Does a professional ChibiStyle-Illustrator need to practice on any head tall charactors?

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My name is Nanawo, and I am an illustrator.
At KawaiiSensei, I am mainly in charge of drawing chibi-characters.

In this article, I would like to respond to the inquiries sent to KawaiiSensei regarding chibi-characters.

I would be happy if my past experiences and thoughts that I cherish can be of help to you in your future creative activities!

Please enjoy the article until the end.

Please do not hesitate to contact me.

Q. I draw miniature characters, but if I want to become a professional in the future, is it better to be able to draw life-size illustrations as well?

Let me give you a quick conclusion,

If you want to work mainly with chibi characters, you don't have to be able to draw them, but you will be a little happier if you can draw them! But if you can draw, you'll be a little happier!

First and foremost, if you want to become an illustrator specializing in chibi chara First and foremost, if you want to become an illustrator specializing in chibi-characters, then

Raise the level of your chibi-characters (aim for quality that reflects the kind of work you want to do).

Send out more and more Chibi-Chara illustrations to the world and deliver them to clients (including sales activities).

I personally think that things like ...... are important, and I think that prioritizing drawing chibi-character illustrations over life-size illustrations will get you closer to your goal in the fastest way possible.

You may be thinking, "Then doesn't it mean I don't need to draw life-size illustrations?" But as I mentioned earlier, I feel that it is not necessary to be able to draw life-size illustrations if you want to work mainly with chibi characters, but there are some things that will make you happy if you can draw them, so I will explain in more detail.

It leads to the ability to express the character.

For example, when working on chibi-characters for copyrighted works, the main source of the work is often a character drawn life-size.

It is not uncommon for me to be asked to convert a life-size illustration into a chibi-character with the same pose, facial expressions, etc. as the original work.

For those who usually draw mainly chibi characters, the process of creating a chibi character based on a life-size illustration itself is not that difficult.

However, as a result of drawing them, there may be such a case that they don't look like the original character. .........

In such a case, I think that maybe you lack the experience to sort out the charm of the character from the original life-size illustration.

In such cases, if you are a regular life-size illustrator, you may be able to use the "elements that make the character" in the life-size illustration for the chibi-character.

I have had the same experience many times, and I think that clients and users are often satisfied by "highlighting the most important aspects of the original life-size illustration.

It will be easier to apply to chibi characters with various head sizes.

In client work, I create illustrations in accordance with the client's wishes, and some chibi characters have a specified head height.

While there are some jobs where the client respects my creativity based on my past illustrations, there may be cases where the client specifies a chibi-character with a head height that I am not used to drawing.

When drawing chibi characters with various head heights, you can consider the range of deformation by placing the life-size illustration as the maximum value.

Example: If you are working on a chibi character and are specified to draw 4 heads tall

The chibi character I usually draw as a hobby is 2 heads tall, and the life-size character is 6 heads tall.

→I can draw a chibi character with a head height of 2 heads and a life-size character with a head height of 6 heads!

Of course, there is nothing better than creating an accurate character chart of 2 to 6 heads tall, but this may be a time-consuming process for those who have a fixed chibi character that they are good at.

It would be a good thing to use your own life-size illustration as a standard, so that you can spend less time worrying at the starting line.

Increased scope of work

If you can draw both life-size illustrations and chibi-characters, you will simply be able to accept a wider range of work.

If you want to work as a professional illustrator, you also need to think about money.

The client's budget often varies depending on whether the character is a life-size character or a chibi character.

・Life-size character: About 40,000 - 80,000 yen per standing picture
・Chibi-characters: About 10,000 - 40,000 yen per standing picture

The above budgets are only an example, as they vary depending on the client and the content of the production (with or without design, etc.).

For example, if an illustrator specializing in chibi-characters wants to generate the same amount of sales as an illustrator specializing in life-size characters, he/she will need to do more work in the same amount of time, but if the illustrator can draw both life-size illustrations and chibi-characters, the number of possible deals will vary.

If you want to focus on one illustration, choose "life-size character".

If you want to focus on drawing a lot of illustrations, you can choose "chibi chara".

I also believe that having a wider range of work means having more options in my activities.

In the past, I have had the experience of accepting the same job in which I was looking for an illustrator for each life-size character and chibi character.

The client was very pleased with the work, as they wanted to emphasize the world view and unity of the illustrations, regardless of the head height.

If you want to accept chibi character work as a priority, it is of course important to have a large chibi character sign in your name.

I think Chibi-Chara are currently in demand to some extent in the illustration industry due to the popularity of acrylic goods, but I don't know how long this boom will last.

I think it is not a bad idea to expand your possibilities beyond Chibi-Chara so that you can choose your own signage as demand changes in the future.

Finally.

The technique of life-size illustration is always necessary for drawing chibi characters! I cannot say for sure.

However, if you have the opportunity to study the human body in the process of drawing isometric illustrations, I believe that this experience will surely bring depth to your chibi character illustrations.

Chibi-Chara is an expression of deformation, and even if it is an original character, it is still a deformed illustration of a "human".

I will continue to practice both chibi chara and life-size illustrations in order to continue to be an illustrator who can meet a wide range of clients' requests.

I hope that the "little bit of joy" I have shared with you today will help the questioner and everyone reading this article on their path forward.

Thank you for reading to the end.