[Easy Steps 123] Let’s draw some mini-characters!

Have you ever drawn a mini character?
A minichara is a small, compressed character.
They are small and cute, and are used in various places such as for illustrations and goods.

In this article, I’d like to show you the process of drawing mini-characters.
I hope this will be helpful to you.

What is a Minichara?

Firstly, you can’t create mini-characters just by drawing them small.
Most minichara are compact and cute.
Mini-characters can make any character cute, even a muscular older brother, a stubborn old man, or a world-destroying demon king.
It’s like shining a “become small ray” on them.

When the “become small ray” is applied, the character will turn into tiny round sizes, leaving only detailed features.
The trick is to keep in mind what will happen if you apply the become small ray to these regular size characters.

 

Draw the original character

Now let’s start drawing.
Prepare the original character.
A character you are used to drawing will be good.

This time we will make this girl into a mini character.

 

Drafting

Let’s do a rough draft.
When drawing a miniature character, think about what you want to show about the character.
For example, the shape of the eyes, accessories, or even the royal crest (charm points).
Make sure to draw them in a large scale.
It’s the expression of “focus right here!” that is important.

In the case of this character, it’s the ribbon on her head and her ponytail, so I’m going to draw them large to emphasize them.

Draw the head first.
Keep in mind the charm points I mentioned earlier while drawing.

For the hair, don’t draw the ends of the hair in too much detail, but draw it in a large tuft and then split into several strands for a better balance.

The key is to draw the eyes and mouth larger!
“Sometimes it’s best to draw them a little big. The eyes and mouth should be large!
Make her look full of energy.

This is an image of the position and ratio of the eyes and mouth of the mini-character.
This is not necessarily the only way to do it, so it’s just for reference.

The lower the eyes are on the face, the cuter and younger the character will look, so it’s a good idea to draw the eyes lower than usual when drawing mini characters.

Once the face is drawn, start drawing the body.
If you’re going to go to the trouble of drawing a miniature character, you’ll want to have it pose in some way.
Posing is also a very important element in expressing the character, so be sure to draw it well.
This time, I’ll try to give the character an energetic look.

As for how to draw the body of a miniature character, there is no need to think too deeply about it.
Let the characters pose freely without thinking about the joints and bones.
Since the body is deformed to begin with, it’s better to let it move as much as possible to give it a sense of dynamism.
As for the balance between the face and the body, I often draw a figure with two or three heads.

The hands can be any size, but they should be small in relation to the face.
Even if the fingers don’t have many joints (or even if the fingers themselves don’t have many joints), the miniature character will look good.
You can also draw the legs and arms as if they were sticks!

Draw the clothes.
If you draw the clothes as if they are spreading out at the end, it will give a fluffy impression and movement.

In this case, I omitted the folds of the skirt and drew them as a single line, but in some cases, even mini characters can be drawn with tight folds.

 

Line drawing

Now, let’s draw the line works.
Keeping the previous points in mind, try to keep the lines simple and not overdrawn.
Keep the wrinkles on the clothes to a minimum.

Coloring

Once the line drawing is done, it’s time to paint.

The shadows will be painted with a multiplication layer.

If the shadow is too realistic, it will look like it’s floating, so don’t paint it too finely.

The next step is to add highlights.
I recommend painting it in a round shape to give it a cute, rounded look.

Finally, finish the cheeks and eyes, and adjust the color.

Finished

That’s it, you’re done! Yay, it’s cute!

 

Summary

What do you think of this?
If you can draw miniature characters, you can expand your range of expression, and more importantly, you will have a lot of fun drawing them!
The trick is to be conscious of “cuteness”!
Please try drawing lots of cute miniature characters.

(Text and pictures by Tsukasa)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tsukasan0823