The anime drawing workflow at a glance
Most anime and manga illustrations follow the same five-stage pipeline, whether you're drawing a quick bust or a full character:
- Sketch — rough the pose, face and proportions.
- Lineart — clean, confident outlines on a new layer.
- Flat colors — solid base colors, each part on its own layer.
- Cel shading — flat, hard-edged shadows (the signature anime look).
- Highlights & details — eye shine, hair gloss, rim light, background.
Work top to bottom and resist coloring before your lineart is clean — fixing shapes later is far harder than getting them right early.
What you need to start
You don't need much: an iPad, an Apple Pencil, Procreate, and a small set of brushes. If you're brand new to the app, work through our beginner's guide to drawing on iPad and learn how Procreate layers work first — anime art leans heavily on layers.
1. Sketch the character
Create a layer named Sketch and rough out the figure with light pressure. Start with simple shapes: a circle for the head, a cross for the face angle, and guidelines for the eyes. Keep it loose — this stage is about proportion and pose, not clean lines. A pencil-style brush feels the most natural here.
2. Draw clean anime lineart
Lower the sketch layer's opacity, add a new layer on top, and ink the final outlines. Anime lineart is defined by smooth, confident curves with varied line weight — thicker on the outside and in shadow, thinner for inner detail. Raise the Streamline setting to steady shaky strokes, and complete each line in one motion. A precise inker is essential; browse the inking brushes category for crisp options.
3. Lay down flat colors
Put color below the lineart. Use ColorDrop — drag a color from the swatch in the top-right into an enclosed shape — to fill areas fast, and keep each part (skin, hair, clothes, eyes) on its own layer so you can shade them independently. Set the lineart as a Reference layer so ColorDrop respects your outlines even when you fill on a layer below. Flat, even color is the foundation cel shading builds on.
4. Add cel shading (the anime look)
Cel shading is the system that makes art read as "anime": flat color fills with hard-edged shadows instead of soft gradients. The recipe is three tones per area — base, shadow, and highlight — with crisp edges between them.
To shade a part, add a layer clipped to its flat color (or use Alpha Lock), set it to Multiply, and paint shadows with a hard brush where light doesn't reach. Pick one consistent light direction and keep shadow shapes simple and graphic. Resist blending — the hard edges are the point.
5. Highlights, eyes and finishing
Add a layer above for highlights: a pale or white tone on hair, the rim of the jaw, and glossy surfaces. Eyes carry an anime piece — layer a dark upper rim, a bright iris, a shadow under the lid, and a single white catchlight. A subtle rim light along the edge of the figure helps it pop. Lean on painting brushes for soft accents, then add a quick gradient or flat color background.
Which brushes you actually need
For anime you only need a few: a pencil for sketching, a crisp inker for lineart, a soft round for coloring, and optional texture or screentone brushes for manga. You can build the whole kit for free — start on the free Procreate brushsets page or the curated anime & manga brushes collection, and see Procreate brushes for beginners if you're still choosing a core set.
Common beginner mistakes
- Coloring before the lineart is clean — finish the lines first.
- Blending cel shadows into gradients — anime shading is hard-edged.
- Putting everything on one layer — you can't reshade or recolor later.
- Lighting from two directions — pick one and commit.
- Flat, lifeless eyes — add a catchlight and a shadow under the lid.
Keep practicing
Anime style is a skill you build by finishing pieces, not by collecting brushes. Draw small, complete characters often, and reuse the same five-stage workflow every time — consistency on the fundamentals beats any single brush.