Everything You Want to Know Before You Start Drawing

No. Most of my students start with zero drawing experience. The tutorials are designed specifically for complete beginners, breaking every drawing down into simple, manageable steps. If you can write by hand, you already have the manual skill needed to draw. The only thing missing is knowing how to apply it, and that's exactly what the tutorials teach.

No. My own story is proof of this. I didn't draw as a child, showed no "special ability", and didn't pick up a pencil seriously until I was 29. After one year of focused practice and good instruction, I became a proficient artist. My teaching philosophy is simple: talent is just another word for hard work. Anyone who practises with the right guidance will improve. It's not a matter of being born with it.

Very little. For traditional drawing, all you need is a pencil and paper, and any paper will do to begin with. For digital drawing, you'll need an iPad and the Procreate app (a one-time purchase of around $13 USD). My free Kawaii Drawing Mini-Course is a great first step and requires nothing more than a pen and something to draw on.

You can absolutely learn on paper. Many of my tutorials and my 21 Day Drawing Challenge work just as well with traditional materials (pens, markers, pencils, watercolour). An iPad with Procreate opens up additional possibilities (easy corrections with the undo button, digital colouring, creating files for print-on-demand), but it is not a requirement. Start with whatever you have.

It depends on how much you practise and what your goal is. Most beginners notice real improvement within a few weeks of consistent, structured practice. My 21 Day Drawing Challenge is designed to build a solid foundation in three weeks. Creating original characters, developing your own style, and producing work you're proud to share typically takes a few months of regular drawing. The key is consistency over intensity, and even 15 to 20 minutes a day adds up quickly.

This is one of the most common frustrations I hear, and it's a core reason I teach the way I do. Most tutorials just say "copy this"; they show you the result without explaining why each step works. My approach focuses on the principles behind kawaii drawing: proportions, expressions, how to break any subject into simple shapes. Once you understand the why, you stop being dependent on tutorials and start being able to draw from your own imagination. The Kawaii Cuties Workshop specifically addresses the transition from replicating to creating original work.

Kawaii is a Japanese word meaning "cute" or "adorable", and kawaii drawing is an illustration style defined by simplified shapes, large expressive eyes, rounded forms, and a warm, joyful aesthetic. It's the style behind beloved characters like Hello Kitty, Pusheen, and Sanrio's character universe. As a drawing style it's highly accessible for beginners because it favours simple, clean lines over complex realistic detail, making it one of the best styles to learn for people who feel they "can't draw."

Almost anything can be kawaii-fied. Common subjects include animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, axolotls, frogs), food (sushi, boba tea, strawberries, donuts), everyday objects (clouds, rainbows, plants, stationery), fantasy characters, and original kawaii characters. My tutorials cover a wide range of subjects, so browse the tutorial library to get a sense of the variety.

Developing your own original style is one of the central goals of my teaching. My tutorials are a starting point, not a destination. By learning the underlying principles (how to construct faces, how to add personality through expression, how to simplify any object into kawaii shapes), you build a visual vocabulary that you can apply to your own ideas. The Kawaii Cuties Workshop is specifically designed to take students from "I can follow tutorials" to "I can create characters that are entirely mine."

No. Many of my step-by-step tutorials on the website and YouTube are designed to work with any medium: pen and paper, markers, watercolour. That said, Procreate is widely used in the Happy Creators Collective community, and I have dedicated Procreate-specific content for members who want to draw digitally. If you have an iPad, Procreate is a worthwhile investment.

Start with my Procreate Workshop. It's built specifically for people who own Procreate but haven't been able to get anywhere with it. It covers the interface, brushes, layers, and colour, and walks you through completing a finished kawaii illustration from scratch. Many students describe previous Procreate courses as overwhelming; the Procreate Workshop is designed to be the opposite: calm, structured, and achievable over three days.

Any modern iPad with Apple Pencil support will work. I personally use the iPad Pro 10-inch (and wish I'd gone for the 13-inch for the larger drawing surface). The standard iPad and iPad Air models are popular choices in the community and work perfectly well with Procreate. You don't need the most expensive model to get started; the app and your practice matter far more than the hardware.

The Happy Creators Collective (HCC) is my flagship membership community: a global online space where members learn to draw kawaii together, share their work, support each other, and grow as artists. It includes access to my course library, regular drawing challenges (Draw This Week), live masterclasses, and a warm, non-judgmental community of members from over 50 countries. Members often describe it as "one of the best decisions I've made" and cite the community itself, not just the courses, as the reason they stay. Find out more at happycreatorscollective.com.

The 21 Day Drawing Challenge is a structured beginner programme that guides you through learning kawaii drawing one step at a time over 21 days. Each lesson builds on the last, covering kawaii faces, bodies, expressions, animals, and objects. By the end you'll have completed a full drawing journal and, more importantly, developed real, repeatable drawing skills rather than just a collection of copied tutorials. It's one of the most popular entry points into my teaching.

The Kawaii Cuties Workshop has a dual promise: you'll learn to draw original kawaii characters and learn how to turn those characters into sellable products: stickers, digital downloads, and print-on-demand designs. It's designed for people who want both the creative joy of drawing and a pathway to making money from their art. Whether you want to open an Etsy shop, sell sticker sheets, or build a print-on-demand store, this workshop gives you the drawing skills and the business starting point to make it happen.

The free Kawaii Drawing Mini-Course is a 7-tutorial email course that teaches you how to draw a kawaii doodle step by step. It's the perfect introduction to my teaching style and kawaii drawing in general, with no commitment required. The paid products go much deeper: the 21 Day Challenge builds a comprehensive drawing foundation over three weeks; the Kawaii Cuties Workshop teaches character creation and monetisation; the Happy Creators Collective gives you ongoing education, community, live sessions, and access to my full course library. The free course is the best place to start if you've never drawn with me before.

As much or as little as you have. The Happy Creators Collective is designed for busy people. Many members are parents, carers, or professionals with limited free time. There's no requirement to show up every day or complete every challenge. Most members draw for 15 to 30 minutes a few times a week and find that's enough to make meaningful progress and feel part of the community. The Draw This Week challenges are optional prompts, not assignments.

Yes, and members of the Happy Creators Collective are doing it. Students have gone on to open Etsy shops, launch sticker businesses, sell print-on-demand products (clothing, tote bags, greeting cards), and create digital downloads. The income ranges from a meaningful side hustle to, for some, a path toward replacing their main income. The Kawaii Cuties Workshop is specifically built around this goal: giving you the drawing skills and the business framework to start selling your own kawaii art.

Kawaii art lends itself particularly well to products people love to buy and give as gifts. Popular options include:

• Sticker sheets: one of the easiest and most popular kawaii products to sell
• Digital downloads: printable art, clipart packs, colouring pages
• Print-on-demand: your designs on t-shirts, tote bags, mugs, socks, greeting cards, and phone cases (via platforms like Printful or Printify, with no upfront inventory cost)
• Art prints: printed and shipped via services like Gelato
• Laser-cut & physical products: cookie cutters, wooden decorations, balloon menus
• Custom commissions: drawing characters or designs for clients

The Kawaii Cuties Workshop walks you through how to create artwork specifically formatted for these product types.

No. A social media following helps with visibility over time, but it's not a prerequisite for making your first sales. Platforms like Etsy have their own built-in search traffic, meaning people can find your shop without you having an audience at all. Many artists make their first sales from Etsy search, Pinterest, or word of mouth long before building a significant social following. The most important starting point is having strong, original artwork to sell, which is exactly what the Kawaii Cuties Workshop helps you create.

The most popular options among my community include:

• Etsy: the most widely used marketplace for handmade and digital art; great for stickers, prints, and digital downloads
• Printful / Printify: print-on-demand services that connect to Etsy or your own store; print and ship products with your designs on demand, with no inventory required
• Gelato: print-on-demand focused on art prints, with global production centres
• Redbubble / Society6: print-on-demand marketplaces where you upload designs and they handle everything
• Your own website or Shopify store: for artists ready to build a standalone brand

For most beginners, starting with Etsy is the simplest path: low setup cost, built-in audience, and straightforward to learn.