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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Drawing Kawaii animals is always fun. But this is much more fun—you can let free your
imagination and creativity.
In this tutorial, you will see how fun and easy it is to make
different Kawaii animals from one gure By following all the steps you will learn how to
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
different Kawaii animals from one gure. By following all the steps, you will learn how to
use the warp effect, move anchor points and use the Path nder panel. You will also learn
how to use the Line Segment Tool and the Re ect Tool.
If you want to see more kawaii animals, you can nd hundreds of great illustrations over at
Envato Market.
If you see that the top of the head is very pointy, expand the top handles of the ellipse
anchor point.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
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Step 2
To make the signature kawaii googly eyes, create an ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (L). Add
a tiny white circle to brighten up the eye. Select this eye and while holding the Shift and Alt
keys, move it to the right. You will get another copy of it to complete the eyes.
Step 3
For the nose, create a dark brown ellipse (the same ll color as eyes) and make a sharp
base using the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C).
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 4
Let’s add a cute mouth with the Arc Tool.
Delete the ll color and make sure you have the same stroke color as for the head. Check
Round Cap on the Stroke panel. Let’s rst draw one side of the mouth. Choose the Direct
Selection Tool (A), and then select the right or left anchor point and move its handles to
make a more pronounced curve of the arc. Attach this shape to the sharp point of the
nose.
To create the other side of the mouth, select this arc, right-click your mouse > Transform
> Re ect, choose Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and press Copy. Move the created copy of
the mouth to the left using the Left Arrow button on your keyboard.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
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Step 5
Now let’s draw the body of our kawaii rabbit. Using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw an oval. Then
go to Effect > Warp > Fish to form the shape of a body. Use the Warp options shown
below. Then expand the warped shape: Object > Expand Appearance. (Don't you agree that
the unwarped body shape makes the rabbit look like a seal? Take a copy of the rabbit, add
ns, and voila! You will have a kawaii seal!)
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 6
Let's return to the rabbit. To draw the forelegs, start with an oval again. Select the bottom
anchor point with the Direct Selection Tool (A), and move it to the right using the Right
Arrow key on the keyboard to create the shape, similar to the image below.
Now we will cut a piece of the shape. Select the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the points
shown with red circles in the image below. After that, switch back to the Selection Tool (V)
and move this piece out from the shape and delete it.
Make another ellipse, expanded horizontally. Move its right and left anchor points down,
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
p , p y g p ,
using the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select and Down Arrow key for movement. Make a
copy of this shape in front (Control-C, Control-F) and make it narrower (using the
Selection Tool (V)).
Step 7
To create another foreleg, select the one created from the previous step, right-click your
mouse > Transform > Re ect, choose Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and press Copy. Move
the created copy of the foreleg to the right using the Right Arrow button on your keyboard.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 8
Let's draw the hind legs. Draw another ellipse. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select
the left and right anchor points and move them down. Take the copy of the paw from the
previous step, where you created the forelegs. In the end, slightly rotate the big vertical
ellipse to the left.
Step 9
Attach the created hind leg to the rabbit’s body. Place it in front of the body but behind the
forelegs. Let's create the right hind leg. Select the left hind leg, take the Re ect Tool (O),
hold down the Alt key, and click in the middle of the body. In the new dialogue window,
select Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and press Copy. Move the created hind leg to the right
side.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 10
For the ears, we will rst start by building two ellipses (white and coral). Move the top
anchor point of the white ellipse down by using the Direct Selection Tool (A) and Down
Arrow key. Make a third large white ellipse and deform it by using the Direct Selection Tool
(A) and by adjusting the handles of the anchor points to get the image, similar to the one
shown below. Rotate the rst two ellipses to the right.
At the end, cut a small part of this shape where it’s marked: Select the Scissors Tool (C),
click on the points that are marked red, and delete the unnecessary parts of the stroke.
This is the ear for our rabbit.
Step 11
Attach the ear to the head. Make sure that the ear stays behind the head. To place it
behind, select it and press Control-X, Control-B. Make a re ected copy of the ear: select
the ear, right-click the mouse > Transform > Re ect. A dialogue window will pop up, where
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
you should enter Axis Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and press Copy. Move this copy to the
other side.
Now our cute rabbit is ready!
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 2
For the head of the fox, we will start with an ellipse. Using the Convert Anchor Point Tool
(Shift-C), make sharp corners on the ellipse; while keeping the ellipse selected, click on
the left and right anchor points—these two points should be sharp now. Keep the sharp
anchor points selected and press the Down Arrow button on your keyboard a few times.
Step 3
Make a new copy of the head in front (Control-C, Control-F). Add another white ellipse
which overlaps the head, with no stroke, just a light ll color. Keeping both shapes
selected (ellipse with no stroke and the copy of the head), press the Intersect button
in Path nder. On the Stroke panel, press Align Stroke to Outside.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 4
Place the head on the body. For the face, we’re going to take it from the rabbit. So copy the
eyes, the nose and the mouth, which we created for the rabbit, and place them on the head
of the fox.
Step 5
To make a furry chest, draw an ellipse and place it behind the head. For this ellipse, use
the same ll color as we did for the bunny. To do this, use the Eyedropper Tool (I). Keep
the fox’s chest shape selected and press the Eyedropper Tool (I). Then hit the cursor on
the bunny.
Next, make the bottom anchor point on this ellipse pointy by clicking on it using the
Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C).
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 6
For the ear, we will start by making an ellipse. Take the Direct Selection Tool (A), shift the
side anchor points down and move the handles of the anchor points of the ellipse to
create the shape shown in the image below. Copy-paste this shape in the front and make
it smaller and darker.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 7
So that was the left ear. For the right one, hit the Re ect Tool (O) and make a re ection of
the whole ear as you did for the bunny. Place the right ear on the right side of the head.
We can now also align everything if you didn't do this before. So, select the two ears and
group them together (right-click > Group), and then group the two eyes, the nose and the
mouth, the two forelegs, and the two hind legs. Select all, and on the Align panel, press
Horizontal Align Center.
Step 8
And of course, the tail. We will also start with an ellipse. Make the right and left anchor
points on this ellipse pointy. Copy this shape (Control-C, Control-F) to have two copies on
top of each other.
Next, using the Pencil Tool (N), draw the shape, as in the image below. Remember to hold
the Alt button before nishing this shape; it will help you to close the path. Also, remove
any stroke colors from this hand-drawn shape. Keep it selected, and while holding the
Shift button, select the top copy of the tail. Hit the Intersect button on the Path nder
panel (Window > Path nder). On the Stroke panel, press Align to Outside. Our tail is ready.
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9/25/2020
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How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
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Finally, place the tail behind the fox: press Control-X, Control-B. Our transformation of the
bunny into the fox is nished!
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 2
Draw two circles for the eyes. To create an even circle, hold down the Shift key. Select the
three shapes (the attened ellipse and two circles) and using the Unite button on the
Path nder panel (Window > Path nder), unite them. Finally, add the eyes and the mouth,
by taking them from one of the previous animals. Here we go—our frog is already nished.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 2
For the fox, let’s add some mushrooms. Take the carrot shape, change its color, and turn it
upside down. Make a copy and place it on the top for the mushroom's “hat”. Change the
mushroom’s hat color to brown (like the fox's paws). Make a smaller copy of the whole
mushroom and slightly rotate the new mushroom.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 3
Let’s create a water lily for the frog. Make a copy of the fox's tail and delete its white part.
Change the color from orange to pink, make two more copies of this shape, and rotate
them to the left side. Add two more symmetrical copies on the right by selecting the two
rotated shapes, right-click > Transform > Re ect, Axis Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and
pressing Copy. Move the two new petals to the right side to have a symmetrical lily.
Step 4
Place all the created images together: carrots near the rabbit, mushrooms close to the fox,
and the water lily near the frog.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Draw a square behind all images with 850 px width and height, and set the ll color
presented in the image below.
Step 2
Using the Line Segment Tool (\), draw three lines below the created characters with no ll.
To make the lines straight, hold down the Shift button as you are drawing the line.
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
To hide the unnecessary parts, add rectangles under all three lines with the same ll color
as the background and no stroke color. (The green stroke in the image is only to show you
where the rectangles go.)
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Step 3
To nalize our image, add three darker circles behind each character. Pay attention while
placing these circles—place them behind our characters, lines, and rectangles, but above
the large square background
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
the large square background.
Conclusion
Congratulations, your kawaii illustration is done! You see—it’s not di cult to make a
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
g ,y
transformation from one object to another. You just need a little imagination and creativity.
I hope you found some useful tricks and have enjoyed this tutorial!
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9/25/2020 How to Create Easy Kawaii Animals in Adobe Illustrator
Nataliya Dolotko
I am a totally self-taught digital artist. I live in the USA with my family, and my two
main passions are drawing and tness.
Email Address
Update me weekly
Translations
Envato Tuts+ tutorials are translated into other languages by our community members—you can be involved too!
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I made a couple of my own characters and Im going to use them as labels for food for Easter!
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Thank you
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