Design Anime Eyes w/ DIY Star LongLeggedLucy

What can I use instead of a fine-tip black marker, blending stump, or white gel pen?

Use a sharpened mechanical pencil or a thin black acrylic paintbrush to trace the main eye outlines instead of a fine-tip black marker, substitute a cotton swab for a blending stump when you 'Gently blend the iris colors', and replace the white gel pen highlights with a tiny dab of opaque white acrylic or correction fluid applied with a toothpick.

The marker smudged or my pencil lines still show after tracing—how do I fix this?

If ink smudges or pencil lines show after you 'Carefully trace the main eye outlines', let the marker dry completely, gently erase leftover pencil from the 'Lightly sketch' step with a soft eraser, and touch up smudges with another thin pass of the marker or a small brush of black acrylic.

How can I adapt this activity for preschoolers, elementary kids, and teens?

For preschoolers, pre-draw bold outer eye shapes and have them color the 'Shade each iris with a light base color' step with crayons; for elementary kids, follow the full sequence but use washable markers and guided cotton-swab blending; for teens, add layered colored-pencil shading, a darker tone along the top edge of each iris, finer eyelashes, and more expressive eyebrow shapes before inking and highlighting.

How can we extend or personalize the finished DIY Star LongLeggedLucy with anime eyes?

Personalize the piece by experimenting with iridescent or metallic colored pencils when you 'Shade each iris', adding tiny star stickers or glitter around the white-gel-pen 'sparkles', varying eyebrow and eyelash styles from the 'Draw eyebrows' and 'Add eyelashes' steps, and scanning the final artwork to create digital stickers to share on DIY.org.