Style combination · Pairs well

CalArts Style × Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning

Reduced faces and bold soft outlines carry emotion at small sizes, so character designs translate well into stickers and avatars.

From the research on CalArts Style (Rounded Cartoon Character Design)

Mix them and make something CalArts Style Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from CalArts Style, their arrangement from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning, the finish from CalArts Style. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

CalArts Style (Rounded Cartoon Character Design) Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE)

Type from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning: Hand-lettering
Rounded sans
Colour from CalArts Style: Flat fields
Pastel
Form from CalArts Style: Rounded & pill
Stylised figuration
Composition from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning: Isolated object
Single focal point
Surface from CalArts Style: Flat

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning

Hello

Mochiy Pop One, standing in for Manga-derived lettering and onomatopoeia conventions

Text · CalArts Style

A pejorative, disputed label for the rounded character design of 2010s American TV animation: big heads, dot or sliver eyes, thin limbs, soft uniform outlines and flat candy colours. Renzetti calls it meaningless name-calling; Muto calls it oversimplifying and vague. It lumps very different shows together and is partly a fan-culture proxy. Visual traits are an editorial synthesis, not from the cited article.

Nunito; CalArts Style used Hand-drawn show-title lettering and Rounded sans-serifs

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from CalArts Style, with a counter-accent from Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

CalArts Style (Rounded Cartoon Character Design) Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE)

#fdf3e1 ground · 36%
#2b2a3a ink · 14%
#ffd35c accent · 18%
#7aa7f0 accent · 14%
#e8795c accent · 10%
#6fd3c4 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #fdf3e1;
  --ink: #2b2a3a;
  --accent-1: #ffd35c;
  --accent-2: #7aa7f0;
  --accent-3: #e8795c;
  --accent-4: #6fd3c4;
  --font-display: "Mochiy Pop One", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Nunito", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

A cheerful cartoon child with a backpack runs across a green hill, holding a smiling taco overhead, accompanied by a floppy-eared dog and a flying turquoise bird. Large pink and blue lettering reading “Snack Quest” sits above a pastel landscape with mountains, a winding river, flowers, and a distant castle.

2010–present · North America, Global / networked CalArts Style (Rounded Cartoon Character Design) A pejorative, disputed label for the rounded character design of 2010s American TV animation: big heads, dot or sliver eyes, thin limbs, soft uniform outlines and flat candy colours. Renzetti calls it meaningless name-calling; Muto calls it oversimplifying and vague. It lumps very different shows together and is partly a fan-culture proxy. Visual traits are an editorial synthesis, not from the cited article. 2011–present · East Asia, Southeast Asia, Global / networked Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning (LINE) Cartoon character art made to be sent in chat: one figure performing one reaction, such as thanks, sulking, panic or a greeting, cut out on a transparent ground and sold in sets of a recurring cast. Where kawaii soothes, these sets stage exaggerated, comic emotions, often with a few lettered words, and must read at thumbnail size. It descends from manga cartooning and borrows kawaii roundness only as a base that the reactions then break; the emoji influence is the shared job of a pictorial reply, not a shared look.

More combinations

With CalArts Style

With Chat Reaction-Sticker Cartooning

Every style combination