How To Get The “Anime” Eye Look

It’s absolutely possible to get an anime-inspired eye without resorting to looking like a parody of an Asian person, or supporting a certain mesh head designer who’s known for bullying others. Let’s check out how the look is done.

Anime eyes are usually based on these things:

large, bold lashes
a large iris rendered in an artistic style
a shadow along the eyeball for gradient and dramatic effect that leads down towards the iris
(optional) lots of highlights on the eye

Now here’s what you do.

Resize your eye shape so they’re larger. You don’t need to go full alien for this. Widen them a bit so they have a rounder shape. I personally found it helpful to use the Eye Opening and Eye Bag slider to get where I wanted to be.
Grab some very bold lashes from a store. I’m using the Genus Baby head (a gift from Gogo! Thank you!!), so I bought Evermore’s Shojo.Manga lashes. You can find them at The Crystal Heart right now!
Certain mesh heads, such as LAQ, have a gradient eye “shadow” built in on a top lens that covers the eye. Genus doesn’t have this, so I dug up some from the Cubic Cherry eye applier set I had. (you can also skip this step if your eyes have sufficient gradient shadows towards the top.)
Mesh eyes can vary in iris sizes, but there’s a way to cheat if yours aren’t big enough. Get some basic eyes from the Omega store, and edit the texture mapping on these sliders only:

Adding an eyeliner to your eye will enhance the whole look. Today I’m wearing Pink Fuel’s Delina skin, which comes with a makeup option where the eyeliner is always present. This is perfect for me.
Don’t forget the stylized eye itself! I like using eyes from Cubic Cherry or Cureless. There’s many eyes out there that provide that dollish, drawn look. Be very careful attempting this look with realistic eyes, because it can come off as creepy.

Alright, so two things. First, this should show people that you don’t need to have an “Asian” shape to get an anime-inspired eye. This technique is about adding certain elements to yourself to make your eyes look a little more cartoony. What people wear for shapes is their business, but I hope this helps some readers out there understand the two are not mutually exclusive.

The second thing is that this doesn’t make you look full anime. If you want to go further in that direction, I recommend using Raven Bell’s BJD Jessie Bento Head. It’s Omega compatible and has large anime eyes.

This is not an entry that wants to butt in on Asian culture in SL and the “slutty kawaii” discussion. I’m leaving that to real Asian people to talk about. There are many in the designer community and they are constantly killing it when it comes to fashion. I’m just an artist, who draws in anime style, who wanted this look for herself in-game! That’s all. 😀

My review on this Genus head will come in another post. This one’s way too long already! I have a lot to say about it though, lol.

What I’m Wearing:

Genus Baby Bento Head
Pink Fuel – Delina Skin
Cubic Cherry – Ella Eyes (and eye shadow add-on)
Evermore – Shojo.Manga Lashes
Stealthic – Ivy Hair
EQUAL – Candy Earrings
YS&YS – Rodi Necklace
neve – Elemental Top
krankhaus – Jacket and Chill

Song: Duke Dumont – Red Light Green Light ft. Shaun Ross