Transcripts
1. Intro: I'm no expert when it
comes to character design. As a matter of fact, I
struggle with drawing figures, faces, and people in general. But I absolutely love sweet
whimsical illustrations. And I really wanted
to figure out how to draw cute
characters of my own. If you're also having that craving to create
something cute, then you've come to
the right class. Hi, my name is Gia Graham and I'm an illustrator and
hand lettering artists. Until recently, my illustration work has
focused on plants, laurels, and nature drawings, which
I absolutely love to do, but I also wanted to
try something new. The challenge was that
no idea where to begin. However, I knew that I didn't
want my fear of drawing faces to stop me from trying my hand at
some Adorable Art. In my quest to create
cute drawings, I figured out ways to add
charming level personalities to my illustrations using
simple stylized details. And I'm here to share
my process with you. In this beginner-friendly class, we will first break down
the characteristics of acute Illustration and
what makes them appealing. I will then show you how to draw simple features like
eyes, mouths, and noses. Then I will show you how to make those features lively
and expressive. You'll learn how to
work with proportions. Finally, I will share a few tips on how to tell a story
with your artwork. By the end of this class, you'll be ready to create an engaging
illustration featuring a cute critter of your own. If you're like me
and you're a little intimidated by traditional
figure drawing, but you still want to draw a cute characters
with personality. I think you're going
to enjoy this class. Let's get started.
2. Class Project: Your project for this
class is to create a simple story illustration featuring your own cute critter, using the techniques we
will cover in class. Your character can be
an animal, a food, an object, whatever your
imagination can dream up. If you're not quite sure what
kind of character to draw, you can use any of
the starter shapes I provided in the
class resources, and then add your own details. To share your project, scroll
down below the class video, then go to the projects
and resources tab. Click on the Class
Project button. Name your project and upload
as many images as you'd like by clicking the image icon where it says, add more content. You can also type notes or ask questions within
the project area. Along with uploading your
final class project, you're welcome to
upload sketches from the various class
exercises as well. It's always nice to
see your progression and exploration along the way. Lastly, don't forget to upload a cover image because that's what will appear in
the gallery view. I can't wait to see
your adorable projects. But before we start drawing, let's break down the
different characteristics that make something cute. I'll see you in the next lesson.
3. Characteristics of Cute: Let's face it, most
of us can't resist cute animals or the chubby
cheeks of an adorable baby. But what exactly
makes something cute? And why are we so
drawn to cute things? Well, it's actually
hardwired in our brains. Cuteness triggers
empathy, compassion, and an innate human need to
protect, love and nurture. Our brains released dopamine
when we see something cute. And that surge of dopamine
makes us feel happy. Of course, like with most
things, cuteness is subjective, but there are specific
characteristics that universally contribute
to the cute factor. The first characteristic
is a big head. Classic cute characters
like Hello Kitty, tweety Bird, Snoopy and
others all have huge heads. Hello kiddies head is
actually one-and-a-half times larger than
her entire body. So if you want to make
a character cute, remember to start
with a big head. Another characteristic of
cuteness is when something is round and chubby around belly, rounded hands and chubby cheeks are all pretty irresistible. It's one of the
things that makes Winnie the Pooh so lovable
to so many people. Also, if you look at
Hawaii illustrations, many of them are basically just round blobs with features, which is what makes
them so Adorable. Short limbs are another
characteristic of cuteness. You'll often see
cute characters with short arms and or short legs. These short limbs
with round bodies and big heads are a perfect
combination for cuteness. Lastly, when it comes
to Illustration, one of the key factors and conveying cuteness
is simplicity. The cute illustrations tend to be simple and straightforward. The characters don't
need to be overly detailed and the scene should
be easy to understand. So to recap, the
main characteristics of Cute are a big head, round and chubby features, short limbs, and
overall simplicity. Now that we understand the fundamentals of what
makes something cute, Let's put them into practice. In the next few lessons, we're going to break
down character features, expressions, and proportions, keeping those cute
characteristics in mind. Then we will combine
all these elements to create a sweet, simple
story illustration. First up, let's explore
a few fund features. I'll see you in the next lesson.
4. Features: In this lesson, we're
going to play around with a few simple
features like the eyes, nose and mouth, and
explore how they can change the look and overall
cuteness of the character. Let's turn a carrot
into a character. Now if I were drawing
a regular carrot, it would be long and skinny
like carrots typically are. But as we discussed
in the last lesson, one of the characteristics
of Cute is roundness. I'm going to make this carrot
much more squat and chubby. So I can start with
a triangle shape. Typically, that's the
shape of a carrot. But we're going to really
make this much more rounded. So it's still going
to taper off at the bottom and have
a tapered shape. But basically we're
eliminating any square. Edges are sharp corners. And we can also apply the same principle to
the leaves as well. Rather than making the
leaves super realistic, those can be really
rounded as well. That just adds to the cuteness. Here's an inked version
of the Illustration. Remember another
characteristic of cuteness is simplicity. I've kept the drawing
really sweetened simple. And I didn't add
too many details. Alright, so I'm going
to duplicate this. And I'm going to use
this as a template to experiment with
different features. Let's start with the eyes. Again, we're aiming
for simplicity. So the eyes can be as simple
as two small circles. And instead of circles
to ovals can work well. And tilting the oval slightly will help to add a little
bit of personality. Then if you add a couple
white dots to those ovals, that'll dial up the cute
factor a little bit more. Now, crescent shapes are
another good choice for eyes. Wide crescents like this
are really simple and easy. Or you can do more narrow
or skinny crescent shape. And that crescent
shape can work in the other direction as well. Another option is to go with that wide crescent
that we tried earlier, but add a couple of little
lines to the end of each one and the outer edge
of those crescents. And that could either read as
eyelashes or it could look like the characters eyes are closed really tight in a squint, depending on how you
use the other features. Now let's try a few
options for the mouth. I read somewhere that cute
characters don't often have large mouse because
a large mouth can be perceived as threatening. Think of a shark or dinosaur. I'm sure there are
exceptions to this, but it's certainly
something to keep in mind. So we're going to draw some pretty tiny mouse
on our characters. And we'll get into more
mouth shapes when we explored different expressions
in the next lesson. But for now here, a few basic
shapes that we can try. First is a very
simple half circle, which you can fill in. Another option is
just a tiny little V. Just kind of indifferent
version of a smile. Then keeping it small again, we can do a tiny crescent and we can do the open
half circle again, but have the top part
of it slightly tilted. You get that a little
more centered. And then here we can try
a crescent shape again, but add two little
lines to each side. Kind of gives a contented smile. And remember that you can
play with the position The mouth to and see how
that affects the face. Closer to the eyes usually works best when you're creating
a super cute Character. And I've even seen
situations where the mouth and the eyes
are almost in alignment. I'll show you an example
of how that might look. Again, these are
really simple shapes, but as you can see, they can create very different features
for your character. Now let's try a few
different nodes shapes, and those doesn't quite
work on a carrot. So I'm going to use
this bunny template. And we're going to use some of the same eye and mouth shapes that we tried
on the carrot. And then see what nose
options we can try. Let's start with a couple of
the wide crescent shapes for the eyes and for the nose. Let's try a downward
pointing triangle. Remember that everything should be a little rounded so you don't want the corners of that
triangle to be too sharp. For the nose. We can keep it simple with
another crescent shape. Now let's try the two downward
facing crescents for eyes. And a little heart-shaped
nose is always cute. Especially for a bunny
or an animal critter. And for the mouth, we can do the crescent
with the two simple lines. Now let's try an option
with the oval-shaped eyes. Again, I'm going to tilt
these inward slightly. By the way, if you're curious, I'm sketching these
with the six B pencil. I'm going to add those
two little dots. And for this nose, you can try a half circle shape. Then for the mouth on
this one, we can try it. It's just that cute
little tiny V-shape. Now let's try the
crescent shaped eyes with the little
lines on the ends. This time we'll do
another triangle, but you can try an upward
facing triangle for our nose. And again, I'll just do a
simple crescent for the mouth. And for this one, I'll do the two
skinny crescents. And another option for a
nose is too little U-shapes. Just really simplified.
For the mouth. On this one, I'll do
the open semicircle. And the last option, we will try the just the two
simple circles for the eyes. For the nose. Very simple oval shape. A horizontal oval shape
can work just fine. Then for the mouth
on this one I'll do the closed semicircle. Of course, you can mix
and match these features, which would give you
tons of options, each with its own
little personality. Now it's your turn. I've created JPEG templates
of the carrot and bunny, which you can find in
the class resources. Just to remember that
the class resources are only available on the
website, not the app. Download the templates
and experiment with different shapes and
combinations of eyes, noses, and mouths to see what kind of
characters you can create. Up next, we're going to explore
a few simple expressions. I'll see you in the next lesson.
5. Expressions: Now we're going to
explore how to bring a simple drawing to
life by experimenting with some of the features
that we tried in the last lesson to create
a range of expressions. First, we're going to add
expressions to a bear's face. To draw the bare. We're going to start
with a loose rectangle and make it a little narrower on the bottom
than it is on the top. Then add a smaller rectangle
in the bottom half. And that'll be where
the muscle will go. Next, you can add two
small squares at the top, two corners for the ears. So there we have the main
framework for the bear's face. Now remember one of
the main rules in our cute critter rule
book is to round it out. So as we finalize this, we're going to follow all
of these main shapes, but we're going to
make the lines much more curved and round
out all the corners. So I'm just going to
reduce the opacity on that and draw my
final on a new layer. All right, There's the basic
shape of our bare face. And here's a final
ink diversion. Now again, I'm going to duplicate
this so that we can use it as a template to
add our expressions. We're going to create six
different expressions. Happy, surprised, excited,
worried, sad, and grumpy. And like I mentioned, we're going to be using some of the same simple features we
used in the last lesson. Let's start with a happy face. So as I've mentioned before, the crescent shaped eyes give a really sweet contented look, which I think works perfectly
for a happy expression. Then we can do a really simple crescent-shaped
for the mouth. And making it a
little bit crooked, usually feels a
little more cute than making the crescent shape
perfectly symmetrical. So there's our sweet
little happy face. Now for a surprised expression, Let's start with two
ovals for the eyes, but we're not going to
fill them in this time. This time we're going to draw the pupils in the lower half of the eyes to make it look
like he's looking down. And this is supposed to
be a surprised face. So a simple oval for the
mouth will fill it in. So it looks like his
mouth is open in shock. And then we can top it off
with a couple raised eyebrows. There's our surprised face. Next, let's draw
an excited face. Now, unexcited expression
will be a little bigger and more animated than the happy
expression we just did. So I'm going to use the
crescent shaped eyes again, but I'm going to add those
little lines to the ends. That's just to exaggerate
it a little bit. Then rather than
having a closed mouth, we can make that
half circle mouth. So it looks like a
really big smile. And again, we can make
that a little bit crooked. Up. Next we're going to
draw a worried face. For the worried expression. We can try just too small
circles for the eyes. Then for the mouth, just really simple,
tiny horizontal line. And then to exaggerate
the expression a bit, we can add a furrowed brow with to upturned
crescent shapes. For the eyebrows. There's just a
little worried face. And again, remember that
these don't have to be perfectly identical
or symmetrical. It's actually a little bit more whimsical and engaging when they're not perfectly aligned. Now for the sad face. Now, to make our bare look sad, we can try the narrow, turned down crescent
shapes for the eyes. His eyes are closed. And then give him a
little downturned mouth. Again, something really simple, like a crescent shape
will do the trick. Now let's make our bare grumpy. Now for the grumpy expression, let's try half
circles for the eyes. It's really that mouth shape that we've done a
couple of times, but we're using it
for eyes instead. Then let's have him looking to the left giving
some serious side. I then for the mouth, start with a straight line. But to make it a little
more expressive, make it slightly wider on
one side than the other. Then I think one raised eyebrow. We'll talk this off nicely. There's our grumpy bear. There we have six very
different expressions. And as you can see, it can be done with very simple shapes. These simple expressions
can also work really well to bring personality
to inanimate objects, as you can see with these Apple
characters. Here's a tip. You can also alter
certain details of your character to help
emphasize the expression. For example, the bite mark and drooping leaf helped to play up the Sad and grumpy expressions.
Now it's your turn. I've created JPEG files of
the bear and apple templates, which you can find in
the class resources. Remember, the class resources are not available on the app. You'll have to download
them from the website. You can either download the
templates or you can draw your own critter and
then experiment to see how many different
expressions you can create. Up next, we're going to play
around with proportions. I'll see you in the next lesson.
6. Proportions: A great way to enhance
the cute factor in an Illustration is to
play with proportions. Contrast in scale
can add a sense of whimsy and make your drawing
more engaging and playful. For example, adding an oversized
pair of glasses to just about any character
is a great way to make it instantly Adorable. Employing the scale contrast is also a great way to further emphasize the size
of a character itself and add to
its personality. For example, a barest,
typically large, by adding a tiny hat, a tiny Bowtie, and tiny flowers. It makes the bear seen
even larger by comparison. Here, the scale contrast
is working both ways. First, making the baby
carrots so much smaller than the larger carrot helps to emphasize the sweetness and
innocence of a toddler. Then the oversized balloon
adds another layer of playfulness and childlike wonder to the baby carrot character. In this sketch, the radish is
huge compared to the bunny. The playful scale plus the characters expression
add a sense of delight and even
charming mischief as if she's scored
a really big treat. Now it's your turn using one of your practice sketches
as a starting point. Try adding another object to the drawing for the
character to interact with. This can be clothing. An object that character
is holding or sitting on. The choice is yours. Just remember to play with exaggerated proportions to help create a sense of
whimsy and playfulness. Up next, we're going to pull all these elements together
to tell a simple story. I'll see you in the next lesson.
7. Storytelling: Now that we've
figured out how to make a cute illustration, the next step is to
make it compelling. And the best way to do that
is to tell a visual story. The story you tell
doesn't need to be detailed or complicated, but it does need to
convey enough of a narrative to catch the viewer's attention
and draw them in. Here are three important
things to think about when telling
a visual story. Concept. Once you've sketched your
character and you have a general idea of what
it will look like. Formulate a concept
for the Illustration. Create a situation
for your character. Think of where they are, what they're doing, and
what their mood might be. Are they being silly, charming, playful,
or mischievous? Are they interacting
with another character or with an object? Try writing your concept
in one sentence here, a few examples from some
of my illustrations. The concept here
is really simple. Little bunny loves to knit. For this one, it's rainy weather ruins little
mouses plans. For this illustration. It was kitty takes a nap
in a magical forest. The idea behind this
illustration was, it smoothies season,
no fruit is safe. Expressions. Once you have a concept in mind, makes sure the expression on your character works
well with the concept. Here a few examples. As outlined in the concept. The bunny loves to knit. The tongue is sticking
out to show focus, which is a cute habit
lots of little kids have when they're
concentrating on a task. But the mouth is turned up in a smile to indicate enjoyment. There's no frustration
with the focus. The mouse and this
illustration is a little sad and disappointed. So the eyes are looking
up at the Rain, which is the source of
the disappointment. The eyebrows are
lifted slightly and the mouth is turned
down to show sadness. Here there is a look of complete contentment as the cat sleeps with its mouth open, oblivious to the
world around him. In this one, the smoothie has a smug look because he's
fresh and cool while the fruit is shocked
and horrified because they think there'll be next on the chopping block. Surroundings. The next thing to consider are
the surroundings. Is the character interacting
with any objects? What's in the foreground, what's in the background. The environment needs
to help tell the story. Here the bunny sits next to a pile of oversized yarn balls. Not only does this help drive home the idea that the
bunny is a knitter. But it also implies that the bunny enjoys
and adding so much that he probably plans to use
the entire stash of yarn. Here. Raindrops in puddles make it obvious that
it's a rainy day. And the mushroom umbrella
and yellow rain boots help to emphasize the atmosphere. And oversized mushroom
and giant plants clue us into the
fact that this is not an ordinary forest. This is a magical forest. In this one showing the discarded cut fruit and
having the smoothie walk towards the apple and pineapple help justify their sense
of impending dread. Now I'm going to walk you
through my process as I take one of the sketches I worked
on in the last lesson, turn it into a simple
story illustration. I really like the
apple and glasses, so I'm going to use that sketch. Now, Apples are usually
associated with teachers, classrooms and learning, at least here in
the United States. And he looks quite smart
with those glasses. So my idea is to make him a cute little bookworm
who loves to read. Adding a book is a great way
to introduce another object. I'm going to make this one
quite tiny to play with scale. Again, employing scale contrast, I'll make the arms pretty small compared to the
rest of the apple. Which again, as to the
element of cuteness. Now I'm going to
change the expression. So he's looking
down at the book. And I'll give him a
little contented smile to suggest that he's
really enjoying it. The next step is to add
the surroundings to complete the story
within the Illustration. Let's have him
sitting on a stool. And I'm going to give
him tiny little legs, again playing with
exaggerated proportions. Then to drive home the idea
that he's an avid reader, I'll surround him
with piles of books. Adding a single light bulb here implies that he is so
obsessed with reading. He'll stay up all night long getting lost between the pages. Okay, here's the
final Illustration. A cute critter and
his happy place, reading all his favorite books.
8. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much
for joining me. I hope you're now ready to
use the steps shared in class to create your own cute critter and simple story illustration. Remember to share your drawing
and the project gallery, and you're welcome to share your practice sketches there as well. I'm so excited to
see what you create. If you'd like to stay
connected with me, you can subscribe to my
YouTube channel where I share short beginner-friendly
drawing tutorials. You can also join me on patreon, where I share
inspiration, advice, and encouragement with a
wonderful community of artists. Or you can follow
me on Instagram. As always, it's been a pleasure sharing this Creative
Space with you. I'll see you in the next class.
Gia Graham, Designer, Letterer, Illustrator
