Contents

  Introduction

  Materials

  PART I: Chibi Basics Sketching Your Chibis

  Bodies

  Facial Features

  Hair

  Clothing

  Props and Backgrounds

  Shading Basics

  Coloring Your Chibis

  Practice Chibis

  PART 2: Chibi Cuties Jamie

  Phoebe

  Spring

  Abel

  Mother

  Father

  Jules

  Audrey

  Stefan

  Oliver

  Ember

  Desiree

  PART 3: Chibi Beasties Kit

  Goldie

  Cotton

  Devin

  Dot

  PART 4: Inspiration Gallery Eyes

  Hairstyles

  Clothing

  Props and Accessories

  Ears and Tails

  PART 5: Practice and Coloring Pages Draw Your Own

  Color Your Own

  Introduction

  HELLO!

  My name is Anny and Yoai is my artist alias. I grew up making little doodles and whatnot, but I started taking drawing more seriously in 2012. The first things I drew were chibis, because I loved the style of them and they were easy to draw. After I began posting my chibi artwork on social media sites such as DeviantArt and Instagram, I began to explore and diversify what I drew. Today, I continue to draw chibis in addition to my anime-style drawings, and I share them online regularly on my social media accounts.

  WHAT IS A CHIBI?

  Chibis are mini versions of Japanese-style anime and manga characters. They are defined by their large heads and tiny bodies, both of which contribute to their kawaii, or cuteness, factor. In anime shows and manga comics, chibis are incorporated to deviate from the current mood or feeling of a scene, to make it more lighthearted, poke fun at it, or add comic relief. The drastic change in the art style and mood can show the characters in a more casual light, contributing a fun and interesting addition to the story. For example, characters may be having a serious conversation, when, suddenly, one of them cracks a joke, which prompts the scene to turn the characters into chibis, changing the tone of the conversation with the art style. Over the years, chibis have become more diverse, with many different styles of drawing them (i.e., variations in details, anatomy, art style, etc.). Essentially, chibis are kind of like stylized caricatures of regular anime characters; certain facial and anatomical features are exaggerated while maintaining the overall identifying appearance of the character. Here are some key characteristics of chibis:

  A small body and huge head—bodies can even be smaller than the head.

  Faces with huge eyes and small noses and mouths.

  The hands and feet can be exaggerated to give a more “cartoon”-style look.

  ANIME CHARACTER

  CHIBI CHARACTER

  HOW TO USE THIS BOOK?

  In this book, there are lots of tips and tricks for drawing your own chibis, including bodies, faces, hairstyles, and clothing, along with coloring and shading techniques; nineteen step-by-step tutorials of chibi cuties and beasties; and an inspiration gallery of hairstyles, clothing, and much more! Also included are blank body bases for you to start your own chibi drawings and coloring pages for you to practice coloring and shading. With that said, let’s get started with our Chibi Art Class!

  Materials

  GETTING STARTED

  You don’t need to invest in many materials to get started drawing your chibis. In this section, I have made suggestions, but feel free to experiment. These items can easily be found in the art section of your local craft store or online.

  Paper

  For illustrations with heavy color layering and shading, I prefer to use Canson Comic and Manga Illustration Bristol, which is a heavyweight paper. For illustrations with single-layer coloring and blending, I like Canson XL Mix Media, which is a mid-weight paper that can be used with a variety of mediums.

  Markers

  Markers are my go-to for coloring chibis. They are simple to use and versatile, especially brush-tip markers. For the art in this book, I used a mix of brands of alcohol-based markers (see here), spanning a range of prices, from the expensive Copic and Touchnew markers to the budget-friendly Bic Marking (set of 36) and Crayola Signature Blending (set of 16) markers. Though my step-by-step tutorials list specific marker types and colors, feel free to substitute what you like.

  Alcohol-Based Markers vs. Water-Based Markers

  For the art in this book, I primarily used alcohol-based markers. You can use water-based markers; however, there are some key differences between the two types. Though water-based markers are nontoxic, washable, and cheaper, the result will differ from that of alcohol-based markers, the most noticeable being when applying a solid color and when blending two or more colors. When applying a solid color, water-based markers tend to leave streaks and overlaps, while the resulting color of alcohol-based markers is (mostly) smooth. When blending, water-based markers are difficult to blend and leave obvious “choppy” borders, while alcohol-based markers are easily blended for a smooth, seamless look.

  WATER-BASED SOLID COLOR

  ALCOHOL-BASED SOLID COLOR

  WATER-BASED BLENDING

  ALCOHOL-BASED BLENDING

  Fineliner Pens

  Fineliner pens are an artist’s staple and perfect for outlining your art. They come in a variety of colors and nib sizes for different line weights and are easy to use. Be warned, however, that if you want to outline or color your chibi with a fineliner, use one that is waterproof, or your lines become smudged when you add in color with marker or colored pencil. I like to use the Sakura Pigma Micron 0.1mm in black. If coloring your chibi with watercolors instead of markers or colored pencils, outline your chibi with pencil (regular or waterproof colored pencil) instead (never use pencil with marker).

  Watercolors

  Watercolors are slightly more difficult to work with than markers when coloring your chibis, as it is harder to control the opacity and consistency of the color. However, overall, it offers much more variety in colors as color-mixing allows you to create any color imaginable, unlike markers. I like using the Sargent Watercolor Art-Time Pan (8-color set) and its accompanying brush. Remember to rinse and dry your brush every time you change colors.

  Pencils

  Before you begin drawing and coloring your chibis, I suggest using a pencil to make a rough sketch, so you can erase any mistakes. I like using a wood HB pencil (any brand), with a lead that is not too dark or too light. Colored pencils are a great way to add soft colors and shades into your artwork; however, if you want a more solid color when using colored pencils, you will need to press harder onto the paper when coloring. I prefer Prismacolor colored pencils (set of 24).

  White gel pen

  This pen is great for adding details and highlights to your chibis. If you find it to be too opaque when used on an illustration, you can slightly scratch it with your fingernail to remove some pigment, but only if it has completely dried; otherwise, it will smudge and ruin your drawing! I like to use the Uni-ball Signo gel pen.

  Erasers

  There are two types of erasers you will want to have on hand when you are using a pencil to make a rough sketch of your chibis: a white plastic eraser, such as a Pentel Hi-Polymer eraser, and a gray, kneadable eraser, such as a Prismacolor Kneaded Rubber eraser. The plastic eraser will erase and obliterate everything in its path, while the soft, kneadable eraser is better for selective erasing, such as removing soft shading. Here, I have made a couple sketch patches with an “X” in the middle. The white plastic eraser erased everything, while the gray, kneadable eraser erased the shaded background but not the “X.”

  WHITE ERASER

  GRAY ERASER

  Additional Tools

  Pencil sharpener: Keep your pencils sharp with a high-quality pencil sharpener that isn’t made of flimsy plastic. Additionally, the blade tends to wear down after frequent use, so ensure that your blade is sharp or it will damage your pencil.

  Ruler: Use a ruler that is at least 12 inches (30 cm) long. Do not use a folding ruler, as most don’t line up perfectly when straightened out.

  1

  CHIBI BASICS

  Are you ready to learn how to draw chibis?! This section is chock-full of information to get you started, including how to draw bodies, faces, hairstyles, clothing, and props and backgrounds, along with coloring and shading techniques. There are even a couple practice step-by-step tutorials! Refer back to this section whenever you need a chibi how-to refresher.

  Sketching Your Chibis

  Before you begin drawing and coloring your chibis, you should do rough sketches of them first—ink is permanent, but pencil can always be erased! A good sketch makes for a great foundation for your drawings.

  BODIES

  Unlike regular Japanese anime and manga characters, chibi characters do not have realistic proportions, having more in common with cartoon characters in terms of size and shape, with their large heads and tiny bodies. In this section, I will show you how to draw the proportions and body types for your chibis.

  Components

  As you will see with my illustrations throughout this book, the components that make up a chibi’s body are simple to draw and usually consist of a large oval head, small trapezoid-shape torso, simple arms and legs (and hands and feet!), thin neck, and arcs off the sides of the head for ears. Once you have this simple base down, you can the n play with their proportions, poses, and looks. There’s no limit to what you can do with chibis!

  Proportions

  A good rule of thumb when drawing a chibi is that the body should be roughly the same length as the head. Use the head of the chibi as a unit of measurement when planning out the proportions of your character, like I’ve done here. This chibi is two “heads” tall, with the body being the same length as the head.

  You do not have to make every chibi two “heads” tall. Here are examples of one that is one-and-a-half “heads” tall and one that is three “heads” tall. You can adjust the head and body proportions to your liking.

  A more precise way to measure out the body proportions is by making checkpoints at different parts of the body. First, indicate the lines for the top of the head, bottom of the feet, and bottom of the chin before adding the others. These are visual parameters to ensure your chibi character is the size that you intended it to be.

  If you want your chibi to have an action pose, you can still use the checkpoints to measure the proportions. Here are a few examples.

  Body Types

  When drawing the torso and limbs, there are many different body types to choose from. Here are the four that I use most often.

  Thin: These chibis have lean limbs and torsos, and are a good base for adding puffy or loose clothing.

  Medium: These chibis have well-rounded bodies for any kind of clothing.

  Larger lower: These chibis have longer, thicker legs, perfect for showing off clothing with more detail on the bottom, as well as shoes.

  Tall: These chibis’ bodies have more surface area to work with and are the best type for emphasizing clothing details.

  FACIAL FEATURES

  The face is, no doubt, the first thing that draws your eyes to a chibi drawing (no pun intended!). In this section, I will show you how to place facial features, along with tips on showing expression through the features.

  Proportions and Placement

  As with the method used to make proportional checkpoints for the body (shown here), the same rules can be applied to positioning features on a face, including the start of the hairline, eyebrows, base of the eyes and nose, mouth, and chin. When adding these guidelines, work from the outside in. It also helps to draw a vertical line down the center of the face to establish where the nose will go. If the character is facing to the right or left, then the vertical line should be slightly to the left or right of center.

  The placement of facial features can also emphasize a character’s age. Placing the features lower on the face and closer together will make your character look younger, while placing them higher and farther apart will make them appear older. Making the eyes bigger also contributes to a more youthful appearance.

  YOUNGER

  OLDER

  Eyes

  The eyes can be one of the hardest things to draw on the face, and yet the most important. A good tip to remember is that the distance between the eyes should be the width of one eye. For a straight-on view, the eyes should be the same size; on a tilted face, the iris of the eye farther away from view should be about half the width of the nearer eye, and even smaller, the farther the head is tilted to the side. See the Inspiration Gallery shown here for lots of cool eye styles!

  STRAIGHT ON

  TILTED

  Perspective also affects the shape of the eye. For a straight-on view, there is no dramatic shifting of the iris within the eye. If the viewing angle is from the bottom, the iris will shift lower on the eye, exposing the white of the eye to the top of the iris. The opposite is true if the viewing angle is from the top.

  STRAIGHT ON

  BOTTOM

  TOP

  Eyes might just appear to be simple circles, but there are actually a lot of components to them, with many ways to draw them. Japanese anime and manga eyes resemble realistic eyes, but with some features exaggerated or removed. Here is a comparison of a (somewhat) realistic eye and an anime eye. The most notable difference is the iris—the anime one is huge! The entire eye itself is narrow and vertically long, and the corners and tear ducts are nowhere to be seen. The eyelashes are more defined and clumped together, and the eyebrow is simplified. There is also a large distance between the brow and the eyelid.

  REALISTIC

  ANIME

  Shine

  The shine of the eyes should be consistent with the light source. While you should add a main “shine” point to the eye reflecting the light source, additional shine can be added with a white gel pen for cosmetic effect.

  There are also a few differences between an anime eye and a chibi eye. Chibi eyes should ideally be longer, have larger irises, and smaller eyebrows to add to the cuteness factor.

  ANIME

  CHIBI

  The shape of the eyelids can cover different amounts of the eye and also affect the expression. When drawing eyelids, the fold should appear as a crease above the lash line; it can either go along the whole length or just start at the inner corner of the lash line. If eyes are half open, the crease can be drawn lighter for a more realistic effect. Here are examples of different eyelid shapes, the arrows indicate which directions to draw the lash lines.

  Eyebrows should always be drawn starting from the inner corners (from the nose) outward (to the sides of the head). Here are examples of different shapes for eyebrows.

  Let’s not forget the side view! The same rules apply when drawing an eye, but you want the general shape to be a flat side for the iris with a curved top and bottom for the top and bottom lids.

  Here are some different shapes and designs of eyes for inspiration. Try drawing them or adding them to your own chibi drawings!

  Noses

  Here are a few examples of noses, though in some cases drawing a nose is unnecessary if you prefer to add in the contour of one when shading instead.

  Mouths

  When drawing the mouth, don’t forget to add teeth or a tongue for a more realistic look, instead of just what appears to be an endless void through a hole in the middle of their face. The tongue should be a shade lighter than the inside of the cheek to add more depth. Don’t forget to add a crease below the mouth for the bottom lip.

  Expressions

  Certain features should not be left out if you want your character to be expressive. The most important ones to keep are the eyebrows and the mouth. Here are some examples of how changing the eyebrows or mouth can affect the expression and emotion of your chibi character.

  HAIR

  Just like our hair is an important way of expressing ourselves, hair for chibi characters does the same thing! Hair can be long or short, curly or straight, tied up or loose—anything you desire! Don’t forget to check out the Inspiration Gallery shown here for hairstyle ideas.

 

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