Kawaii: How to Draw Really Cute Stuff: Draw Anything and Everything in the Cutest Style Ever!

Kawaii is Japanese for cute, and this book shows you how to draw all kinds of people, animals and objects in a cute style. Learn how to simplify your ideas and what makes something look this way and then get drawing with the simple, staged projects.

It really is a lot simpler than I imagined drawing in this style; far more so than getting to grips with drawing manga characters. You only need the basics of pens, pencils and paper and reading the introduction will show you how to depict cuteness. Don't worry, it is just a couple of pages and then it is on with the projects which are divided into people, creatures and things. The people section starts with a look at topics such as proportions, expressions, garments and accessories so you already have a mix and match repertoire to enable you to tackle drawing a person. After that the rest of the book has a page per project and shows it in various poses and moods, simplifying the drawing part by showing the subject first drawn as a series of shapes. Projects show you the cartoon shorthand of showing things like various moods, motion, humor etc as you go along as well as how to ink in and add color. Subjects include all kinds of people from police and chefs to cowboys, ninja and witches through a wide range of animals and finally cute buildings, transport, food items and plants. I was surprised how easy it was to do and it is a great way of making original and personal greetings cards to give one example. One for the keeper shelf.

Angela Nguyen is an artist trained in print, product, and motion graphics, known for her cute art style. She was the illustrator for Brent Campbell's Are Mommy and Daddy Like Me? and founder of the comic series Somewhere in the World. She is based in Los Angeles, Austin and Portland. For more information, see www.angelanm.com