Studio Ghibli built much of its charm around animal companions, and Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service sits firmly in that tradition alongside the other Studio Ghibli characters covered on the site. This guide walks through how to draw Jiji in a front-facing seated pose with an exaggerated open-mouth expression that leans more comedic than the composed version seen in the film.
A Cat With a Lot Going On in the Face
The tutorial runs 10 steps and focuses entirely on line art, so there is no coloring phase to worry about. Most of the work concentrates on the head and face, where the wide eyes, fanged open mouth, and long whiskers all need to land in the right positions. The body is compact and relatively simple, but getting that alarmed expression right takes a bit of patience with the curves.
Jiji’s Design at a Glance
- Cartoon cat seated upright, facing forward
- Large round eyes with small oval pupils
- Open mouth with two visible fangs
- Long whiskers extending from both cheeks
- Curled tail raised behind the body
If you enjoy drawing from the Ghibli universe, the guides for both chibi and big Totoro and Setsuko Yokokawa are worth checking out next, along with the Totoro with an umbrella sketch for another take on the forest spirit.
Reading the Step Colors
Each step in this tutorial uses a three-color system to show what is new and what came before:
- Red Color: lines added in the current step.
- Black Color: lines completed earlier.
- Gray Color: base sketch for structure.
How to Draw Jiji: Step-by-Step Tutorial
Finished Your Jiji? Show It Off
Once the line art is done, drop your finished drawing in the comments below. Seeing how different people handle that wide grin and the eye shapes is genuinely useful for anyone working through the same steps. New tutorials go up on Facebook and Telegram as soon as they are published, a new YouTube video based on existing guides goes live every day, and Pinterest stays updated regularly too. If you want to support the site and get access to hand-drawn coloring pages, the Patreon page is the place to go. For more Ghibli drawing practice, the guide for No-Face’s mask and the walkthrough for Chihiro and Haku in dragon form are solid next steps.