If you use a single cube for the head, you can create a person with plenty of room to emphasise its posture and physique. Using a 2x2x2 block to make the head gives you a cute figure with a large head. The most common type of human figure that appears in Picross puzzles are those with 2x2x2 blocks for heads.

This is the basic shape. As the figure is 4 heads high, it looks rather childlike.

1. In this example, the figure is striking a pose. Just move a few cubes and it looks more dynamic.
2. Add a large torso and the figure looks more adult. You can put the figure in various poses.
3. Broaden the shoulders and make the chest thicker to give the figure a muscle-bound look.
4. Further adjust the posture to give an even more powerful impression.

With its extremely small body, the figure looks a lot like a baby.
Add long eyelashes to the round eyes to complete the babyish look.

1. Stretch the torso and change the eyes and the figure is now a child.
2. Stretch the torso further to make the figure appear more like a teenager.
3. Broaden the shoulders, thicken the chest and narrow the eyes to make a sportsman.
4. Lengthen the face of the figure in the second image, thicken the body and position the eyes higher on the face to make it more adult.

1. Change the clothes and hairstyle and make the legs shorter to turn the figure into a girl.
2. Flesh out the figure in the third image, adjust the proportions and the waist looks narrower. The figure now looks even more muscular.
3. Lower the jaw and open the mouth to give the figure a monstrous look. Enhance the eerie effect by curving the back and making the arms hang down.

Simply by adding these characteristics to a basic design, you can come up with all these variations. Adapt these techniques and you're sure to hit upon many more.
The human figure used above is simply one example of all the figures that are possible. See which other ones you can come up with.

There are a total of 15 different stickers that you can use when creating puzzles, including eyes and noses. There is a limit to the number of stickers you can use in a single puzzle but by rotating the stickers, you can come up with a whole host of effects.

1. Attach the stickers as normal to get this effect.
2. A curved line doesn’t necessarily have to be an eyebrow.
3. A large black circle can become a pair of sunglasses and a heart can be a mouth.

When you’re aiming to create a motor vehicle, the most important things are the wheels. In most cases, you won’t be able to spare a lot of cubes to create the wheels, so don’t worry about creating a full representation of a wheel. This can be covered up with skilful use of colours and positioning.

Let’s try using 2x2 blocks to make the wheels.

You’ve managed to make a 6-wheel truck. The size of the truck’s body in relation to the wheels is important.

Use a single cube for each of the wheels.

You’ve now got a colourful container truck. Even though they are just one cube apiece, they really look like wheels.

Not a vehicle as such, but it’s used in this example as it has large wheels. The size of wheel in the image makes it just right for a hot dog stand.

If you start with the wheels, you can end up in a real mess. The overall size of the vehicle should dictate the number of cubes you can spare to use on the wheels.

Using the tips you’ve picked up from the shapes we’ve made so far, you can combine a number of shapes for an effective way to create impressive displays.

By positioning one shape next to another so it can be compared to it, you can successfully express the relative size of objects. In the case of the hot air balloon, we start by allocating the number of cubes needed to create a large balloon and then, in contrast, create an extremely stylised human figure with an emphasis on its small size.

By positioning a person beside it, you can emphasise the stone ring's size. Could this be the currency used by Stone Age man?

You can turn the ball into a hot air balloon just by adding the person in the basket. The right background helps achieve the desired effect.

Under the luxuriant leaves of the tree, we’ve placed a person and a dog.

Use weird and wonderful shapes to create your own fun puzzles and send them to your family and friends!

You can download the puzzles that have been featured on this page via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. (Puzzle Pack 1: from 5th March 2010)
After enjoying these puzzles, you can use them as a reference for creating your own original puzzles.