Drawing Asian Faces

For me, drawing people of Asian decent is just as fun as drawing darker skinned people. Many times when people of non-Asian decent think of an Asian face they think that the only difference in the face between the Asian and everyone else is the shape of the eyes. Not so. The environment where a group of people originated is what caused that group of people to look the way they do. The environment influenced the whole genetic make-up of that group of people - it didn't just change the shape of their eyes. In fact that goes for all the different cultures and people. A person of African decent isn't just a person of European decent with darker skin - their whole physical external appearance is different.

So how are Asians different from other groups of people? Now this is speaking in very general terms, worldwide each face is unique and should not be generalized, but.... Yes, their eyes tend to be more almond shaped than non-Asian people, but their nose, mouth, and bones in the face are usually different as well. The Asian face tends to be a little flatter than a European face. That is to say that if you looked at an Asian in profile, their brow, nose and lips don't usually protrude as much as a European profile would. The nose is usually flatter and wider than that of a European nose. Asian lips appear fuller because they appear to protrude from the more flat face. Also keep in mind that when anybody smiles - irregardless of cultural background, the eyes tend to begin to squint. This appears more pronounced in the cultures that have a more almond shaped eye.

And the facial features vary from Asian culture to culture. Again, if we generalize, we can say that the eyes and nose shapes and skin tone is how to tell one culture from another.

Smiling Japanese male

Chinese male

Korean female

Japanese people tend to have larger eyes and longer faces. Their noses tend to be more pronounced as well. The angle of the eye from the tear duct to the outer corner is sometimes larger than the other Asian races

Since China is such a large nation in both area and population, the physical characteristics vary more than the other Asian cultures. But a few generalities can be made. Chinese people  people tend to have rounder faces - rather than oval. The angle of the eye appears to be a little less than that of the Japanese culture.

Koreans seem to have a flatter face and higher cheekbones. Their noses seem flatter and wider, meaning that the ball of the nose and the lobes are closer to the same height than the other Asians.

So as always, when drawing a person of Asian decent don't draw what your logical mind tells you to draw. Because then you'll start to generalize and draw a generic Asian person and it won't look like the person you're looking at because that person isn't generic!