How to Analyse and Draw Any Character: A Pikachu Breakdown

Drawing an iconic character like Pikachu can be intimidating. If your proportions are off even by a tiny bit, your brain notices immediately.

Instead of guessing and hoping for the best, I will show you how to break down any character with fun mini games, using a shape sorter puzzle for basic shapes and a detective game to spot the vital clues needed for accurate drawing. Train your eye to see what matters and draw Pikachu with total confidence.

Mini Game 1: The Shape Sorter Puzzle

Before drawing a single line, look at the character like a child playing with a shape sorter puzzle. Pikachu's design is simply a collection of basic geometric shapes.

Match the shapes to Pikachu's features before reading on!

Did you get them all? Here are the answers:

• Head: A square with soft, rounded corners, featuring cheeks slightly wider than the forehead.

• Body: A rectangle with soft edges resembling a heavy sack of potatoes or baggy jeans pooling over shoes.

• Ears: Slim, pointy ovals with a curved colour transition at the tip from yellow to black.

• Tail: A sharp lightning bolt that contrasts and balances the soft body.

• Limbs: Simple triangle feet and chubby ovals for arms, with one arm folded to appear visually larger.

• Face: Two circles for eyes, two for red cheeks, and a wide "W" mouth attached to a large rounded "V".

Mini Game 2: Play Detective to Find all Drawing Clues

To fine-tune your drawing, let's pretend you are an Art forger or Detective Pikachu himself! They both use their observation to either create a replica indistinguishable from the original or to spot those details that make it a fake. Take a moment to look at Pikachu and decipher the clues by focusing on these categories: Silhouette, Art Style and Proportions.

Did you find all the clues? Let's see:

Silhouette: Pikachu is instantly recognizable even in solid black. His tail provides sharp visual contrast, and his ears never point in the same direction, keeping the pose dynamic.

Art Style: Characterised by clean, minimalist and uniform line art without variation. This is why I recommend to deactivate pen pressure and bump-up smoothing (or stabilization depending on your software!).

Proportions: The relationship between every element. Even with correct line work, bad proportions turn your drawing into an imposter. Use digital tools like the grid, sketched lines to guide you on where to place Pikachu's features. Use the lasso tool to nudge, resize, and fix spacing between the features as you sketch.

WARNING! Electrocution Safety Trick

Before you dare colour those red cheeks, remember that Pikachus are notoriously ticklish and distrusting. To protect yourself from being electrocuted, either put on some rubber gloves or give a gentle head pat to build trust instantly!

Mini Game 3: Which One Is the Real Pikachu + Find the Differences!

Putting all these lessons together: shapes, silhouette, art style and proportions, allows you to tackle any character design. To test your new drawing muscles, try to spot the real Pikachu and the differences between them. 

Click here to see the answer.

Watch the Full Tutorial

Want to see the step-by-step sketching process in action and catch the secret trick for handling a temperamental Pokémon? Watch the full video on YouTube: