I like to doodle a lot, and a lot of my doodles take form as a cartoon. Human figures and faces seem to miraculously and unexpectedly appear in my loosely and unconsciously scribbled lines and shapes. This is true for other people too – we know the human form so well, we see it everywhere and in everything (patterns on carpet or wallpaper for example..).
You know the sketching techniques, so lets put them into action now, following these seven “Pointers”…
If you want to learn how to draw cartoons, you’ve got to first learn how to sketch them. We’ve already covered how easy it is to create head-shapes and add features, and that is the start of becoming an original cartoon artist… but in this article I want to share with you some simple, practical drawing techniques that will help you to develop your general drawing ability, by exercising your “drawing-hand dexterity”.
In this 3-part article I want to share with you not only how to sketch your cartoons, but also why I consider the sketching stage to be the most important.
There is a common notion in the field of art, that you should first be a master of standard techniques before you begin to develop your own style. In the field of cartooning, I don’t think this applies – and if it does, then I think it definitely shouldn’t.
I’ll be covering how to draw cartoon animals in greater detail later on, because much of what we’ve done to create human faces doesn’t apply to animals – the reason being that animals have very specific head forms, and facial features, that are unique to their own species… you can’t just stick a nose on a circle and call it an elephant!
I imagine cartoonists run into their own version of “writers block” now and again – not able to think up new cartoon jokes every single day. I’ve seen proof of this often in strip cartoons, where an up and coming talent gets his first publication contract with a newspaper (usually after winning a contest with promising originality), but within days his strip’s theme is all about how the artist (himself) has trouble finding something to draw.
How can you give some real personality to your comic character? Cartoon people need this as much as real people if they are going to make their mark and be memorable.
Growing old is a delightful prospect for any cartoon character… Noses get bigger, hair gets thinner, eyebrows get bushier, facial features sag, and lines and creases fill in the blank spaces of the cartoon face. Old characters and old faces are just great to draw.
