Art Style Study

Body Proportion in Chibi Drawing

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CHYEE

Hi, it’s Hye.

Let’s look into the body proportion in Chibi drawing.

The style we are going to talk about is more likely a Japanese ACG style but remember, it is absolutely NOT the only way to draw Chibis.

I dare not to say this article is a bible on the topic - you should take it as a guide only and keep trying until you find what really suits you :-)

The core of Chibi drawing

One of the most important goals in drawing chibi, is to look CUTE.

What defines “CUTE”? Please try to figure out the answer on your own first.

Got your answer?

Generally speaking human always think babies are cute (but it is not an absolute answer).

So usually you can find the features of a baby in chibi drawing, for examples, big eyes, round face and small nose etc .

Let’s look into it by parts:

Head and Face

• Head / Face shape - Round will be good enough. It should not be too long - head width should always equal or longer than head height. The chin can either be shown or omit by drawing a perfect curve for the bottom part of face.

I strongly recommend not to emphasize the cheekbones.

• Eyes (plus iris and pupil) - mostly big, usually no smaller than ¼ head height

• Nose - always small, or even un-draw on Chibis’ faces.

• Mouth - varies. If you would like to show an exaggerated facial expression, it is OK to draw it dramatically big.

• Ears - Usually drawing a simple half oval without any detailed auricle is good enough. Size varies. Small and big ears are both cute, right?

• Cheek - adding little blush will be more attractive :-D

Heads tall and Boby Proportion

Generally Chibis are 1.75~3 heads tall.

You may find different head-tall examples below.

Personally I like the range in between 1.5 to 2.5, but up to 3 heads tall also works.

Please note if it’s above 3 heads tall, it may become a child in normal proportion instead of character in Chibi proportion.

Sometimes I can see some <1.5 heads tall Chibis that look cute too.

You may try it as well. Have fun :-D

Body Shape

In most cases we will only see the outfit instead of the naked bodies so it may look less distinct among different Chibi styles.

Nevertheless, in my observation, it is generally divided into 2 types : Egg and Rectangular.

Both will look good - just try not to use invert-triangle as it will be too “strong” for Chibis.

Arms and Legs / Hands and Foots

We usually won’t draw detailed and well structured hands and foots for Chibi in order to keep it more animated and cuter. I strongly recommend you not to emphasize the bones and joints.

In addition, make sure arms are not thicker than legs as well.