Once you've got the face outline completed you'll want to draw in some guides, in real life try and do this lightly or they'll mark up the finished drawing. Here I've drawn in the eye guides in blue and the center line in green. Notice that the eye line slope downward. Some characters depend on this feature more than others but ussualy the eyes aren't balanced between straight lines on the face. Also note that the eyes will sit midway down the face and not higher up. Placing the eyes abnormally high or low is a common mistake so keep it in mind.

Note that each facial feature is dependent on these lines. The nose will rest where the lower eye line and the center line meet and the tops of the ears will rise to or just above the higher eye line. Of course the eyes will rest between the eye guides. A good measure for space between the eyes is to insert another 'eyespace' in other words, if you can fit another eye in between there you're okay, but try not to get too much more than an eye and a half.

Here I've drawn in the facial features, or at least their outline. Not that the line above the top lid touches the top guide and the bottom lid rests on the lower line. The eyebrows are just above the guides and the nose is drawn down from the place where the lower eye guide meets the center line.

The last step of course is the draw in the hair...

 The frist step when drawing in the eyes first is to get the shape of the eye farthest from you. If you're drawing a face head on (as in this example) then draw whichever eye is more comfortable to you. The outline consists of an upper lid and a smaller lower lid. Note that the lower lid begins straight down from the inner side of the upper lid but stops short of the outter edge.

The eye is very important to the anime face. It can define alot about a character. I won't go too deep into it here(maybe a later tutorial), but there should be a main highlight and a smaller highlight opposite it. Also most characters have a line above the top lashes marking the eyelid (a few don't so if you're doing fan-art check).

The eyes should be spaced apart by about an eyelength (shown by the boxes 1box=1eyelength), and the nose should be placed between the eyes(front view) and about even to the bottom lids.

Once you've got the eyes you'll want to draw in an outline of the face. The jaw generaly slopes inward slightly and then comes to a point (although how sharp a point varies greatly). I usually draw a light marking where the top of the head should be and erase it latter. Very rarely I leave this out, and it doesn't usually hurt the drawing much. If you can get a feel for where the top of the head should be then it's not really nessecary.

Add in the eye brows, mouth and ears(which can be placed in the same wy as above, or the tops should be about where the end of the eyebrow is(unless it's raised or frowning)). A quick note on the neck; it should be a little less than half the width of the head (in females, males are often just over half the head width).

And again the last step is to add the hair...

One last thing, if you're uncomfortable drawing with the eyes first try another feature(nose or mouth), my personal preference is to work from the eyes out although rarely I do sketch the nose in first, or when I'm trying a new character it's not uncommon for me to grid the face. See what works for you and keep in mind that my word (or anyone elses for that matter) on drawing ain't law, do what works, not what you're told.

--Leigh ^_~