Hart - Manga for the beginner chibis: everything you need to start drawing the super-cute characters of Japanese comics

Contributing artists:
Denise Akemi
Romulo Fajardo
Christopher Hart
Morgan Long
Ecky Oesjadi
Yuu Sanau
Diana Devora
Aurora Garcia
Agnes Lim
Chihiro Milley
Adetyar Rakhman
Nao Yazawa

Design / Rosanne Kang / woolypear

Front cover design / woolypear

Copyright 2010 Star Fire, L.L.C.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Watson-Guptill Publications an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group a division of Random House, Inc., New York
www.crownpublishing.com
www.watsonguptill.com

WATSON-GUPTILL is a registered trademark and the WG and Horse designs are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hart, Christopher.
Manga for the beginner chibis : everything you need to start drawing the super-cute characters of Japanese comics / Christopher Hart.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN: 978-0-8230-0828-5
1. Comic books, strips, etc.JapanTechnique. 2. CartooningTechnique.
3. Comic strip charactersJapan. I. Title. II. Title: Everything you need to start drawing the super-cute characters of Japanese comics.
NC1764.5.J3H369287 2010
741.51dc22
2009029134

v3.1

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Lauren Shakely, Candace Raney,
Victoria Craven, Alisa Palazzo,
Brian Phair, Autumn Kindlespire,
and, of course, you, the reader!

CHIBIS (PRONOUNCED CHEE-BEES) are the cutest and funniest characters in all of manga. Manga is made up of many genres, but only chibisthose miniature characters with huge personalitiesappear in every one of them.

Originally, normal characters turned into a chibi only when they would have a sudden, giant outburst of emotions. When characters became overwhelmed, they would suddenly go chibi, instantly transforming down to outrageously cute, mini-proportionsall the while ranting and raving and letting off steam. Its a hilarious sight, used for comic relief in comedies as well as in dramas.

Chibi characters soon became so popular that they were given their very own genre. Graphic novels devoted solely to chibis began to spring up. Toys and licensed gear were being chibified all over the manga universe. Anime conventions were morphing into chibi conventions! Everyone was going chibi crazy!

But the thing that makes chibis special for manga artists like you and me is that they are not only fun to draw but easy, too! So if youre a beginner, you can pick no better place to start drawing manga characters than with chibis. In this book, youll learn how to draw all types of chibis, from mischievous school kids to magical girls, adorable fairies, action characters, and more. Youll learn the basics of proportions, action poses, body language, and expressions. Plus, youll also get the secrets for drawing costumes as well as color suggestions.

Chibis also have popular monster pals, and you wont want to miss these. Little magical monster friends are favorites among chibi fans. They will make your heart melt. Theyre so fluffy and cute, you just want to squeeze them! These buddies are inseparable from their human chibi counterparts. And guess what? We have a whole section devoted to showing you how to draw them with their chibis.

In addition, we even have delightful chibi-size animals, which youll now be able to draw with ease thanks to the special visual hints that accompany each one. And if you want to put your chibis in an environment with other chibis, in order to maximize the humor in a scene, weve got that, too, with the secrets of staging.

Everything you need to create a world of chibis is in these pages and at your disposal. You might start off as a beginner, but you wont stay a beginner for long, because with this book, youll be on your way drawing cute and funny chibis in no time!

CHIBI PROPORTIONS ARE DIFFERENT from those of the rest of the characters in the manga universe. Certain aspects have to be emphasized and exaggerated to make them ultra-cute. Were going to start off by focusing on the large head shape, the tiny body, and those giant eyes. Keep your chibi simple; dont overcomplicate the face. The fewer lines, the better!

Chibis typically have giant heads on small, childlike bodies and round little hands and feet. So appealing are chibis that what began as only a special effect in manga graphic novels and anime has become a highly popular genre in its own right. The most popular proportion for drawing chibis is about three head lengths tall. That means that if you were to stack three chibi heads one on top of the next, it would equal the chibi characters total height.

However, three heads is by no means the only chibi proportion that manga artists follow. In fact, some manga artists specialize in the highly stylized, super-exaggerated chibis, which are just two heads tall and excruciatingly adorable! Other, even more exaggerated, chibis have heads that are twice as big as their bodies. These make wonderfully engaging mascots for graphic novels, anime, Web sites, and toys. You can draw your chibi any size you want; however, when you start to make them taller than three heads, they begin to look like normal-size people and leave the realm of chibis. So be sure to keep their heads large in proportion to their bodies.

AVERAGE CHIBI (THREE HEADS TALL)

SUPER-EXAGGERATED (TWO HEADS TALL)

EXTREME CHIBI (HEAD TWICE AS TALL AS BODY)

Ever been embarrassed? Afraid? Angry? Does your face get all scrunched up or red in extreme emotional states? Well, if you were a manga character, then this would result in a dominolike effect, producing a wild chibi transformation. An uncontrollable surge of emotions triggers manga characters to suddenly turn chibi and exhibit a broad, chibi expression for an instant, before snapping back to their normal selves just as quickly.