How to Draw Pokemon Characters

Pokemon is a successful entertainment franchise. You can see the characters in cartoons, video games, comics books and trading cards. Part of the appeal of Pokemon is that there are so many different characters with different abilities, personalities and designs for people to collect. Follow these steps to draw the signature character of the Pokemon series, Pikachu.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Black ink pen

1. 
   Pikachu's frame.

   Draw an oval that is slightly larger at the bottom for Pikachu's head. Attach a similar but larger oval for the body. Tilt this shape slightly to the right to add some personality and motion to the shape. Inside the head, draw a cross or "t" shape. This will mark out where the eyes, nose and mouth will later be added.

2. 

   Make the guidelines for the ears with simple lines coming off the head and pointing to the right at slightly uneven angles. Add the arms with a "v" shape coming out of the body. Flatten the ends of each "v" shape. Add the guideline of Pikachu's tail with a thunderbolt shaped jagged line. Add the feet with small, elongated half circles under the body.

3. Use the guidelines inside the head shape to add the face. Draw two small circles on the cross of the "t" shape for eyes. Just below the center of the cross, add a small oval for the nose. Draw a triangular oval for Pikachu's mouth further down on the cross. Add two circles on the each side of the mouth for the cheeks.

4. 

   Finish the ears by connecting "L" shapes to the ear guidelines. Finish the tail by drawing a reverse version of the thunderbolt shape and attaching it to the tail guideline. Add fingers to the hands by drawing three small triangles on each hand. Inside the foot shapes, draw three pointed angles and erase the left over semicircle. These are Pikachu's toes.

5. 

   Erase all the guidelines. Add the finishing touches to the drawing. Place a line on each of Pikachu's ears near the top. Place another line near the base of the tail. Add curved line inside Pikachu's mouth for his tongue.

6. 

   Ink the entire drawing. Darken in the tips of the ears and the base of the tail. Darken in the mouth leaving the tongue white. Color in the eyes and nose, but leave a tiny bit of white to make them appear shiny. Add shadows under the chin, arms and body to create depth. Wait for the ink to dry. Erase all of the pencil lines. Now you have your very own Pikachu drawing. You can make copies of it and hand them out to your friends or family members to color or simply hang this drawing on your wall.

Tips & Warnings

• Uneven positioning of the limbs and body parts can give your drawing of Pikachu more movement and character.
• Be sure to wait for the ink to dry before you erase your pencil lines or the ink will smudge.

Resources

• Read more information on Pikachu and other Pokemon characters at the Pokedex.
• Check out more refrence material on Pokemon characters at Pokemon.com.