Art is an ever-changing field. It continues to grow every day, making leaps and bounds to redefine what art can be constantly. With art ever-growing, there is more to enjoy, learn, and explore within art. Art has also become more accessible because of that.
As art becomes more accessible, more artists enter the field to begin their journeys. Every artist is unique. From their styles, preferences, mediums, and skill sets, each is special in its own way. The only thing that ties them together is simple boredom. After doing the same thing for so long, one can’t help but to yearn for more.
Exploring different art styles is the best way to help the brain of an artist grow. Remaining stagnant is no real way to live as an artist, especially with so many options to tap into.
However, finding a starting place is where things get difficult. If you are looking for some cute art styles to dabble with, read on for some options with examples to help guide you forward on your artistic journey.
Check out this list of Digital Sketching Software for Artists to start practicing these cute Art Styles!
Key Takeaways:
- Art is forever growing and new styles are being discovered every day.
- There is a never-ending expanse to choose from, which can get overwhelming quickly, and it's good to go back to basics sometimes.
- The art styles listed are a good place to start with varying levels of difficulty, each offering different things to practice and challenges.
1. Chibi Art Style
Chibi art is an iconic art style known for its cute renditions of different characters. The style is focused on characters specifically rather than a general art form, changing character features to fit the form. These fun characters with their interesting proportions were a style defined by Japanese culture.
Chibi Art was founded in Japan. It is also known as super deformation or S.D. because of how the style changes the proportions of a character. The art is similar to that of anime, another art form that is popular in Japanese art and culture. The difference between anime and chibi art is the size and shape of the characters.
The proportions are shifted to make the focus of the art appear more adorable thanks to certain features being exaggerated while others are withdrawn from focus.
Chibi characters are usually somewhere between half or even a third of the original characters' height. Their heads are usually much larger than their bodies proportionally and their eyes take up the majority of the face. The face becomes the focal point of the art and other details fall away.
On chibi characters, you will often see facial features like the nose and mouth disappear. Details on clothes are usually more simplified. Buttons, folds in clothing, color detailing, etc typically aren’t drawn in to make the head and eyes the focus of the art.
This art style is fun to try because of how different the body proportions are from other art styles and how simplistic it is. Focus on the head and eyes then you’ll be set. If you are looking for other chibi art inspiration, check out some of these references:
- Chibiusa from “Sailor Moon”
- Reborn from “Katekyo Hitman Reborn!”
- Mao from “Chibi Devil!”
- Hamtaro from “Hamtaro”
2. Comic Art Style
The comic art style has come a long way since its founding and popularization in the late 19th century. Classic comic strips you see today are influenced by what is known as the Platinum Age of comics, where comics first originated.
Classic comic strips are what you might see in a newspaper. It is short and sweet, giving you all the information you need in just a few panels.
From there, the style evolved further to enter the first wave of superhero comics. Original superhero comics were most popular between the 1930s and 1950s thanks to the first wave of mass production hitting the comic book industry.
Superhero comic books are still seen as classic when you think of comic art styles. However, from the rise of superhero comics also came a wave of other types of comic-style storytelling. That’s where Japan stepped into the picture with manga which quickly gained fame around the world alongside superheroes.
Manga was thought to have been founded long before other classic comic strips, but it has continued to evolve just as spectacularly as other comic art forms.
Japanese manga is usually exclusively in black and white, telling stories through strips of pictures that started in magazines and newspapers and then evolved into books, just like many other comic art styles.
The basis of comic-style art in both short form and long form is the storytelling aspect. Tell a story through pictures by creating multiple frames, each telling a new part. You can choose to use words or focus on the art. There are no wrong answers.
For some other ideas of comic-style art to draw inspiration from, look to these different examples:
- “Garfield” by Jim Davis
- “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz
- “Dragon Ball” by Akira Toriyama
- “The Amazing Spider-Man” by Stan Lee
3. Pixel Art Style
It all started with the invention of the computer. Computers started as nothing more than a few pixels on a screen. It could barely load text, let alone images and different colors. Something had to be done to accommodate this lack of ability and out of it came pixel art.
The first computers, video games, and arcade games were what pushed the creation of pixel art. With how limited computers were and how high the lag was, there wasn’t much you could do in terms of pictures.
Computer hard drives and graphics were not up to the standard that we see today and were never even thought to be possible at the time. Thankfully, it was soon realized that the more pixelated the image, the easier it is to load. So, in the 1970s, pixel art blew up in popularity.
It was originally seen in old video games and arcade games, but today, it is a stylized choice used by artists. It is a restrictive art style, limiting colors, shapes, and textures to almost nothing compared to what can be done today.
Experimenting with pixel art is a challenge to any artist. It takes away most of the tools in your toolbox, creating a new niche to be explored. While the exact definition of pixel art is debated, the general idea is still there for you to experiment with as you wish.
Pixel art can be found in many places, new and old. Different examples include:
- Mario Bros
- Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow
- Terraria
- Undertale
4. Modern Cartoon Art Style
Originally, cartoons used to have a much broader meaning than they do today. When they were first invented, cartoons were defined as any full-size drawing made as a model for other pieces of art. The definition was quickly taken over by print media to refer to any drawing published in print, usually intended to be funny.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, cartoons could be funny in a variety of ways, but most often they were used as political satire outlets for different artists. The evolution of cartoons continued still, being picked up by children's book artists and eventually, animation.
Even cartoon animation has evolved in ways that were never thought to be possible. Starting from simple two-dimensional characters dancing across a screen to complex storytelling with three-dimensional characters popping out at you.
Modern cartoon art gives an artist a lot to work with because there is such a wide variety of what constitutes cartoons. In general, modern cartoons use vibrant colors and refined edges. The proportions are less life-like and more exaggerated because they are geared towards a younger audience.
While it may seem like a broad style, there is nothing wrong with having creative freedom and options. If you are unsure of where to start, here are some examples that can give you some ideas of what will work for you.
- Adventure Time
- Teen Titans Go!
- Over the Garden Wall
- Steven Universe
5. Doodle Art Style
Now you may be asking yourself, is doodle art an actual art style? A doodle isn’t just something you do absentmindedly while on a phone call or in class. In reality, there is so much more to doodle art than that. There is an entire thriving art community and history behind it.
Related Article: Things To Draw
While a doodle did start as something simple, it evolved to become a distinct and valued form of art. There is a lot of diversity in the style. It can have concrete meaning or just be a meshing of different shapes and abstract lines.
Doodle art is the most accessible form of art to anyone, practiced or not. Anything can become a doodle and you can also doodle on anything. The margins of a notebook, the back of a candy box, and anything else you can think of that can be written on becomes your canvas. Anything can be the subject of your art from a person or an object to random scribbles.
The nice thing about choosing doodles as an art style besides the wide open world of different mediums is the varying complexity. You can draw a hundred tiny flowers and smiley faces or you can morph different shapes to create an entire mural of work.
Doodle art has blown up in popularity because of how diverse it is as a style. Get some inspiration from some famous doodle artists like these:
- Vexx
- Hattie Stewart
- Matt Lyon
- Mr. Doodle aka Sam Cox
6. Line Art Style
Line art seems like the basis for other art or just the starting point for more complex pieces but it is much more than that. Line art doesn’t have to evolve into anything else with things like distinctive colors or shading. It stands alone and is its own distinct art form.
As the name suggests, line art is defined by its use of distinctive lines. It is drawn on a plain background involving no color and no shading. The lines themselves can sometimes have color, but usually, the style is seen in black and white.
Line art is considered one of the fundamentals of art. It is the starting point for almost any art form imaginable, but somehow it is still overlooked. Because it is seen as just the base of a work of art, the use of standalone line art is underused.
Practicing line art is not only good practice for art fundamentals, but also it helps evolve a skillset using minimal tools. Creating a masterpiece with no colors or shading is a task not many artists want to tackle. However, it can be a fun challenge and change of pace if you put your mind to it.
There are many beautiful works of art using just lines. A few select examples of these pieces include:
- The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci
- Untitled by Keith Haring
- Line Drawing #101 by Susan Hauptman
- Raspberry Icicle by Gene Davis
7. Classic Disney Art Style
The Disney art style of today has far surpassed the original style from the first years of the company’s creation. In current Disney films, the thriving colors, three-dimensional characters, and complex detailing were nowhere to be seen in classic Disney art.
Disney is the oldest-running animation studio in the world, so it has seen its fair share of growth over the last century. It has been a pioneer in animation ever since its founding and continues to push the limitations of what is possible. Developing new techniques and styles, it surges forward, rivaling many other animation studios of today.
With a century of business, Disney has developed its own distinct style. From the beginning to now, it has remained unique. Its lack of depth and sketch-like designs define the classic Disney art style. The color usage is minimal and the line work is not perfectly blended.
Classic Disney art is a relaxing way to practice new art models. Rough sketches can slowly be refined to create the same feeling as vintage Disney by playing around with texture, depth, and shapes.
If you are looking for some original Disney animations to jumpstart your art, here are a few classic Disney options:
- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
- Steamboat Willie
- The Three Little Pigs
- Donald Duck
8. Powerpuff Girl Art Style
The Powerpuff Girls is an animated superhero show from the early 2000s. After first airing, it quickly grew in popularity. It ended with a whopping six seasons, 78 episodes, and many more features. Since then, there's been video games, reboots, and even an anime based on it.
It has a thriving community of supportive fans to this day who wish to see the show continue to grow further. One of the draws of the show was its unique art style which wasn’t quite like any other animated show at the time. The three main characters Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles looked distinctive.
Their heads and eyes were large with rounded limbs and simplistic costumes. It is similar to chibi art but with less Japanese anime flair. It beautifully combines chibi with the distinct style Cartoon Network had at the time.
Creating your own Powerpuff Girl original characters has become popular among artists. It is simplistic while still allowing you to develop new character ideas and even do an art study on yourself. You can play around with different colors and work on basic character design skills using this art style.
Besides the Powerpuff Girls themselves, there are some interesting characters from the show that you use as a basis for exploration such as:
- Mojo Dojo
- Miss Sara Bellum
- HIM
- Mayor of Townsville
9. Lilo and Stitch Art Style
While Disney does have a distinct art style, the 2002 animated film Lilo & Stitch drifted away from what was being seen at the time. It had different character proportions, background art, and color concepts than what had been seen by Disney prior.
The film was originally an idea created in the 1980s by Chris Sanders. Sanders created all of the art using his style as a base. It was originally pitched as a children’s book but was turned down. When he became the head storyboard artist at Disney however, everything changed.
He pitched the idea and came out the other end with a hit film nominated for multiple awards including an Academy Award for best animated film. His art style combined with the Disney art style created a unique design and aesthetic for the film.
Sanders went on to create more original stories such as another famous animated film How to Train Your Dragon. His style can be seen through each of his films as he shifted the course of animation forever.
Rounded lines define the Lilo & Stitch style. Each feature is rounded such as the face, eyes, nose, limbs, and curves of the body. Even the non-human characters from the film show these same characteristics.
Practice a new style with a unique Disney flare by drawing different characters from the movie such as:
- Jumba
- Pleakley
- Nani
- Cobra Bubbles
Cute Art Styles FAQs
How Many Different Art Styles Are There?
There is no definite number of art styles. Some people say as few as ten while others claim the number of styles is as limitless as your imagination.
What Are The Best Tools For Art?
By today’s standard, the best tool depends on your medium. For a diverse medium that can help with multiple styles like drawing, painting, and sketching, investing in a drawing tablet isn’t a bad idea. However, regular paper and pencil work just as well. Start with cheap art supplies and work your way up.
What Is The Most Loved Art Style?
The most loved art style is a relatively new one known as pop art. It is a style of modern art based on everyday things seen in media but with a unique twist. It adds bold colors and life to seemingly normal subjects. It does this with objects, people, and animals. Celebrities are a common focus for pop art especially.
What Is The Hardest Style To Draw?
Impressionism is widely renowned as the most difficult art style. While realism is sometimes argued to be the more difficult of the two, impressionism has many nuances and an overall essence that is only easy to capture with detailed practice. A lot of studying goes into perfecting impressionism.
What Is The Simplest Art Style?
The most simplistic art styles are certain styles of abstract art and minimalism. Simplistic does not mean easy, however. Both styles take practice to get correct. Different criteria go into creating good artwork in both styles.
Conclusion
These nine styles are a great place to start for any artist ready to dip their toes into a new world of artistic possibilities. They are cute, simple, and unique. Each pushes and challenges a person artistically in its own way. However, these are just nine of the endless expanse of art styles available to draw inspiration from.
Drawing inspiration from new places is essential for any artist. It does not matter the skill level, the preferred style, the medium used, etc. Remaining stagnant is the last thing an artist should ever do. To be an artist is to constantly push the limits of your imagination and what art can be.
As an artist, you have to continue to push yourself out of your comfort zone. That means not just trying out this limited selection of art styles, but also looking beyond. With the internet at your fingertips, there is nothing stopping you from diving deeper.
It may be scary to play around with new styles, but it will help you grow as not only an artist but a person as well. Learning to overcome your fears and jump over challenging hurdles will change your art and your life for the better.