This video tutorial demonstrates the drawing process for a stylized female “Chibi” anime character with an enormous head and a smaller body. The tutorial offers suggestions on the proportions of the body and the location of facial elements.
Chibi anime characters feature extremely stylized heads and small bodies. These kinds of characters are great for creating short storyboards, and animations because they can be drawn faster than a more realistic and precise character.
Due to their huge heads, they also excel at communicating various emotions.
To draw anime chibi facial expressions, refer to:
16 Examples of How to Draw Chibi Anime Facial Expressions
Be aware that if are working with pencil and paper, you must draw light lines in the beginning stages of the drawing since you’ll need to erase some lines in various steps of the lesson.
Step 1 – Establish the Body Proportions
Note that the proportions of the body shown in the above illustration are only a suggestion since there is no standard method to draw chibi bodies. Some have heads that are as large as the body, while others could be more like normal anime characters.
In this way, draw the body of the character at the height of one-and-a-half from their head. Draw the torso on the identical legs, so that they are the same height.
The feet and hands of characters in chibi can be drawn without showing individual fingers or toes.
To draw this particular design, use the thumb with no specifics that make up the finger (as if the person is wearing gloves).
Step 2 – Draw the Face
Be aware that these ratios (just like the ones for the human body) are just suggestions.
To position the facial features according to the proportions shown in this tutorial draw in the following manner:
- Create a line horizontally across the center of your head. Then draw the ears and eyes below the horizontal line (draw them as high as 1/4 of the face, or two of the divisions in the above illustration)
- Draw a horizontal line between the lower part of the eyes and the chin. Then draw the mouth beneath the line.
- Draw a horizontal line that is 1/8 of the face’s height (one division in the above illustration) upwards from the top of the eye and create the eyebrows beneath it.
As most of the time when it comes to chibi characters, it is possible to keep the nose from being drawn altogether.
Also, please note that although the ears are included for reference, they are covered with hair later in the tutorial.
To draw other kinds of anime heads, check out:
How to Draw Different Styles of Anime Heads & Faces
Step 3 – Draw the Hair
Chibi heads are typically enormous, and the hair of a chibi can be drawn with lots of fine detail.
In the above illustration, create the top of the hair in the head’s shape before branching out into clumps, which are narrower towards the ends.
Remove the areas of the head which are covered by the hair after you’ve finished. The eyebrows can be left and other facial characteristics (if you’d like to draw a different style) in a way that they overlap with the hair, as it is quite normal for the characters of these kinds.
For more information on how to draw anime hair, check out:
How to Draw Anime & Manga Male & Female Hair
Step 4 – Draw the Clothes
Similar to chibi body parts, Chibi clothing tends to become simplified (drawn without much detail, and with fewer folds).
In this instance, the character is wearing a standard uniform for school. Draw the top portion of the dress along with the socks and shoes closely embracing the form of the body, with the skirt and sleeves sloping toward the lower part of the body.
For more information about making anime clothing, check out:
- How to Draw an Anime School Girl in 6 Steps
- How to Draw Anime & Manga Clothes
Step 5 – Finished Line Drawing
Finish your line sketch by adding smaller details.
On the face, including eyes, pupils, reflections of the eye, and eyelashes as well as some blushes on the cheeks. Also, you can draw two very thin lines to mark the top in the eye (which will be darker shaded). This region is generally darker due to shadows that are cast by the eyelashes and the reflection of dark-colored eyelashes within the eyes.
On the clothing, simply put the buttons.
Step 6 – Applying Color & Shading
Begin by filling in every area using the correct shade. If coloring on paper, be certain to leave the reflections of the hair, eyes, and buttons white. If you’re coloring digitally, put them at the bottom.
Then, you will be able to shade in the following ways:
- Darken the neck
- Make some drop shadows on the facial area (from hair)
- Make a shadow over your legs (form the skirt)
- Create tiny shadows for the hands and sleeves
- Darken the irises at the top of the eyes.
- Create a small shadow over the eyelids’ white areas (from to the eyelashes)
For the neck, you can just darken the entire area for the rest of the shadows make draw them roughly tracing the shape that is casting them (hair/skirt/sleeves/eyelashes). To darken the top of the eye, you can draw the lines from the prior step in order to divide the light and dark areas.
For more information on coloring manga or anime characters, check out:
How to Color an Anime Character Step by Step
Conclusion
There’s a wide variation when it comes to the size and shape of characters drawn in chibi. This tutorial offers an illustration of how to draw this type of character. You are able to alter or even completely alter dimensions to determine what you come up with.
If you enjoy drawing cute chibi-style characters you may also consider:
How to Draw a Cute Anime Girl Step by Step