Chapter 1: Understanding Mini Characters… 005

01 Mini Characters… 006
02 Comparison of various head-to-body ratios… 010
03 How to Draw a 2-Head Character… 014
04 How to draw hair… 018
05 How to Draw the Body and Limbs… 024
06 How to draw different parts of the face… 030
07 How to Draw Men and Women Differently… 036
COLUMN 1: How to Become a Freelance Illustrator… 040

Chapter 2: Mini Character Expressions and Poses… 041

01 Basic Standing Pose … 042
02 Let's express our feelings... 050
03 Let's draw various poses... 060
COLUMN 2: Things to consider when drawing mini characters… 074

Chapter 3: Deformation of Costumes, Fashion Items, and Props… 075

01 Let's draw hair... 076
02 Let's draw clothes... 086
03 Let's draw some props... 094
COLUMN 3: Creating a Work Environment for Freelancers… 100

Chapter 4: How to Color Mini Characters… 101

01 Coloring Process… 102
02 How to Choose a Color… 110
03 Coloring Methods by Area… 116
COLUMN4 Remember the principles of color… 128

Chapter 5: The Mini Character Creation Process… 129

01 Creating a Mini Character… 130
02 How to Make Goods… 138
COLUMN 5: To Protect My Original Works… 146

Chapter 6: Theme-Based Mini Character Design Guide… 147

01 Let's draw something that fits the theme ① Bringing out the character's characteristics... 148
02 Let's draw something that matches the theme ② Capturing the costume points... 160
COLUMN 6: What Freelance Illustrators Do… 168

Chapter 7 Mini Character Pose Collection … 169

Cute pose / Action pose / Relaxed pose / Joy and sorrow / Two people who are close 1 / Two people who are close 2

How to draw and create cute merchandise illustrations that will stimulate your desire to collect them.
The secret to making a living as a freelance illustrator!

All the know-how of illustrator Chiharu Yumenouchi, who has been active in the field of illustration for doujinshi goods since turning freelance, is contained in one volume.
When creating a secondary creation of your favorite character or making original character goods, you may face difficulties such as deciding where and how much to transform and how to adjust the body balance when trying to draw a mini character.
This is because even a slight difference can cause errors in the character's unique image.
This book teaches you how to draw mini characters beloved by fans by preserving the details of the original work while adding cute charm.
Using the author's high-quality illustrations as examples, you can sufficiently reference the method of deforming the expressions, poses, clothes, and props of a character of standard proportions to fit the desired proportions and drawing them cutely by capturing their characteristics.
The 'Let's try' corner explains the process of drawing the shape by following the reference line and drawing it step by step, so that you can apply it right away in real life.
In addition, the explanation of how to choose colors, color combination examples, and the principles of shadow color will also help improve basic drawing skills.


To make a living as a freelancer drawing mini characters, you have to handle a variety of practical tasks in addition to 'drawing'.
This book is not only filled with writing tips, but also contains the author's vivid experiences and advice gained while working in the industry.
Let's learn how to promote your activities, receive production requests, communicate with clients, and respond to requests.
It also contains very useful information that will help you successfully create original goods with mini characters, such as the preparation process and printing precautions, even if it is your first time creating goods.
Don't miss the design guide that captures the points of popular themes like idols, wizards, and school uniforms and draws them into mini characters.
The final chapter of this book contains a collection of mini character poses, including poses that express the emotions of single characters and affectionate poses for two-person characters.
This collection of poses is available as a download file.
I hope you will use it in various ways for tracing when drawing original characters and lover characters.