I'm not so sure you could get the anime look from "standard" characters since the overall shapes are so different. Not saying that it's impossible, just improbable. In your case, I don't think spinning the dials will give you the results you're looking for. As mentioned, you could start from a character that is already "anime-like" such as Aiko / Hiro or MayaDoll. YOu could take a standard character and start slinging vertices in a modelling program and re-import the resulting *.obj as a morph or a full blown character, or you could create one from scratch using a modelling program, which would probably be the best solution for you since you have a full sketchbook.