Video tutorial

What is a Chibi?

Chibi is a mini version of a character, with proportions between about two to three heads long. This is, of course, not a rigid strict rule. This style, originated from japan, is often used in comic for comedy panels, or merchandises like key chains and figures.

 

There isn't a one-way-only on how to draw chibi, like many things in art.

In this post, I'll share some tips on how I draw my chibis.

The process

First, take a character of your choice as reference. In this example, I'll draw a chibi of my OC magical girl.

 

Chibi style has an exaggerated big head. Since we're not aiming for a realistic style, we can play with a wide range of stylised facial expressions. Think of emojis, and you can find a lot of fun expressions to use.

Examples: (>A<) (._. ) (O.O)

 

Chibi style also often omits the nose or draw it only as a dot. Sometimes, even the mouth is absent so the eyes would be the main focus.

But it doesn't mean you can't draw a character with a big, long nose or eyes as only a dot. Here are some examples side view of the head.

Now, let's move on to the body. You can be creative here, too (body, hands, feet shapes etc). Below are some examples of hands and feet shapes. Imagination is freedom.

 

Below are the main styles I use more often:

Now let's draw our mini versions.

Example result 1 (You can watch the video for step-by-step):

Example result 2:

That's it. Have fun drawing!