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short
📅 Updated:2026-01-16
🕒 Created:2019-05-13
🆔 ID:25250
Description
Short describes characters that are visibly below "average height" based on their surroundings, proportions or explicitly stated measurements.
This tag is ideally reserved for adults or teenagers, and for characters whose proportions are not the result of chibi or toony stylization. Shortstack characters may inherently be short, but this tag is intended for characters who are not specifically curvy enough to fall under that tag (however, using both shortstack and short is acceptable).
Short height may be depicted by comparison with taller characters in the same image (see notes bellow), and/or by the character's height relative to items in, or the background of, the scene, they may also be explicitly described as short through a height chart, or information in a character sheet.
Shortness and Proportions
A character in a solo image without a background can be inferred as having a short stature by their proportions - this can be seen in the length of their legs, arms, torso, and size of their head compared to body.
- A short character's head may appear proportionally slightly larger than that of a taller character
- Short characters may appear to have "stubby" legs or arms, which are shorter than an anatomically correct humanoid figure of average height
- Using the common artistic practice of measuring out a character's body in "heads" (with the average "ideal" realistic height for an adult figure being 7-8 heads tall) - a short character may be drawn 5-6 heads tall to make their height stand out against "average" "head height" characters,
- More exaggeratedly short characters may be around 3-4 heads tall, these characters often fall under dwarfism or shortstack
Tagging notes:
- Not all characters who are smaller than another in the same image (size difference) are short, they may be of average height compared to an especially tall character. Images tagged smaller male smaller female and so on should not be tagged as short unless the character actually appears to be short based on their surroundings or proportions.
- While practically all shortstack characters are short, not all short female characters should be tagged as shortstack - a shortstack is a character who is small in stature with an exaggerated, curvy figure, including wide hips and large butt.
- A short character with big breasts and/or a big butt should ideally not be tagged as shortstack unless their proportions match the typical squat, exaggerated figure of the shortstack.
Not to be confused with:
- dwarfism - A character with exceptionally small stature who is still clearly a developed adult with normal signs of aging.
- micro - This tag describes a shrunken character.
- short playtime - An animation with a relatively short duration. A complex animation of this length is colloquially called a "short".
- shortstack - Not all short characters fall under this tag.
- shorts - Bottomwears that cover up to the thigh.
