Character Design: The Cute Boy~

[DokiDokiTsuna]

What are your favorite design elements for cute, sensitive, delicate male characters?

Here are some of mine:

I'm partial to those just-barely-shoulder-length 'skater boy' hairstyles, paired with round faces and long/visible eyelashes. Plus, body language is key: the line between 'cutie boy' and 'excitable shonen manga MC' is thinner than you think. XD

And now I suppose I should look for outside examples..hm...let's see...

^Believe it or not, his 3D model is even cuter~

Credits: hayousena (DeviantArt), limb92 (DeviantArt), Xenoblade 2

P.S. Could someone tell me how to link images?? Img code isn't working for me so far, and I don't wanna keep having to save all these examples...

[joannekwan]

Miguel is just so wide-eyed and enthusiastic. And he loves his great grandma

As far as cute boys go, I'm much more inclined to fall for their behavior and personality rather than their looks.
Especially if they don't act their age, like a lot of the cute boy archetypes in anime. The boy be actin' like he's 5 when he 13. >:0

[Kelheor]

The problem with small boys with longish hair and visible eyelashes for me is that it is hard sometimes to consider that "a cute boy" anymore? If it doesn't matter if it is a boy or a girl, then it's okay. If this should be a boy boy, he probably shouldn't look like a loli girl.
I'll go for shorter hair, round eyes...and glasses? And that's why here I have Jaeger

And it is hard to give some examples. Eh, I guess Simon from TTGL

Kokutou Mikiya from Kara no Kyoukai

[Zin_Trollborn]

I'm really not into shota boys, they have tendency to be way too cliché for me

The only male character I can think about that fits the "cute, sensitive, and delicate" cases is this damn one :
The old man from Ojisama to neko.

[TheFalseVyper]

My first thought of "cute, sensitive, delicate" male characters was Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia

Another one that came to mind was Adrien Agreste from Miraculous Ladybug

This whole thread is just full of cinnamon rolls and I love it!

[Kat]

@joannekwan Miguel is such a great example! And I agree, I'm drawn in a lot more by personality than looks, so this is a bit of a hard question.

So I love cute, sensitive boys. But I wouldn't describe my favorites as "delicate," and I can't even think of any characters I'm into like that right off (though I'm sure I have some). Some are more physically delicate, some are not- all have the attributes of arse-kicking cinnamon rolls, so this may be a bit different than what you're even talking about, and it might not be. Take it as you will. (Kubo, Midoriya, and Miguel are all totally perfect examples of this for me!)

If I'm the one drawing, I like youthful faces, biggish eyes and eyebrows, and usually short hair. I like to keep it kind of basic honestly- it's all about purity of dem soulful eyes for me.

If I'm reading someone else's work, they really can take any form. Biggish eyes and strong expression are good indicators. Dorian from "Hooky" comes to mind because he's a dapper angel child, but could still turn you inside out if he wanted. He's (almost) always very well dressed and very smiley and I love that about him!

Hello big eyes, strong expression. Lucien from "Humor Me" is outrageously adorbs. I suspect that even at four years old he could kill anyone he wanted though, and get away with it too.

Did I mention I love eyebrows on cute boys. EYEBROWS. I never even got into Cardcaptors but his eyebrows.

But sometimes my favorites have no discernable eyebrows, or even eyes:

(So fashionable but could kick your trashionable)

Rotund and non-human boys are also adorbs. Big eyes, sensitive hearts, kick butts, aw yisss

But quintessential "cute boy" to me, both in design and personality, kind of boils down to this for me:

Dapper but functional- smol and strong- big eyes, bigger expressive power-
Pazu wins all.

[Wumbl]

He's not been actually introduced yet into the story buuuut

Arkade (on the right) is undoubtedly the "cute boy" of the story. He's so fluffy and soft-edged... but he's going to go Through It like everyone else (it is a horror story after all)
The key elements are his warm colours, and his mannerisms more than anything. He could look more or less the same but be less "cute" but it's all in his expressions and behaviours really.

[Raven_C]

When it comes to “cute boys” i rather prefer the strong-headed types

Link from the Zelda series, for example:

I don’t tend to gravitate toward delicate cute boys in fiction, but I do like “gentle but strong.” Gentle is different from “delicate,” I think.

Loki from the Matantei manga series, who is mild-mannered and strong (and sometimes silly):

All in all, like someone mentioned above, it’s really all about personality and behavior for me, rather than design. I love the “looks like a cinnamon roll but can kill you” characters.

[Kat]

I love the “looks like a cinnamon roll but can kill you” characters.

Now that's what I'm talking about

[imiogri]

My main character??? He's just a tiny squishy dummy