This tips and tutorial will cover some very general things to consider when designing chibi characters. It is largely based on my own personal experiences and preferences but I hope this can be useful to some and provide a different perspective when approaching this subject matter.

- Proportions & Importance of Simplification -

Very generally speaking, an adult person is roughly 7~8 heads tall. In order to translate this into a version of a character who is only 2 or 3 heads tall, there are some key points that we should consider to make them as cute and appealing as possible.

 

Simplification is important in a lot of art styles, but I'd say it is absolutely crucial in chibi art.

 

While this is largely dependent on your own personal preferences, I personally prefer chibis to have a rounder and simplified body. When the body and face aren’t stylized enough for chibis I found that it can start to look a little bit uncanny if the body or face look too realistic for the exaggerated proportions.

The key is to not focus on drawing every detail - instead look for big shapes in the character’s design and key features that make the character unique. Also consider rounding out and simplifying a lot of the features whenever you can.

HEAD

Like with a lot of the popular anime or other anime-adjacent art styles, the head of a chibi is drawn very big, along with their eyes as well. This makes the character look cuter and also lets us focus on conveying their facial expressions.

 

A simple rule to follow for drawing cute faces is to minimize the nose, mouth and chin and to enlarge the eyes to take up more space on the face.

 

While we have learned that the eyes are generally halfway between the top of the face and the bottom of the chin in a realistic face, with chibi art it’s a bit different. In order to make the face even more appealing and cute, try relocating the facial features a bit lower and make the distances between each feature closer as well.

There’s also several ways to draw chibi faces, and typically you’d want them to be a lot more rounder and squashed than a regular realistic face.

 

Here are a few examples to get you started:

NECK

Necks aren’t always needed in chibis, and in some art styles it might not be necessary to draw them at all. But if you decide to include it, I think it is important to also make the neck much smaller and thinner. If the neck looks too realistic and thick in comparison to the cute and very stylized features of the chibi face and body, it will look rather odd and out of place.

 

(However it could work for muscular characters though!)

 

HANDS AND FEET

There’s so many ways to draw chibi hands and feet and it is difficult, if not impossible, to cover it all.

 

In terms of simplification, you’d want to shorten the fingers and toes to make them stubby.

For more simpler or cartoon-like chibis, you might decide to not draw the fingers or toes at all and opt for more abstract shapes such as circles and triangles to represent hands and feet.

 

Here are some examples of hands and feet you could draw:

TORSO

In contrast to other features, there’s not a whole lot to say about the torso other than to also make them short and stubby. Keep it very simple and soft, minimize the details.

I found that a bean-like shape for the body works best with with more chubbier arms and legs, whereas a rectangular base for the body is more suited for chibis with longer limbs. However, there’s no strict rules. Try experimenting around with different combinations to find what suits your character the best!

- My Own Process -

To finish this off, here’s a step by step of how I personally approach drawing chibis. I will give a few examples of different styles of chibi art and briefly explain my thought process behind them.

EXAMPLE 1

With this first chibi style I have gone for a more rectangular body.

 

To match with this stylistic choice, I have decided to make the shapes more geometric with the arms and legs and also to make them fairly long.

 

Next I draw the lineart on the layer above the sketch layer.

After the lineart, with the [Auto Select] tool I selected the area outside the character.

Then using the [Lasso] tool, I refine the selected area more precisely. (Pressing [Shift] key to add to the selected area, and pressing [Alt] key while using the lasso tool to subtract from the selected area.)

Then I invert the selected area and then use the [Bucket] tool to fill in the line art with a base colour.

Finally, on the clipped layers above the base layer, I colour in the character.

EXAMPLE 2

With this second chibi, I have decided to make the body a more squishy bean shape.

 

In order to fit the softer style, I have made the arms and legs also a lot more chunky and blob-like in shape to create a more cohesive design.

 

Since the body is smaller, simpler and less detailed than the previous version, I will also make the eyes bigger and placed slightly lower down on the face in order to make it cuter.

 

The rest of the process is the same as the previous chibi.

EXAMPLE 3

With this last chibi, I have decided to make it less stylized with the body.

 

Since the torso area is slightly more anatomically accurate, the limbs I will draw will also be more realistic to match the overall style.

 

- Final Tips -

While it can sometimes work with careful balancing, a rule I personally follow is to not mix clashing stylistic choices, and instead stick to similar shapes for a more cohesive and harmonious design.

 

Eg. More chunky limbs and rounder face for a soft blob-like body shape, whereas a more rectangular body works better with other geometrical shapes for limbs.

 

However, of course there are no strict rules in art, and what matters the most is to experiment to see what works the best for you and to have fun with your art!

 

Thank you for reading!