Whether you agree or not, the huge impact of anime is evident on different parts of the world and not only in the country of its origin—Japan. From quirky and cute fashion to hairstyles that mimic anime characters, anime fans indeed comprise a big part of the world’s population.

Anime is considered as a form of art because as a visual medium, it tends to emphasize styles. Varying from artist to artist and studio to studio, there are a lot of anime shows which exhibit stylized and ordinary plot and characters. You might be wondering why anime characters have big, rounded eyes when Japanese people are known for having almond-shaped eyes? To give you an idea of the unique characteristics of an anime artwork, here is a list of collected pieces of information.

Anime drawings are often characterized by their magnified physical features like big hair, huge eyes, long limbs and many more. The body proportions of anime characters are based on the human body’s actual proportions. In illustration, the height of the head is commonly used as the base unit of the body’s proportion. Meanwhile, in anime drawings, a character usually is about 7 to 8 heads tall.  Phlebotomy training classes might come in handy for learning this. Of course, variations can be done to better fit the appearance of the anime character to its personality.

One of the most noticeable features of anime illustration is the eye. Osamu Tezuka, who was supposed to be the one who started to use big eyes on anime and manga characters, got the inspiration from the caricatured features of some cartoon characters in America like Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop and Bambi.

The eyes of the anime character are given some color to add depth. It must be noted though that not all Japanese anime creations have huge eyes. Take for instance, Toshiro Kawamoto and Hayao Miyazaki are known for creating characters which have realistically-proportioned eyes and hair.

The hair of anime characters is also interesting. Some have long and flowy tresses while others have short hair. You can find green, pink, orange, red and silver hair on anime characters too!

Another notable feature of an anime artwork is the facial expression. Anime fans find it amusing to see different expressions shown by the faces of their favorite characters. The countenance adds more interest to the anime character and it gives the viewer some clues about his or her personality. Some of the most loved facial expressions are the wide smile, the glassy eyes, the teary eyes, red face and hair standing at attention.