10 Easy Anime & Chibi Drawing Tutorials for Kids (Step by Step)
If you’ve ever watched a kid pause their favourite cartoon, squint at the screen, and whisper “I wish I could draw that” — this one’s for you. Anime and chibi characters are probably the most requested style we hear about from kids. Big sparkly eyes, tiny noses, hair that defies gravity. And here’s the secret: they’re genuinely easier to draw than realistic faces. Big shapes, simple lines, tons of personality.
We’ve rounded up ten of our anime and chibi tutorials, ordered the way we’d actually teach them — start at the top, work down, and by the end your kid will have a whole little character of their own.
Start with the eyes (always start with the eyes)
In anime, the eyes do about 90% of the talking. Happy, sad, shocked, mischievous — it all lives in those big ovals. That’s why we say: nail the eyes first, and every character you draw after will look ten times better. Our tutorial breaks it into friendly steps — the upper lash line, the shine circles (kids love the shine circles), and how tiny changes to the shape shift the whole mood. Honestly, this is the single highest-leverage lesson on this list.
Chibi means “short” or “small” in Japanese, and the style is exactly that: a big round head, tiny body, and the cutest proportions on the planet. This tutorial is the one we’d hand a complete beginner first. Round head, simple features, done in a few cheerful steps. Once this clicks, your kid has the foundation for half the list below.
3. How to Draw an Anime Girl Face
Ready for a full face? This one builds on the eyes tutorial — same sparkly eyes, now with the classic anime face shape, little nose, and simple mouth. There’s a moment every kid has, about halfway through this drawing, where they realise “oh wait, this actually looks like anime.” It’s great. You’ll hear about it.
4. How to Draw an Anime Boy Face
Boys, dads, and anyone who’d rather draw heroes than heroines — here’s yours. Sharper jawline, different eye angle, a bit more attitude. A fun trick: draw the boy face and the girl face side by side and compare how just a few line choices change everything. Great for understanding how artists “cast” their characters.
Give your characters a body
A chibi head floating on nothing is a tragedy — let’s fix that. The chibi body is basically a bean with arms: two heads tall, stubby limbs, enormous charm. This tutorial keeps proportions forgiving (there’s genuinely no way to get it “wrong” — that’s the joy of chibi), so it’s perfect for younger kids who find full-body drawings intimidating.
6. How to Draw a Chibi Bunny Girl
Okay, this is where it gets fun. Take your chibi skills, add bunny ears, a fluffy tail, and a costume — and suddenly your kid isn’t just drawing, they’re designing characters. We love this tutorial because it teaches the leap from “following steps” to “making choices”: pick the ear shape, pick the outfit colours, make her yours. (Our team’s favourite to colour, for the record.)
7. How to Draw a Chibi Cat Girl
Same idea, whiskered edition. Cat ears, a little tail, maybe some stripes if you’re feeling fancy. If your household has a cat, expect this drawing to be immediately dedicated to them. Draw it twice: once following the tutorial, once as your actual pet. The second one always comes out weirder and better.
Finish with fabulous hair
Hair is where anime characters get their identity. Swap the hairstyle and you’ve got a whole new person — which makes these three the perfect ending to your practice session.
8. How to Draw Manga Girl Hair
Manga hair isn’t drawn strand by strand (thank goodness) — it’s drawn in big swooping clumps, and this tutorial shows exactly how those clumps sit on a head. Once kids get this, they start inventing their own styles on every character they draw. Pro tip from our team: let them go wild with the colours. Blue hair is canon. Pink hair is canon. It’s all canon.
Flowing, dramatic, takes-up-half-the-page long hair. This one’s all about movement — the strands curve, overlap, and catch the light. It looks impressive on the fridge, which is honestly half the point of kids’ art. Pair it with the anime girl face above and watch your kid’s confidence double.
And to round it out: the choppy, spiky, full-of-energy short styles. Short hair teaches something the long-hair tutorial doesn’t — how to suggest a lot with a little. Fewer lines, bolder shapes. It’s also the fastest way to make a character look like a completely different person, which makes it fantastic for “draw the same face with three hairstyles” experiments.
Tips for drawing anime with kids
- Trace the eyes first, then freestyle. Seriously — a few rounds of tracing anime eyes builds the muscle memory, and then drawing them freehand feels natural instead of scary.
- Use references from shows they love. Pause a cartoon, screenshot it, prop it next to the paper. Drawing “like the show” is the fastest motivation boost we know.
- Don’t skip the shine. Those white circles in anime eyes aren’t decoration — they’re what makes the eyes look alive. Kids who skip them always go back and add them. Every time.
- Keep a “character sheet” page. One page per character: front view, hairstyle experiments, favourite colours. Kids who do this start thinking like real character designers — and they keep drawing for months.
- Mistakes are just new characters. A lopsided chibi face isn’t ruined — it’s a new character with a quirky expression. This mindset is everything in art, and anime’s forgiving style is the perfect place to learn it.
Want to go deeper on faces in general? Our guide on how to draw faces for beginners walks through the learning order we’d recommend — from chibi faces all the way to realistic profiles.
Keep drawing!
That’s ten tutorials, one full character-design toolkit. Start with the eyes, end with the hair, and somewhere in the middle your kid will stop following steps and start inventing. That’s the moment we live for.
And if you’d like a printable head start, grab our free Starter Pack at drawcub.com — tracing sheets and practice pages that pair perfectly with these tutorials. Happy drawing!
