How to learn to draw anime?

Like the other person said, Gimp is free, but I used it once and it wasn't that great. But!, better advice will be to look at different Anime and practice drawing the eyes, mouth and hair. Well what's good with this is it doesn't require any money at all because you're just browsing anime art. and basically with different tutorials that is exactly what you are doing, you're viewing someone elses art and being walked through step by step. So my personal advice would be to save different anime pics, browse free things like "how to draw anime boys and girls" and thousands of things should pop up for you. best of luck. And remember, if there are alternatives that basically do the same thing but for free, I'd take it.

To learn to draw it WELL, start with the basics. As tedious and boring as it sounds, you won't know how to draw anime really well until you start with a good foundation. Any artist you see drawing your favorite mangas have learned anatomy, perspective, color theory, value and line control, as well as composition, etc. It may take a while, but the outcome will be great. You'll have no boundaries. The one thing I'd stress would be to draw realism first. Every artist (worth credibility) has started with realism first and then used what they learned to then stylize to their tastes. "You need to learn the rules to break them." Of course, there are artists who went straight to drawing manga by what they learned from watching anime, and can pull a bunch of tricks to accomplish some pretty impressive art, but they typically don't really know how what they're drawing works. I don't recommend tutorials by deviantart, and ideally none because they usually provide means to drawing one thing a certain way, getting you stuck with bad habits. And if you're more serious about improving and drawing well (be it anime or realism) I'd set up a personal thread in the sketchbook forum at conceptart.org/forum. It's a more serious-minded community that give real critiques, which I'm sure are not to be found at deviantart. They can help you get on the right track. Rather, you'll just get asspats and encouragement at dA. From your work, I'd suggest you get Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain just to help you break your little symbol system. And DON'T get a tablet. it'll only impede you at this point. Start with just straight up graphite. Think of it this way. If you can't draw well with simple mediums like pencil, you won't be able to draw with a tablet. And if you start and build up skill with a tablet from the start, you're sure to have a tough time working with traditional from the get-go. So to break it down: Get a pencil and paper, draw from life (people, objects) and photos, and draw constantly!! Accept critiques willingly but with a grain of salt, and avoid drawing without knowing what to do. If you're not sure an arm can bend a certain way, or how shadows would look with a certain lightsource, REFERENCE! And stay away from symbols and drawing manga from the start. It'll just give you troubles later. If you have any questions, you can email me.

There's a lot of videos on Youtube right now on how to draw things, if you want more tips and stuff. My friend learnt how to draw anime from just studying other people's drawings, practicing and copying popular works. Now she's decided on her own style and her works look really pro. I draw as well, but I don't do anime, I like nature better. I have this other friend as well who loves to draw cars and anime things. She's really good at it, it's almost like she traces it, but you know it's by her. And because she draws so much, she knows how to do the shadings and knows lots of different styles. She does it so much that even her 2-min chibis look great. As for photoshopping... Yeah, Gimp. I have it right now and it's pretty good, though it can't beat Photoshop. And there's also Aviary, this photoshopping site, if you don't want to download anything. It's currently fully free for using, just make an account, and it's easy to get the hang of how to use. There's also Paint.net. It's got layers, and the basics, but it can't do a lot of things Gimp and Aviary can.

http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8#sclient=psy&hl=en&site=webhp&q=how+to+draw+anime&aq=0&aqi=g4g-o1&aql=&oq=how+to+draw+&pbx=1&fp=cd4bd38bf506aaa7 You can down load Gimp.com it is kind of like photoshop but it is a free site to download and use.