The term Chibi derives its meaning from being cute and short, just like a miniature and inanimate version of the subject. This week, Singapore Artist Celine Chia shares more about Chibi Art and how to create your very own Chibi anime drawing. This article is focused on Guts and Griffin Chibi Art from the Berserk anime series to pay homage to the legendary Kentaro Miura.
Bserserk: Guts Chibi Art
The end goal is to create a short and cute character, hence the proportions of the character has to be wider. Instead of the conventional style sharp jawline, Guts’ head and cheeks are wider, with no sharp edges. His hands and legs are also stubbier.
The following are the steps to draw Guts Chibi Art:
1. Start with a sketch
2. Plan the end points of the character, and ensure that his features are within the frame.
Make sure to fill up the whole canvas. For the eyes, take note not to outline the entire inner edge of the eye. This gives off the effect that the eyes look bigger. For chibi art, in this case, remember not to include it in the nose.
3. Add in the details for the clothes. Go with the flow and gauge the distance and proportions in accordance with the features of the character.
4. Start adding colours after you are done with the character.
5. Start with a little black and water to derive the grey tone.
6. For his cape and belt, light brown and dark brown are used.
7. For better control of the colours, use a fine-tipped water colour brush.
8. Colour the background last. Use a lighter and more contrasting colour, in this case dusty pink is used.
Above is the quick walkthrough in case you missed out on the steps to create your own chibi art.
The following are the steps to draw Griffith Chibi Art:
- Mark the end points of the character after sketching the character. Ensure that his character is slightly off centre as we need to take into account the positions of his cape and sword.
- Take note of the side profile. To add more “coolness” to his eyes, ensure that his eyeballs are semi-circular in shape and that the upper eyelid is slightly more protruding than the lower eyelid.
- Add in the finer details. Avoid symmetry lines and tangents, especially with Griffith’s hair.
- To prevent his body from looking rigid, ensure that his right leg is bigger than his left, and that his left leg is bent and at a higher plane than the right. This adds the effect that he is walking forward, instead of being stationary.
- For his cape, make sure to add in the folds, to make it look as if it’s flying.
- Add in the colours. Start with the skin colour (beige). For the rest of the character, white and a slight tinge of black is used. Take note to add in purple in some parts of his armour as well.
- Remember to include in the shadows of the figure, especially at the edges of his face, ears and eyes with a darker shade of beige.
- Last but not least, colour in the background with a shade of light blue.
Last but not least, the following are the steps to create your own One Piece Luffy Chibi Art:
- Mark out the end points of the character. Position Luffy right smack in the middle and take into account the space needed for both his hands.
- After sketching, add in the details for Luffy. Don’t draw the full circle for Luffy’s eyes. Just draw the top and bottom eyelids without connecting them. This gives the perceived effect of bigger and cuter eyes.
- Ensure that his arms are close to his face and not too far apart. To draw his fingers, take note to draw an overlapping ‘C’ shape or an inverted ‘C’ shape.
- Take note of the upward angle of his clothes. This provides a more visible windswept effect against his clothes.
- Add in the colours for Luffy. Add the tones for every colour and there’s shadow for the respective colours used. The colours used are red, royal blue, grey, yellow, beige, light brown and light pink.
- For the background, teal green is used.
Chibi Art involves making the character look rounded and fun-sized. It is okay to portray the character as chubby and cute as it places emphasis on their adorable charms. Feel free to experiment and watch the process videos or sign up for chibi art classes by Artist Celine Chia today! Stay up to date with us on our social media too!
