Kawaii Illustration: Create Charming Characters
What Is Kawaii Art?
A course by Ilaria Ranauro , Illustrator
About the video: What Is Kawaii Art?
Overview
“Let me tell you what the word “kawaii” actually means. We will also dive deeper into the question of how kawaii culture is linked to illustration.”
In this video lesson Ilaria Ranauro addresses the topic: What Is Kawaii Art?, which is part of the Domestika online course: Kawaii Illustration: Create Charming Characters. Design joyful illustrations inspired by Japanese kawaii and turn them into stickers by combining digital and analog techniques.
Partial transcription of the video
“What is Kawaii Art? I will tell more about kawaii history. The word kawaii derives from the phrase "kao hayushi," which means "one's face is a glow," describing a blushing face. Roughly translated as "cute," it describes the physical and adorable characteristic of kids and baby animals. The kawaii culture started in the mid 70s as a rebellion against the traditional Japanese culture. In that period, women started to write and illustrate and dress in a cuter way as a sign of rebellion against the role that society wanted them to have. With the economic bubble, companies like Sanrio started t...”
This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.
Course summary for: Kawaii Illustration: Create Charming Characters
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Category
Illustration -
Software
Adobe Photoshop, Procreate -
Areas
Character Design, Manga, Traditional illustration

Ilaria Ranauro
A course by Ilaria Ranauro
Berlin-based illustrator Ilaria Ranauro has loved painting and drawing since she was a child. She would spend her afternoons illustrating characters from magazines and mangas and later went on to study Graphic Design professionally. She worked as a graphic designer in Rome and Berlin for eleven years whilst continuing to draw characters in her spare time. She eventually set up her own brand of homemade toys and completed a master’s degree in toy design in Milan. In 2017, Ilaria turned her childhood love of illustration into a career, opening an Etsy shop where she sells stickers, washi tapes, prints, and other accessories.
Alongside her online shop, Ilaria works as a children’s book illustrator for clients around the world including Penguin Random House Mexico.
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