Kawaii-Style Story Illustration

Start by getting to know your teacher Sara Gaiaudi, better known as TaylorRoss1. She tells you about her professional career and the influences that have inspired her style and the way she views the world.

Go over the materials you need to follow the course and delve into the characteristics of kawaii illustrations. Explore the traits and proportions, typical color schemes, and the concept of cuteness–the backbone of this illustration style.

Next, Sara introduces you to Procreate and shows you some of its basic features and useful shortcuts to help you complete your final project.

Now it’s time to start drawing! Choose the story you want to illustrate and create the first sketch on paper. Divide your page into panels and decide what scenes you want to include in your story. Then, draw your protagonists and secondary characters and learn some tricks from Sara on how to morph them into cats.

Discover how to bring your characters to life by adding different facial expressions. Place them in the scenes you created in your initial sketch and fill it in with details and background elements.

Once you've finished your design, Sara shows you how to digitize your sketch to work on it in Procreate: learn how to choose the right brushes to draw clean lines, what colors to use, and how to add light and shadows to your piece.

Finally, put the finishing touches on your composition and prepare it for export and printing. Sara wraps up the course by sharing several platforms where you can upload your designs and transform them into objects.