Tutorial Created 9-27-00

Long ago I created a tutorial for drawing "Chibi's" - or super deformed versions of anime characters. That tutorial was really old and bad.. and um... needed to disapear ^_^ So I've made a newer one. I hope it's better. First off! What is the purpose of Chibis? To look cute! To represent a character drawn with an extream emotion. To save time (They're quicker and easier to draw) Chibi actually means child or runt. Characters drawn like this often look more child like (since they're proportions are closer to those of a child) and often times are also cuter... like a child! Another commonly used term for these types of characters is 'Super Deformed' (or SD). Super Deformed is rather literal - because the character's proportions and features are deformed. Instead of the average 5-7 heads proportions, chibi drawings are done with 3. (I'll explain this in a minute so if it doesn't make sense don't worry). Their eyes are often enlarged, and in most cases, the nose vanishes all together. The head is still kept at a oversized proportion to the body to make it easier to show the emotion of the character. Those scenes in manga and anime where the character's head get's really large and they're yelling at someone - that's super deformed. When a character get's all silly with huge crying eyes - that's super deformed. When you see simplified version of characters with huge sweat drops, or giant bulging veins on their foreheads - That's Super Deformed! Proportions With a normal human figure (depending on your personal drawing style) the body can be measured in 'heads' - and is usually somewhere from 5-7 heads tall. This way you keep the head from looking too large, or small in proportion to the body. For example, if you have a big muscely guy and you want his body to look really massive, you would draw him with 7 or even 8 heads tall. This would make his head smaller in comparrison to his body - thus making the body/muscles look really massive and powerful. When you draw chibis, you want them to look childish - kids have larger heads in proportion to their body, so to make them look more child-like and cute (or exagerated, depending on what angle you're going for) you make the heads larger in comparrison to the rest of the body. In most all types of chibis, the whole body is the size of the head x 3. Chibis can easily be drawn in virtually any pose with very minimal guides. Unlike when drawing a full figure, it becomes more combersom and annoying to use the line guides to get the pose correct. Since the figure is much smaller and more simplified, then a normal human figure, simple shapes work well as guides. Begin with the basics - a circle. This is the head, so make sure it's not too small. The whole body well be the length of 3 of these - plus you need to be able to fit the face in there. After that, a simplified shape of the chest comes just below the circle. This is essentially an upside down triangle with the bottom cut off - only more rounded. The hips are a reversed image of the chest, only smaller. The shoulder width is larger then the hips - but not by too much. This is sort of an hour-glass figure. And remember - these are just simple guides - don't obsess over it being perfect - the point of chibi drawings is that they're easier and save time in drawing. Next Clean it up some - add the legs and arms - put in the neck and add some shape to the face. The legs on chibi characters rarely have any definition to them, unless it's a part of the character (a sexy woman chibified would have large hips and the shape of the legs would be defined more) - but generally this is really not the case. Don't obsess over the feet too. Use simplified shapes - that's all the really needed. A nice thing about chibis, is that you really don't need to be a master of hands - while you should put something there - it doesn't need to be any piece of mastery at art - just a simplified representation of a hand will do. And finally add in the cloths, eyes, and hair. The cloths don't nessecary have to be very detailed - that's really up to you. Generally the hair is simplified, but not too much. And for the facial features - the eyes are almost always exagerated (even more then usual) and made VERY large. Also note that the nose is often left out.