't come to a point.

Face from below colored: upper half green, lower half orange, jaw underside blue, jaw-neck join pink — From below, the area above the nose is small and the area down to the neck is large.

Step 03 · From below: five angles

How does a face from below change as she turns her head?

Keep the upward-looking eyes and the jaw underside at every angle, front to back.

Here's the same girl from below at five angles: front, right 45°, right 70°, right side and back. Watch the join between the jaw and the neck. Keep that line light. Drawn too heavy, it looks off. Check the shape of the eyes and nose at every angle as well.

From below, every part of the face looks a little squashed, and the ears tilt back as if they're lying down. In the turned views, let the hair over the ear show from underneath, and draw the corner of the jaw. In the side view the bangs float a little. From the back, draw the neck a bit longer.

Red-pen checkFront view: the chin should curve slightly upward. If it hangs straight down, the angle is gone.

The bob-haired girl from below at five angles, each with a short tip underneath — The same face from below: front, right 45°, right 70°, right side and back.

Step 04 · From above: the eye line curves down

Where do the eyes go when you draw a face from above?

Put the eye line below the middle of the face, bend it downward, and set the ears above it.

Seen from above (fukan, a high angle), the top of the head takes up more of the face and the jaw takes up less. You can see the crown now, where the hair parts, so think about how the hair flows out from it.

Draw the eyes flatter and give the upper eyelid some thickness. Round it a little to show the bulge of the eyeball. Simplify the tip of the nose into a big V, and keep the gaps from nose to mouth and mouth to chin short. The shoulders sit behind the neck.

Red-pen checkCan't see the crown where the hair parts? Then nothing tells the viewer they're looking down. Draw it in.

Face from above: dotted center line, an eye line that curves downward, ears above it, the crown, the eyelids, the nose and the shoulders labeled — Dotted lines: the center of the face and the eye line, which curves downward from above.

Step 05 · From above: a big top, a short chin

How do the face and the eyes change from above?

From above, the face above the nose gets wide, the face below it gets narrow, and the eye shape flips.

Split the face at the nose again. From above, the upper half (pink) is big and the lower half (blue) is small. Keep the mouth small and stretch the chin out to a slim point. Don't just shrink the chin. Draw the neck on the thick side.

The eye itself changes with the angle, too, and it goes the opposite way from the eye line across the face. At eye level, the line of the eye is straight. From below, it curves downward. From above, it curves upward.

Red-pen checkA tiny, shrunken chin is the usual mistake from above. Stretch it into a point instead.

Face from above colored: a large pink upper half and a small blue lower half, with the pointed chin labeled — From above, the area above the nose is large and the area below it is small.

Three close-ups of the same eye: straight at eye level, curving down from below, curving up from above, with blue arrows — The same eye at eye level, from below and from above. The arrows show which way the line of the eye goes.

Step 06 · From above: five angles

How does a face from above change as she turns her head?

The top of the head gets bigger, so the hair leads the drawing at every angle.

From above, the top of the head takes up more space, so the hair is where your attention goes. Get the shapes right where the ears, the jaw and the neck join. From above, you can see how the hair flows from the crown, so start there and draw toward the tips.

Front: bring the nose and mouth closer together. At 45°, move the crown along with the bend of the center line. At 70°, angle the far eye more sharply. In the side view, let the upper lip stick out. From the back, make the hair flow toward the center.

Red-pen checkAt 70°, look at the far eye. Same shape as the near eye? Angle it more sharply.

The bob-haired girl from above at five angles, each with a short tip underneath — The same face from above: front, right 45°, right 70°, right side and back.

The most common mistake from below: no jaw line

Leave out the line under the jaw and the face gets too long, and the balance falls apart. Draw the line as if the chin is coming toward you, and don't let the chin come to a point.

Mistake: a face from below with no line under the jaw, so the face looks too long

✕ No line under the jaw: the face looks too long.

Correct: the same face from below with the line under the jaw drawn in

✓ Line under the jaw drawn in: it reads as a face seen from below.

Where people usually get stuck

"My face from below just looks like a front view with the eyes moved up."

Bend the eye line upward, drop the ears below it, then draw the underside of the jaw. You need all three before it reads as looking up.

"My face from above looks flat."

Show the crown where the hair parts, flatten the eyes and thicken the upper eyelid. The top of the head should take up more space than the face below the nose.

"Which way does the eye line curve again?"

Across the whole face, it curves up from below and down from above. The line of a single eye does the opposite: down from below, up from above.

Anime faces from below and above FAQ

What do aori and fukan mean in manga drawing?

They're Japanese terms for camera angles. Aori is a view from below (a low angle, looking up). Fukan is a view from above (a high angle, looking down).

Where do the ears go when you draw a face from below or above?

From below, put the ears below the eye line. From above, put them above the eye line.

Why does the chin look wrong when I draw a face from below?

From below, the jaw line doesn't come to a point the way a front-view chin does. It turns into a curve that bends inward, and you need to draw the line where the jaw meets the neck. Without that line the face looks too long.

How do I get feedback on my face angle drawings?

When you join an Anime Art Academy course, a professional Japanese artist gives you personal advice and draws red-line corrections directly on your drawing. There is no limit on how many times you can submit. The only rule: post one drawing at a time, and wait for your teacher's reply before posting the next.