---
title: 'How I Made Myself a VTuber! 🌸💚  [Part 1: Drawing the Model]'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=hFzPiSGWDp0'
video_id: 'hFzPiSGWDp0'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1412
---

# How I Made Myself a VTuber! 🌸💚  [Part 1: Drawing the Model]

> Source: [How I Made Myself a VTuber! 🌸💚  (Part 1: Drawing the Model)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=hFzPiSGWDp0)

## Summary

Digital artist Hanacue documents her week-long process of creating a VTuber model from scratch, covering design, sketching, lining, coloring, and rendering. This first part focuses on drawing and cutting the model, with rigging covered in a follow-up video.

### Key Points

- **Introduction and Challenge** [00:00] — Hanacue introduces herself and the challenge of making a VTuber model in one week, split into two parts: drawing/cutting and rigging.
- **Sponsor Segment: UnVale** [00:32] — UnVale is a social art sharing platform for artists, writers, and worldbuilders to create pages for original characters.
- **Past VTuber Work** [02:08] — Hanacue has made five VTuber models from 2021-2022, including three from scratch (wolf boy, wolf girl & cat duo, fox boy) and two rigging-only projects.
- **Goal: Make Her Own VTuber** [03:25] — Despite making models for others, Hanacue has never made one for herself. She now commits to creating her own VTuber.
- **Design Evolution** [03:56] — Her current persona (green-haired girl) evolved from previous designs. She simplifies the design for clarity, emphasizing heart shapes and a doll-like silhouette.
- **What is a VTuber?** [06:39] — A VTuber is a digital avatar that simulates real-time movements via webcam. Live2D models use 2D art with rigging in Live2D Cubism, offering organic beauty and easier entry for artists.
- **Sketching and Planning** [10:10] — Key tips: keep model symmetrical, use .psd-compatible software with layers, think of parts as paper dolls. Plan colors and poses early.
- **Lining the Model** [13:05] — Line every part separately, overline areas like neck for rigging. Use symmetry tool, name layers, and color code. Lining took 3-4 hours.
- **Base Coloring and Cutting** [15:47] — Add base colors, fix lines, understand layer hierarchy. Create back layers for parts like sleeves and clothing undersides.
- **Arm Poses Challenge** [16:53] — Drawing 8 arm/hand sets took 4 hours, as long as lining the whole model. Recommends beginners skip alternate poses or save for later.
- **Rendering and Overcoloring** [17:50] — Add detailed shading on separate layers clipped to base. Hanacue keeps lines, base, and detail separate for a 3D look, similar to texture wrapping in 3D.
- **Week Overestimate** [20:16] — Art is only 75% done due to underestimating time. Remaining work (cutting, arms, emotes, rigging) will be in the next video.

### Conclusion

Hanacue successfully completes most of the art for her VTuber model within a week, though not fully finished. She plans to cover cutting and rigging in the next video, emphasizing the complexity and rewarding nature of the process.

## Transcript

Hello, I’m Hanacue, your local digital 
artist. So I’ve been really interested in  
making my own VTuber model these days, and 
I thought I would take you guys through my  
process of making a VTuber model from scratch. 
And as an added challenge – because I sure do  
enjoy making things harder for myself – let’s 
try to make the whole model in a week. Also,  
this video is going to be a two-parter, with 
this first video covering the process of  
drawing and cutting the model, and the second 
video will be about rigging the model.
BUT first! I need to call out some people. Do 
you have an original character that you’ve been  
neglecting to come up with a backstory for? 
Or maybe you’re one of those people that have  
hundreds of OCs just sitting around, waiting 
to finally see the light of day? You know who  
you are. Well, I am calling out all artists with 
OCs, whether one or a bunch, to give them a home  
on UnVale! UnVale is a new social art sharing 
platform that emphasizes a focus on artists,  
writers, and worldbuilders. You can 
create pages for your original characters,  
fill in details about their backstory, add tons 
of images to their pages, and even add character  
traits to them. I love using the pages as a 
way to write about the characters I’ve made,  
and color coding them to their exact aesthetics. 
You can even create worlds for your characters  
to categorize them, and there’s even a diverse 
community that you can socialize with on your  
pages! I hope you can’t tell how excited I am 
about this site, because I love OCs with all my  
heart. I’ve even added a bunch of story tidbits 
to some fan favorites like Sitrina, Enceladus,  
Zori and Gin, if you want to go ahead and check 
them out on my page below! I love art websites  
like this because they’re vast yet tight knit, so 
it really feels like you’re part of a community.  
It’s time to pull your OCs out from the cupboards 
and really give them a proper home and showcase  
them on UnVale! If you’re interested, please feel 
free to check out my link in the description. And,  
if you do create a profile, make sure to tag 
your characters with the hashtag #hanasquad,  
so we can all find each other. And so I can 
gush over your adorable characters. Thank you  
to UnVale for sponsoring today’s video. 
Now, let’s head back to the video!
So some of you might be familiar with my past 
VTuber work on the channel. I actually started  
my YouTube channel to share my findings on 
making VTubers as an artist. I came a long way  
since then, and have shared hundreds of short form 
videos on five models I had a part in making from  
2021 to 2022. The first three models I made from 
scratch, meaning I did everything from design,  
art, to rigging/animating, were the iconic 
wolf boy, Gloomy, wolf girl and cat duo,  
Rhi’a and Kurone, and of course the purple fox 
boy, Crazyfox. I’ve also done rigging work,  
which means all I did was make the model move, 
for pink magical girl, Squeakychiona (who I will  
also be making a model from scratch for later 
this year), and white cat girl, Starsmitten.
Keen observers might notice that all of these 
models were made for other people. Despite having  
my own persona for years, I have never attempted 
to make a VTuber model for myself. And the reason  
is, well, I’ve just never felt compelled to. 
I just love making work for other people,  
so I simply never found the time to. But 
of course, during my occasional streams,  
this was a point of curiosity for people. It 
was ironic that as a VTuber maker, I, myself,  
never made myself a VTuber to use. But today, that 
all changes. I am going to make myself a VTuber  
and I will finally become a VTuber. 
Before we go ahead, I do have to put out a  
disclaimer that this is not a tutorial video. 
Consider it more of a general process video,  
where I’ll loosely explain what I’m doing and how 
I’m doing it. And if you learn something from it,  
that’s great! Just please don’t expect a full 
fledged tutorial, because really it’s more of  
a join me along as I make something kind 
of cool and intensive. Alright,  
nice. Let’s move on ahead to the first step.
For the VTuber’s design, I obviously have my  
current persona that I use in all my videos, 
which is the green-haired girl with braids and  
a little white dress with a fuzzy cardigan. This 
design came about after many iterations of past  
personas I’ve had. Before green braids, I was a 
generic brown-haired twin tail girl in a similar  
little white dress. This version actually had its 
own 3D VTuber model during my Twitch days that  
a friend got for me, which was pretty cool for a 
while. Before that, I was a pink haired girl with  
braids and a simple get up. And even before all 
that, my past identities were… well… that’s all  
classified for another video, hehe. 
I really enjoy my current design. It’s  
unabashedly girly, with all my favorite colors, 
and things like green, pink, pearls, ribbons,  
and more. And most of all, I love all the fanart 
you guys have made of her, which has made me come  
to love her even more. But that also makes me 
feel a little guilty to say that I am changing  
the design just a little bit. In my first iteration of the design,  
I loved everything but felt like some parts were a 
bit redundant or unclear. So for day 1, I created  
a new sketch to simplify a lot of parts, and make 
sure the shape language was clear. Stay with me  
here, I promise the final VTuber is going to be 
just as unabashedly detailed and pretty as before,  
but sometimes you need to reduce things to their 
simple forms before you can add more details.
The parts that were important for me to clarify 
were the messy bob hair that was tied into  
heart-shaped braids, and the overall silhouette 
of the character. In fact, this entire design uses  
heart shapes everywhere. The top is heart shaped, 
the ends of the hair split into hearts, and the  
silhouette is also meant to reflect a vague upside 
down heart. To make sure the silhouette in general  
was clear, I had to emphasize the most important 
design elements. Messy bob, braids, fuzzy jacket,  
short skirt, and long legs. Basically, I want this 
character to read like a doll, because the goal is  
everything girly, cute, and doll-like.
As you can tell, I removed a lot of details  
from the original designs. Some of them will 
make their way back, but others were redundant. 
For example, these arm sleeves, and arm 
accessories weren’t really needed because I intend  
to have the character wearing the large fuzzy 
cardigan at all times. I also clarified shapes  
and the logic of design choices like the placement 
of the stitching on her dress and opting for a  
thicker ribbon. This is very important for later 
when we work on drawing the actual model.
I’m pretty happy with the clarified design, and I 
consider this more a bare bones design. If I had  
to only keep the essentials, what would I keep? 
So this is what I came up with for my VTuber  
design! Similar to before, but a little clearer. 
However, it has just now occurred to me that maybe  
some of you don’t know what a VTuber is.
So what is a VTuber? I’m going to explain to  
you what VTubing is to me, from strictly an 
artist perspective. A VTuber is a digital  
avatar that you use to represent yourself, which 
simulates your movements in real time using a web  
camera. Ever seen mocap actors and how that then 
translates into games? It’s like that, but live.  
The term VTuber is short for Virtual YouTuber, 
but this term now encompasses a large range of  
content creators outside of just YouTube alone.
VTubing found some of its first introductions on  
YouTube with popular 3D VTubers like Kizuna 
AI. But it reached the real height of its  
popularity during the pandemic lockdown, when 
most people had to be inside and thus turned to  
online entertainment. During this time, with the 
introduction of VTuber corporations and the growth  
of streaming in general, VTubers became extremely 
popular. In my opinion, the VTuber community also  
grew quickly due to its intersection with other 
communities like anime, gaming, streaming, art,  
voice acting, singing, and many others!
Now, you may have seen some VTubers that are 3D,  
which are avatars you can sometimes use in apps 
like VRChat. We often refer to these as models,  
or 3D models. However, a new type of VTuber 
model would begin to rise during this time as  
well. These were called Live2D models, which were 
a type of model that used flat 2D art, and rigging  
and morphing technology in a program called Live2D 
Cubism. This type of rigging is an animation style  
that is popular in newer animation shows, because 
it utilizes the ability to keep a character on  
model and adding what we call a skeleton under, 
to move body parts and change facial expressions  
instead of redrawing them over and over.
This by no means makes it easier, it just has  
different benefits that a show that uses the same 
characters and similar shots may benefit from.  
But this technology became useful as the idea of 
creating 2D VTuber models was popularized. You  
could essentially draw a flat 2D image, and morph 
the different angles to give it the illusion that  
it was turning left and right, or up and down. 
This opened up many avenues for artists who were  
skilled at art, but not so much at 3D modeling, a 
chance at creating their own VTuber models. And,  
ding, ding, you guessed it. I’m one of 
those artists who jumped on the train!
Now there are many benefits to making a Live2D 
model. 1: Live2D models have that organic beauty  
of being a drawn image that is different from a 
3D model. Of course it comes down to preference,  
but it is a different appeal. 2: You are able to 
break more things and hide things in 2D art than  
you can in a 3D model. 3D models tend to have 
the need to be logically sound because you are  
unable to 100% control the way the model operates. 
But in a 2D model, you ARE able to control every  
aspect of the model to appear only how you like. 
3: This is just my opinion, but I think Live2D  
models are easier to get into because most of us 
will have general skills in art, but not many of  
us will have learned 3D modeling or sculpting 
skills. Now, I say easier to get into, but this  
does not mean a Live2D model is easier to make. 
It is still a lot of hard work, but essentially,  
doable for anyone who has some art skills.
Of course, the program in question to make this  
all happen is Live2D Cubism. I’ll talk 
to you more about that in the next video,  
but as I am currently aware, Live2D Cubism 
is the only program as of right now that  
you can make a 2D model in.
So now you know what a VTuber is  
and the different kinds there are, now let’s 
move on to start sketching our model!
When it comes to sketching and planning the model, 
there are a few things to keep in mind. Firstly,  
and this is not a hard rule, but it will make 
your life a lot easier if you keep the model  
symmetrical on the left and right side. It’s 
easier to rig the model when your two sides  
are approximately the same because you can 
just repeat what you do on one side to the  
other. So I’ll just draw the body and head 
using the symmetry ruler tool in Clip Studio  
Paint. Most art programs should have this tool. 
For parts like the hair that are asymmetrical,  
I’ll create a guide for placement, then draw 
in the hair. Secondly, you’ll want to draw your  
model in a program that can save to a .psd file, 
has layers, and also some clipping functionality.  
Again, Clip Studio Paint works for me so I’ll 
be using that. Thirdly, the way you’ll want to  
think about 2D models is as if they’re paper dolls 
you can dress up. Our paper dolls will be quite  
advanced as they will have joints that allow you 
to change their pose or position. So you’ll want  
to imagine that you’ll be building the dolls up 
layer by layer. This is hard in the beginning,  
but gets easier as you do it more. 
For the second half of day one and for day two,  
I’m going to sketch and plan the model. As 
I’m working on my model, I’m really aiming  
for a doll type of pose, because I personally 
really like that aesthetic. I also plan to have  
all the body parts completely detached from the 
clothes, so that I can draw more outfits for my  
character in the future if I want.
One defining feature of VTuber models,  
other than the bouncy boobas and jiggle physics, 
is the addition of many types of accessories.  
This is definitely on purpose, because the more 
interesting accessories you have on your model,  
the more physics you can add later on. For 
example, adding ribbons can allow you to create  
a lot of dynamic physics when the character 
moves. Adding things like earrings, will add  
a lot more interest around the hair and face 
movement. Having strands of hair in many areas  
will also help create dynamic movements. So while 
these design elements may seem random at times,  
a lot of VTuber artists will add them because 
they help create the illusion that the model  
is more advanced and dynamic, with more physics 
and movements. This is of course up to personal  
preference, but it’s certainly something I try 
to keep in mind when making a VTuber design.
 
To continue my planning, I add colors to get an 
idea of how things will look in the final model  
before I jump straight into lining and rendering. 
This is extremely helpful because sometimes you  
aren’t able to tell if the model is unbalanced 
in color or line distribution until the colors  
are on, so I really recommend you create this 
color plan first. The colors can be simple,  
just enough to give you an idea how it 
will look in the final artwork.
 
Now, it’s time to plan some poses for my 
character, which in my case are just going  
to be different arm attachments. I wanted to 
create a pose for all my existing avatar images,  
so it didn’t feel like anything was lost when I 
begin using the model. I really don’t recommend  
you add too many arm poses if you’re a beginner 
because truthfully it is extremely time consuming  
and hectic. You will see later how much 
I regret this decision. I will also take  
the time to explore different facial expressions 
and mouths to imagine how the model will look in  
rigging later on. And that wraps up everything 
I wanted to do for days one and two!
Hello, hello, it’s day 3 and I’m making sure to be 
very caffeinated for this process because today we  
will be lining the model. Sketching the model is 
kind of like the appetizer to the process, but  
you really get a full taste of what it feels like 
to be a VTuber mama once you get to the lining.  
By the way, VTuber mama and papa are the terms 
of endearment that we use for people who make  
VTuber models. Pretty cute, right? Remember how I 
said earlier that you want to think of the models  
like paper dolls, where you build up pieces? 
Well, I really mean it. I’m going to line  
every part separately, and what needs to be 
separated is really up to your intuition. I  
like to keep a lot of parts separate though.
So here I am outlining the whole head, then a new  
layer, and do the ears. If you’re a beginner, 
I recommend you keep this simple and intuitive  
for yourself. You can always go back and do more 
cutting in the future if needed, but you certainly  
don’t need to be excessive. However, since this is 
my sixth model, I’ll be doing some more advanced  
techniques in my lining and cutting process. 
For the lines, this includes some layer parts  
having an outside line and an inner line, so I can 
create more 3D looking rigging in the future.
Lining is easy to explain, but a lot of work to 
do. We’re making sure to line to get a clean idea  
of each layer part of the model. You’ll also 
want to imagine and overline areas like the  
neck for example. We make the neck extremely long 
because the head turning in rigging requires a lot  
of area to make it look natural. I also made my 
layers somewhat visible here so you guys can get  
an idea of my workflow. As a reminder, this is not 
a tutorial, just my process, so please don’t feel  
like you have to do exactly what I’m doing. The 
amount of layers is pretty intimidating and yes,  
it is hard to keep track of. But to make VTuber 
models, we will need to get used to it. I  
recommend naming your layers when you can and even 
color coding them with this button in Clip Studio  
to help your eyes with the process. I’m making 
sure to draw the bare body, then the clothing  
items on top. And I’m using the symmetry tool 
again for a lot of this to save myself as much  
work as possible. I like to line my work even if I 
intend to paint or render the model in the future  
because it also helps create clean bases which 
is important for our VTuber model to work well.
 
Here on out is just me lining the model, so 
I’ll leave you guys to a short timelapse.
So that entire lining process has taken me 
about 3 to 4 hours now, and that’s a lot of  
drawing in a day so I’m going to return back to 
you guys with some base coloring tomorrow.
Base coloring is a pretty essential process 
to making 2D Vtuber models because it ensures  
that no blank spaces or weird pixels are out of 
place. So for day 4, I’m going to be adding the  
base colors and also fixing up some lines. The 
thing to consider when it comes to adding colors  
is understanding the layer hierarchy - that is, 
which layer goes belocw or above another layer,  
so that the layer parts show in their appropriate 
order. This is part of what we call cutting  
in the 2D model art. The second part to cutting 
is making sure that all the layer parts have their  
corresponding “back layers” as needed. For 
example, for the cardigan, it is a bit weird  
to have it as just a floating part with no back 
part to the cardigan, so I will draw that in and  
make sure the layer order is to the back behind 
everything. You will need to use your intuition  
here for this, but typically parts that may need 
this are sleeves, and undersides of clothing.
I’ll just continue coloring and organizing 
all the layers in a timelapse now,  
so I’ll see you guys in a bit!
We’re dipping into day 5 here, as I’m  
working on lining and coloring all those arm poses 
that we talked about earlier. This requires a lot  
of redrawing and imagining how the arms will work 
in motion and with the layer hierarchy. And it’s  
about 8 different arm and hand sets I’m drawing, 
so wish me luck. This entire process was actually  
extremely painful, and took a lot of brain power. 
In the end, it took the whole day and a whopping  
4 hours which is the same amount of time I took 
to line the entire model itself already. And I’m  
actually not sure if it will be worth it, because 
most people have enough trouble remembering to  
press toggles to change poses to begin with. So 
if you guys take anything from this video, learn  
from my mistakes, and maybe skip the alternate arm 
poses or save them for a later upgrade after you  
finish the model because it is really draining. 
I’m going to get a lot of rest before this next  
part because I am gonna need the energy to 
power through the rest of this model.
Ah, it’s finally time to do some rendering. I 
mentioned earlier that one of the best features  
of a Live2D model is the fact that you get an 
organically drawn look to your model. And there  
is no better time to sell that effect than in 
the rendering part. So the way I’m doing this  
is that I’m going to add some detailed coloring 
on a different layer clipped to the base layer.  
This is the time to make it as detailed as you 
like, and for me, I like to take the opportunity  
to put extra care because people will be looking 
at these models for long hours on end. So I like  
to try and make the work stunning for people 
to enjoy and find new things each time!
I want to mention that the traditional way to 
make Live2D models is to merge parts down so  
it’s the base color, line, and rendering all 
in one layer. This is a really convenient way  
to simply rig the art later. And I recommend this 
method especially if you’re planning to work with  
another Live2D rigger. However, since I plan to 
rig this model myself, I have a vision where I  
want to keep the lines, base color, and detail 
coloring all in separate layers. I’m doing this  
so I can create a more 3D look in my model as I 
can manipulate the parts at different speeds. An  
additional way of looking at this is that, I’m 
essentially creating a wrap for my parts using  
the detailed coloring where I’m overdrawing the 
shading in a way that makes it flat. This way  
when the layer is moved to the right or left, it 
will have the extra art to create a more 3D look.  
It’s a similar concept to wrapping texture in 3D 
modeling. Again, this is not necessary at all,  
and you can simulate a 3D look with one layer, 
but I’m an experimental person, and I really  
wanna see what kind of look I can achieve with 
this additional effort. There will be a lot more  
layers, but hopefully the result is worth it.
I wanted to include my whole coloring process  
here, but as I explained earlier, I drew the bare 
model so I can swap out her clothes in the future.  
Which means I was coloring some skin areas that 
might not be completely appropriate for YouTube,  
so sadly I didn’t include those parts! But if 
you guys are interested in the skin coloring,  
I may release part of it elsewhere if you like!
Now, I’m going to continue my process of rendering  
and overcoloring all the way until we’ve 
reached the completion of the coloring. This  
was the bulk of the work I did for days 6 and 
7. In the meantime, enjoy the timelapse!
Alright, so I may have grossly overestimated how 
much I could do in a week. I was planning to do  
some cutting as well this week, but somehow 
I overlooked how challenging it would be to  
draw an entire model, try and plan and draw an 
animation to go with the reveal because yes,  
I’m crazy, and also edit the entire video in 
a span of one week. As it turns out, I am only  
human and for some reason can’t spontaneously 
grow four additional arms to draw, animate, and  
edit at the same time. So I tried to finish the 
coloring and rendering to the best of my ability,  
but ultimately I think the art is only about 75% 
done, at the moment. So I’m going to be kind to  
myself and take it easy, and save the rest of the 
work for the next video where we’ll tackle all the  
goodies like cutting the model, finishing the arms 
and emotes, setting up the model in Live2D Cubism,  
and rigging and animating the model. I am dead 
tired as I am recording this, and while the art  
isn’t yet finished, I feel like there’s enough to 
give you all a little bit of teaser in the final  
reveal. So please do enjoy the final reveal 
of all my hard work and effort so far!
Thank you so much for watching! I’ve always 
been a little bit unsure how to make a video  
on the process of making a VTuber model because 
it is really complex with lots of steps. It’s  
definitely a lot easier to capture just my process 
of making a single artwork. So I thought I might  
do it in a little bit of an informative process 
vlogging type of style. It’s different from my  
usual type of video, but I hope you can find the 
process enjoyable to watch! Again, not a tutorial,  
because I know this entire thing can be really 
overwhelming. My main goal is to just expose  
you guys to the process and familiarize you 
with it and the terms. Hopefully it helps a  
little! And if not, I’ll try my best to get 
a little better next time! As always, here is  
a showcase of all of the lovely fanart you guys 
have made for me lately. I love them very much,  
and I hope this new model can live up to the 
beauty you guys always capture me in! Until  
next time, I’m wishing you all the best on your 
journeys of achieving your goals and dreams. Bye!