58 Wonderfully Cute Illustrated Monster Characters
One of my favourite aspects of illustration is character design, particularly the simple and quirky vector based cartoons. After scouring the internet I’ve compiled an inspirational roundup of my favourite cute character designs from a range of talented artists and illustrators.
Well, they’re not all monsters but I’m sure you’ll agree, they are some seriously cute character designs! Click through and browse the work of each illustrator.
Do you know of any talented character artists? Post your links in the comments.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Really nice character
Moreover I discovered some great artist in your selection 
July 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Ah yeah! That’s amazing, love the colours! And some very cute monsters, and a few disturbing ones.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Some great stuff there - it’s inspired me to get my sketchbook out and doodle.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Does a Gorilla count? Link
July 30th, 2008 at 11:24 am
nice selection!
July 30th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Fun post. Thanks Chris.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
this is awesome, makes me want to open illustrator. hehe
July 30th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Although there are some particularly lovely creations in the collection you have made Chris, I can’t help but feel that many of them are very similar. It is almost as if it is a “create a monster from a rounded corner rectangle by adding a mouth and 2 eyes” competition.
I think the collection also shows that a well designed and thought-out backdrop helps lift the image as well. My favourites are the red octopus with the liquid head and the background on the 4th one down.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Awesome stuff. Very inspiring!
I do a Monster Of The Day drawing on a whiteboard outside of my cube every day I’m at work. Check them out here: MOTD!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Ahh… I wish I was that talented. Makes me at least want to attempt a monster tho
I love these monsters: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13597444@N03/sets/72157603858663821/
Does the last one really count as monsters?
July 30th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Hi …i am a monster and you? Lol
July 30th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Scary monsters in bright pop color is itself a little disturbing… “Let’s Play” with the girl and the bunny, yipes! Cute style but for the knife!
Remember the Little Guy, too! He’s made some really cute origami monsters that you can print out and fold up. A well needed distraction during the day
July 30th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Hmm, some of those a bit strange, but mostly they are really cool
July 31st, 2008 at 1:00 am
Awesome collection, some of those would make great vinyl toys, and I’m sure some of them already are!
July 31st, 2008 at 1:41 am
character design is definitely my favorite, too. thanks for this great round up!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:35 am
Some great characters here - makes achange to get some light hearted posts
July 31st, 2008 at 9:30 am
Great collection there, I just wish that I could do something like them.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:33 am
Thanks for the feature again !
July 31st, 2008 at 11:34 am
the purple rocket eating bear is my fav <3
July 31st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
i like the illustration from guy at http://www.crunk.pl
July 31st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Those are all very nice and cute and trendy monsters. Given they all are very nice illustrations i would’ve expected more diversity in styles. This is mainly the japanese illustration guidelines that have been running for many years.
In any case great collection, i had fun scrolling though them
July 31st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
great selection! the colors are amazing and would probably looks great on t-shirts.
July 31st, 2008 at 6:20 pm
sooooo cute them all.
i’d love to have vynil toys of them
July 31st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
haaaa nice niceee i have a monster too ¡¡¡ click in the link ¡¡¡¡ seee itt ¡¡
http://bp2.blogger.com/_gh6hd5n9WbQ/R7Pe3yZCAzI/AAAAAAAAABI/Kym0Kdumdok/s1600-h/elmostro-web.jpg
July 31st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
WOOOOOOOOOOOWWW!!!.. all that monsters are so cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! º__________________º
July 31st, 2008 at 9:03 pm
monsters galore-
http://www.monstersquid.com/
July 31st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I love monsters. Especially cute ones.
This is a great post.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
wow, im in the list (char-20), great! thanks for publish my work… nice selection, congrats!
August 1st, 2008 at 6:43 am
These are great.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:31 am
big tnx =)))very nice artworks!=))
August 1st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I know the guy who made the bear with the axe. His website is http://www.cleandemon.com. He has a few other things on there as well, and some of his stuff has been put onto t-shirts and all sorts.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I’m a vector illustrator and wanted to throw my hat in the ring!
August 1st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
hey check mine
http://marolda.altervista.org/
There for the first versions
and there for all of them
The Happy Company.
http://hesoyam.deviantart.com/gallery/
August 1st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
http://lachyen.deviantart.com/
This guy has some great character designs and is a fantastic cartoonist, well worth checking out.
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:00 am
check the gallery this boy..
http://nanoboy007.deviantart.com/gallery/#Vector
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hey! I’m a cute fanatic too, and have a discussion of this article and many other cute things on my blog…
August 4th, 2008 at 6:08 am
28 and 41 are funneh XD
August 5th, 2008 at 5:29 am
Wow!! They’re absolutely great!!!
I’ve seen a couple already in flickr
But congrats for the compilation!!
Here’s the first couple of monsters i did
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aracnofobia/2702598804/
August 5th, 2008 at 8:11 am
IS THERE A FILIPINO ARTIST HERE?
I NEED TO FIND ONE GOOD ARTIST FOR A PROJECT. THANKS!!
August 6th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
great monsters!! thanks a lot for the feature! ^____^
August 10th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Wow. Amazing list.
The green turtle is so adorable. And I like the green bear with an axe too. Funny.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
They should have their own show!
August 14th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
haha. wow, those are cute. i like the green monster that’s saying “hi”
August 15th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Yeah, you should check out
http://www.steamcrow.com
They do great cute monster illustrations!
August 15th, 2008 at 7:25 am
awww so cute *.*
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Niceness, cute monsters are always rad.
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Great selection!
I love dgph moles the most (www.dgph.com.ar)
August 25th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Although it’s foul, I love shiteater. Teehee.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
most of these are not exactly…cutting edge, this has all been done before and most of them look like they were done by the same person.
bored.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
They are so cute. Is that okay? …to call ugly little character monsters, cute? Oh well.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I love all what you got here.
September 8th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
http://www.dardanele.com/
one of the best page in ilustrator style from poland…
you heve great page too
September 24th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Wew… that’s look good
Keep to be a Creative man guys !!!
September 27th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
nice site.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Vey nice post …keep the good work..