My Cute Kawaii Drawings

There is no doubt that Japanese cartoons, television, and movies have influenced kids and adults all over the world. Anime animation really dates back to 1917, but its gradual impact on society didn’t really take hold until the 1960s. Since then this genre of art has revolutionized a plethora of styles and techniques in animated movies worldwide, notably in Japan.

Anime characters have exaggerated hair, eyes, facial expressions, movements, and actions, along with lots of bold colors. They can be human and non-human, and kids love them. In harmony with anime, you may have heard of Manga and Kawaii. Manga are Japanese comics and Kawaii means adorable and cute. In art form, it delineates a simplified style with rounded shapes and characters such as animals, food, or any object that has a sweet, cute, childlike appearance. With that in mind, kids want to draw them. And to assist these future cartoonists, I found the perfect guide, My Cute Kawaii Drawings.

The colorful guide offers step-by-step illustrative tutorials so you can draw your favorite kawaii character from start to finish in no time. The book is divided into four main sections, Sushi, Cupcakes and Company — Adorable Cats and Kittens — Unicorns & Other Cute Animals and Funny Characters. Each section has 20 different characters to draw. Plus the back of the book has a section called My Pretty Kawaii Creations where you can learn to personalize these characters into bookmarks and banners, or create fun messages or decorate a notebook, pencil case, or your iPhone.

The onset of this adorable book starts you off with some helpful tips on proportions, drawing hands, feet, and paws, how to draw expressions, and choosing colors that work well together for your characters. As you dive in, each page starts off with a full-color image and all the steps needed to replicate the image. At each step, the part to be traced is indicated in blue. Some of the steps will show a perforated line. This means you will need to erase it for the final drawing.

With the My Cute Kawaii Drawings book, young artists will be able to master the art of drawing cute characters with continual practice. Some of the characters you will learn to draw are a pizza, hot dogs, toast, carrots, hot-choc cat, knitty kitty, friends for life, cinecat, happy unicorn, sea otter family, royal swan, sloth hugs, sassy kitty, mouse moves, and so much more. If your kids love to draw, this may be just what they need to start their artistic adventure.

Disclaimer: I received complimentary books to facilitate a review. All opinions are my own, yours may differ.