What does a Chibi style need most...?

Suddenly, everyone!

Have you ever drawn a miniature character?

I've received a lot of questions from people who have asked me about them in question boxes, DMs, and so on...

"I can draw the face of a mini-character, but it's hard to draw the body.

"The parts of the face are too close together.

and "I can draw the face of a miniature character, but the body is difficult," "The parts of the face are too close together," and so on... So, this time, we've created a course for those people!

Table of Contents

1.First things first

2.First, decide the head size

3.Ignore the human body structure! 

4. Draw a bite and a rough sketch carefully

5. Common facial balance

6. Common body balance

7. Finally

1.At the beginning

Many of you may be thinking, "It's difficult to draw a realistic-looking life-size character, so I'll start with a deformed character.

I think there are many people who say, "It's difficult to draw a realistic-looking life-size character, so I'll start with a deformed character! In fact, I think I also started with mini characters 🤔.

It is often thought that it is easy for beginners to start drawing, but when you start drawing, you may find that the balance of the face is not so good, or you are not sure about the size of the parts... 😭

I'd like to explain step by step how to draw such a surprisingly difficult miniature character with ease!

2. first, decide the head size of the character

The first thing you need to do is decide on the head height of your character.

For now, here is a summary of the most common head statures for chibi characters!

The orthodox height is 2~3 heads. Most of them are round and cute.

Chibi-Chara with 4 or more heads have a head shape similar to that of a human, and are often seen in works with stylish designs. Their arms and legs are large, so they can move in a variety of ways.

I had a hard time deciding, but this time I decided on 2.5 heads!

3. Ignore the human body structure! 

I have taught several courses on human anatomy, but for chibi-characters...

You don't have to worry about it at all!

Especially for the joints, it may be OK to be a little conscious of them, but be careful not to draw them with a lot of guts, because it will give an eerie impression ... .

The trick to making chibi characters look cute is to

The trick is to ignore once and for all the structure of the human body and replace it with shapes such as circles.

↓ Like this...

Separate the parts into head, torso, legs, etc.!

This will serve as the Atari, so draw them well!

4. Draw the bite and the preliminary drawing carefully

If you are drawing a rough sketch, be careful!

Be careful!

The balance of a small character is vital because of the small amount of information it contains, so if your underdrawing is messy, you are likely to stumble during the line drawing process...!

If you are painting thickly and finding the shape as you paint, it may not be a problem, but I recommend that you do a good underdrawing when you put in the pen!

In my case, I may have done the underdrawing too neatly, but it's easier than anything else if you do this much!

5. Common facial balance

This section is for those who are not good at drawing the "faces" of miniature characters!

The cuteness of a miniature character depends on its balance, so if you can't decide what face you want to draw, take a look at this for reference!

1. The balance of an orthodox face. The upper lash section just covers the bisecting line. The distance between the mouth and the mouth is often seen a little empty.

2. This is a balance in which the facial parts are gathered on the lower side. The eyes are kind of far apart and the distance between the eyes and mouth is close. I think it gives a childish feeling compared to others.

3. This is a facial balance that has been simplified to the extreme. The eyes are almost dotted and small. Instead, you may often see a larger mouth. Since the face is not distinctive, the clothes and hairstyle show the individuality of the face.

6. Common body balance

This section is for those who are not good at drawing the "body" of chibi characters!

Here is a summary of the ratios we have seen recently

1. This is an orthodox balance where the legs and torso are equal in length. The legs are not too short, so there is no problem to express fancy movements, and it may be a relatively ideal shape.

2. This is a balance where the legs are long and the torso is short. I think this balance is often used when there is a lot of decoration on the legs or when you want the legs to move freely!

3. Long torso and short legs. This balance may be suitable for a character with a lot of decorations on the torso. The drawback is that the short legs make it difficult to create flashy poses.

Finally

What did you think?

In the end, what I wanted to say was...

"Think in simplified terms and pay attention to balance.

That is!

This time, I focused on chibi characters with 2.5 heads, but if they are well received, I would like to create another course with different heads! 

I want to draw cool chibi characters! or "I want to draw a deformed character with a high head height," I would be very happy to hear your comments!

That's all for this article!

Please look forward to the next article!