Chibi Elf or Leprechaun, Vector Drawing Tutorial

Before starting, please read this popup preface...notes about tutorial format, etc.

Today we'll be creating an elf or leprechaun in the extremely popular Manga style of cartoon drawing. Our elf is a Chibi, which is a cute and small version of Manga. Chibi characters are cheerful, adorable, mischieveous and a lot of fun to create! You can dress your elf for St. Patrick's Day and send someone a shamrock with your holiday wishes!

There are many different types of Chibi but they all have certain characteristics in common. They are simply drawn, have exaggerated proportions, huge eyes, lots of hair and are round and pudgy. This is a 2-part tutorial. For Part 1, we'll just be creating the head. Go to Chibi Elf, Part 2 to add the body.

This tutorial was written for Paint Shop Pro X and requires some familiarity with the vector tools in PSP. Step-by-step instructions are provided but you should know how to find & use the basic vector tools. This is not an introductory tutorial for the vector tenderfoot. If you need a beginners tutorial, see 'Bugs With Boots' (an introduction to vector tools using PSP X).

Our elf is composed of simple shapes with a little node editing. However, it may appear complicated because there are MANY shapes and many layers. I highly recommend naming the vector objects as we go along.

Note: Some Chibi's are drawn with a heavy outline, some with a light outline. Some are drawn with a combination of both. This tutorial uses a heavy outline but you can use a 1 pixel outline if you prefer.

Step 2. Let's Review Some Vector Terms

The image above shows the finished Chibi Elf head in it's original size. Before we start creating the elf, let's review a few terms. Refer back to here if you get stuck somewhere in the tutorial.

Edit: Edit nodes by selecting the Pen tool and Edit Mode from Tool Options. Select a shape or node and right click for the Edit menu or choose 'Objects>Edit' from the Main Menu. For some shapes, you must first 'Convert to Path' before you can edit nodes. Select 'Convert to Path' from same menu.

Node Type: To edit the 'Node Type', select node, right click for menu or use 'Object>Node Type' from Main Menu. Current node types will be grayed out. Just about every action in this tutorial requires a Cusp node.

Apply: Click 'Apply' to apply changes to current shape or to deselect an object. If you are changing Properties or setting colors for the NEXT shape to be drawn ...make sure previously drawn object is not still selected. 'Apply' before creating a new shape or the new shape will get ATTACHED to the selected shape.

To ADD a node, select Pen tool, Edit Mode (or Knife Mode), select the line segment that needs another node. Hold down Ctrl key while hovering over line segment, when >+ADD appears, click to add node.

To REMOVE a node & MERGE the 2 line segments on each side of node into 1 line, select the node, right click, select Edit, then Merge.

To REMOVE a node & completely DELETE the 2 attached line segments, follow same actions as above except choose Delete.

Step 3. Guidelines for Drawing Head and Face

Start with a canvas size 350 pixels by 350 to create head. Resize canvas later if more room is needed to add the body. Because vector drawings resize without losing quality, we can draw an oversized original and decide on final size later!

First step, let's make some guidelines to aid our drawing. These lines can be any color (except don't use black or any elf colors). Line width is 1 or 2, no fill color. Drawing vector lines will make curves easier to adjust. Keep this Guideline layer ON TOP of all other layers.

Draw an almost round oval for the basic head shape. Our elf has a cute tilt to his head so let's create guidelines with a slight tilt to right. Add an upper eyeline and lower eyeline. Upper eyeline is about center of oval and lower eyeline about halfway to chin (this represents size of eyes). Add a centerline as shown.

Let's get started with the actual drawing!

Note: Words in FUSCIA will refer to guidelines.

All lines & shapes will be drawn with anti-alias checked and vector checked. Choose whatever colors you want to use. Chibi's are NOT realistic! Make his hair green if you like!

Create a new vector layer. Drag it below the Guideline layer.

Draw head. Ellipse tool. Line width 2, black stroke, flesh-color fill. Position chin node at bottom of centerline. Place node on right at bottom eyeline . This should be a Cusp node. Rotate node handles to create cheek bulge just below the bottom eyeline as shown. Only the chin and cheek will extend beyond the oval guideline.

Step 4. Add Face Features and Ear

Draw an ear on left. Use Pen Tool, Point to Point, line width 2, stroke black, fill flesh. Draw a 3 point triangle without connecting the last one to first. The starting point is at the upper eyeline a little ways in from the left side. The next point is outside the circle guideline to make point of ear. The third node point is where the circle guideline and lower eyeline meet. Remember, we're drawing an elf, so make his ears pointy!

Draw a short line to represent the ear fold (see image above for placement).

Make sure lines are de-selected and change fill color to white, stroke to none. Using the Ellipse tool, draw 2 tall ellipses for eyes. These will be in between the eyeline guidelines but can be slightly taller. Position eyes like image above.

Change fill color to a darker shade of the fleshtone. Draw a very small circle for nose. Center this at the intersection of the centerline and bottom eyeline.

Use the Pen tool, point to point, line width 2, stroke color black (no fill) and draw 2 short lines for eyebrows. Right click the end nodes to rotate handles and curve the line. Draw another short curved line for mouth. Add a short, vertical line at left end of mouth to give some expression.

Also, at the bottom of the little nose circle, add a very short curved line indicating end of nose.

Now would be a good place to stop and rename your vector layer subcomponents to something recognizable. Double click the layer name to rename.

Step 5. Begin Drawing Eye

Hide visibility for the guideline layer, we won't need it right now.

The eyes are the most recognizable characteristic of a Chibi character. The are drawn very stylistically with oversized highlights. They can be drawn a number of different ways...from very simplified to very detailed. Today we'll draw eyes partway between simplified and detailed.

With the Ellipse tool, draw an oval for the colored part of the eye. Use any eye color of your choice (medium shade) and a very dark version of same color for the iris outline. Outline stroke width is 2 or 3.

Zoom in close for the next steps and refer to the image above for each step.

Position this colored iris along left side of white oval. Our elf is looking to the left, so only a small bit of white will show on the right side of each eye or at bottom. Click Apply.

With Ellipse tool, draw a black oval for the pupil of the eye. This should be a very large pupil. Position pupil near center of colored part of eye. Click Apply.

Step 6. Add Eye Detail

Don't forget to zoom in closer if you need to see better.

Change Stroke color to a lighter shade of the eye color and stroke width between 5 and 7. Using the Pen tool in Freehand Mode, draw a curved line below the pupil for a colored highlight (see image #1 above). Click Apply.

Switch to Ellipse tool and a very dark shade of eye color for fill (no stroke). Draw an oval that will become the shadow cast by the eyelid. We'll need to do some node editing to get the correct shape. This shape will cover nearly all of the top half of the eye. The shape we want here is sort of a half circle with a concave bottom (see image #2 above).

The first step in editing nodes is to right click the shape and select 'Convert to Path'. The Ellipse has 4 nodes: north, south, east and west. Use the Pen tool to select the south node and drag it upwards until it covers approximately half of the pupil. Next, select the east and west nodes with the Pen tool (hold Shift key down to select more than one node), right click and change Node Type to Cusp. Adjust the handles on these 2 nodes to create a sharp turn. Position all nodes until top half of eye is covered by 'shadow' shaped similar to the one in above image. Click Apply.

Next comes the white highlights. For Chibi these are quite large! Place a large white oval in NW portion of eye. This will cover some of 'shadow' color. Place 2 small circles in SE area (see image #3 above).

Step 7. Finish Eyes

Now it's time to group and copy our assembled eye and place it into position on top of the white of the other eye. It may be difficult to drag a selection around the 'eyeball' without selecting the underneath layers, so let's select the pieces from the Layer Palette. There will be lots of layers named 'New Ellipse' and 'New Path' on the Layer Palette. (These pieces of the eye should be the only layers that we did not re-name in earlier step!) Hold down the Shift key and select all these sublayers with your cursor.

Note: I found I had to have Pick tool selected or selecting multiple sublayers wouldn't work. This isn't mentioned in the Help file.

It will be helpful to 'Group' the pieces of each eye to aid in future selections. Right click and select 'Group'.

Right click to Copy eye group. Paste as 'New Vector Selection' for other eye. Position both eyes looking toward the left.

To finish off the eyes we need to add some eyelashes. A heavy black line for upper lashers and a not quite as heavy line for lower lashes. For the Chibi, these lower lashes are often seen as nearly straight lines. I tried a number of different ways to get a line that starts thin and ends thick for upper lashes and the easiest way I found was to create a black rectangle and edit the four nodes to get the lash shape. Change all node types to Cusp with Curve Before and Curve After. Rotate the handles until you have an upside down U-shape that is thin near the nose and thicker at outside corner of eye.

Next we finally get to add some hair!

Step 8. Add Lots of Hair

The hair is loosely drawn and spikey. Choose your hair color with a black outline. Stroke width 2. Set the Pen to Point-to-Point or Freehand, whichever you are most comfortable with.

First draw a shape that covers the top head with color ...use no outline for this part (see image #1 above). This large area of color will be there to fill in any 'holes' we might have in our drawing (to hide the 'scalp').

Click the button on the Layer Palette to 'create a new vector layer'. Right click layer, select 'Arrange>Send to Bottom'. This will place some hair behind the head Turn black outline back on and draw a section of hair that has 3 or 4 hair spikes at top and will stick out from behind the ears (see image #2 above).

Next, draw a number of triangular-shaped hair spikes for the bangs. Draw each 'spike' as a separate V shape with 3 nodes each. Do not 'close' path as you draw because we want a shape that has the black outline on 2 sides only. You will have to click Apply after creating each one. Place 4, 5 or 6 arranged as 'bangs' (see image #3 above).

Now go back over each of your 'spikes' and adjust the node handles to give some curve to the hair. All node types should be Cusp with Curve Before and Curve After. Rotate and re-arrange the spikes until you're happy with the hair-do (see image #4 above).

Step 9. Finishing and Body

Let's give him a few freckles!. Use the Ellipse tool to draw some darker flesh-colored circles on his cheeks. You can add a neck, or collar, maybe even a hat, and use this drawing all by itself or you can add a body to complete the elf.

If you want a more traditional Leprechaun look...you could also give the fella a beard!

Try drawing a body of your own or go to Part 2, Chibi body tutorial. If you want to try drawing your own body....keep in mind that the body of most Chibi's has exaggerated proportions. Draw it very short, about the same height as the head. The total height of a typical Chibi is 2 heads or 2 and a half heads high.

Whether you use the head alone or add a body, it's always a good idea to duplicate the completed drawing before resizing. Leave the original 'untouched' to use again another day! On the duplicated copy, drag a selection completely around the entire vector drawing with the Pick tool. Use a corner handle of the bounding box to resize smaller by dragging toward center.

Continue to tutorial Part 2, Draw Chibi Elf Body.

Content and images* are the exclusive property of ArizonaKate.com. This tutorial may not be copied, sold or distributed in any format, including sending by email or posting in forums, without first obtaining permission from Arizona Kate.

Graphics Groups may link to tutorials, but may not copy. Please take the time to read Terms of Use and FAQ. A limited license is herein granted for personal use only. If you are interested in a license to reproduce tutorials or images, please contact Arizona Kate.

*Copyright Exclusions: Fonts and dingbats will sometimes be used to create tutorial images and I do not claim copyright for these. Banners and logos linking to other sites are property of the respective website. Scripts have been used with permission as noted in source. Many 'Arizona Kate' character images created from commercial clip art or photos and from dingbats.