Style combination · Contrasts

Superflat × VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

Both draw on anime and otaku imagery, but superflat flattens it ironically into all-over, unshaded fields; VTuber graphics play one character sincerely, with cel shading, overlap and a 2.5D rig that turns the head, as a persona fans follow from week to week.

From the research on VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

Mix them and make something Superflat VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Superflat, their arrangement from VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics, the finish from VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics. 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.

Superflat VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

Type from VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics: Hand-lettering
Type as image
Colour from Superflat: Full polychrome
Flat fields
Form from Superflat: Stylised figuration
Distortion & exaggeration
Composition from VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics: Layered information
Collage & layering
Surface from VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics: Hard offset shadow

The type

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

Display · VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

Yay!

Mochiy Pop One; VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics used Heavy, simple bold lettering for thumbnails and A custom name logo drawn for each character

Text · Superflat

The flat, saturated, cartoon-crowded look that Takashi Murakami named in his exhibition and manifesto Superflat (Tokyo, 2000; US tour 2001). It draws a line from Edo painting and prints to postwar anime and manga, and flattens high and low, art and merchandise into one plane. Smiling flowers, many-eyed characters and anime figures come in unshaded polychrome, smooth and glossy, cute and grotesque at once, sold as handbags and album covers as well as paintings. This entry follows the drawn core of Murakami and his Kaikai Kiki circle; the shows also held photography, video and sculpture.

Zen Maru Gothic; Superflat used Letters drawn into the character and Many-coloured repeated monogram

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Superflat, with a counter-accent from VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Superflat VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

#fbfaf5 ground · 36%
#1a1a1a ink · 14%
#ffd900 accent · 18%
#ffd84d accent · 14%
#00a0e9 accent · 10%
#5bc8f5 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #fbfaf5;
  --ink: #1a1a1a;
  --accent-1: #ffd900;
  --accent-2: #ffd84d;
  --accent-3: #00a0e9;
  --accent-4: #5bc8f5;
  --font-display: "Mochiy Pop One", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Superflat: Some canonical works use explicit otaku sexual imagery, such as Murakami's My Lonesome Cowboy (1998), and associated artists engage with lolicon art: Mr. describes himself as a lolicon and Henmaru Machino parodies it; never sexualise childlike figures. The mushroom-cloud skulls of Murakami's Time Bokan works and the title Little Boy, the name of the Hiroshima bomb, refer to the atomic bombings, and critics such as Dong-Yeon Koh argue that this victim narrative obscures Japanese aggression in China and Korea; do not use mushroom clouds or skulls as cute decoration. Handle borrowed Buddhist iconography and phrases, such as Kannon, with respect, and draw original characters and flowers: Mr. DOB, the smiling flowers and the Louis Vuitton monogram are owned designs.

VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics: VTuber characters are owned designs, by agencies or by the performers who commissioned them, and early contracts often gave the character's rights to the company, so performers who left had to start again as someone new: draw an original persona rather than a look-alike of Kizuna AI, Hololive or Nijisanji characters, and credit the illustrator ('mama') and the rigger ('papa'). The performer's anonymity is part of the form, so never attach a real person's face, name or photograph to an avatar or speculate about who is 'inside'. Do not default to a sexualised cute-girl type: scholars argue that avatar idols perpetuate female stereotypes and that the virtual idol industry commercialises sexism (Lu et al., CHI 2021).

The two styles

A densely packed, brightly coloured cartoon poster reads “HAPPYVERSE” above a smiling blue-haired character with extra eyes on their forehead, hair and outstretched palms. Smiling flowers, winged rabbits, floating creatures, stars and planets surround the character, with a smiling Earth at the bottom.

1993–present · East Asia, Global / networked Superflat The flat, saturated, cartoon-crowded look that Takashi Murakami named in his exhibition and manifesto Superflat (Tokyo, 2000; US tour 2001). It draws a line from Edo painting and prints to postwar anime and manga, and flattens high and low, art and merchandise into one plane. Smiling flowers, many-eyed characters and anime figures come in unshaded polychrome, smooth and glossy, cute and grotesque at once, sold as handbags and album covers as well as paintings. This entry follows the drawn core of Murakami and his Kaikai Kiki circle; the shows also held photography, video and sculpture. 2016–present · East Asia, Global / networked VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics The graphic kit of virtual YouTubers, streamers who perform behind an animated anime-style character instead of their own face. An illustrator (the 'mama') designs a persona whose costume and colours tell its story and draws it in separable layers; a rigger turns it into a Live2D or 3D model that blinks, turns and lip-syncs with the performer's tracked face. On stream the half-length figure sits over game footage or a themed backdrop among chat and alert panels, framed by a name logo, overlays and thumbnails in its colours.

More combinations

With Superflat

All 18 combinations with Superflat

With VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

All 10 combinations with VTuber Avatar and Stream Graphics

Every style combination