Category Archives: Drawing

So you’ve started out learning or teaching yourself how to draw cartoons and want to draw cartoons of those little critters. You’d like to capture those funny stances that kids take up – like when staring into a jam jar containing some tiny grubs they have found in the back yard. Or maybe it’s that happy-go-lucky look that spreads infectiously across their face . The one that makes you smile too!

I hope you are taking the trouble to do a little practice every day – even if it is a little as drawing some simple shapes for a few moments. Getting your lines to flow well and smoothly is the first technique to master.

Before going on do remember that drawing cartoons is not a search for representative likeness, but the capturing of the essence of a picture in as few lines and colors as possible. This doesn’t mean that they are achieved easily, as identifying that essence and capturing it well are real skills. All it takes is a bit of practice correctly carried thru.

But the practice needs direction and that comes from careful and analytical observation. When you are training yourself pick a single topic for a practice session. Depending upon your choice you could pick the overall impressions, face shapes, hands (some find this tricky), feet or specific features such as noses or eyes.

Drawing cartoon of children set specific challenges.

Firstly, note the difference in the body proportions of a kid compared to a grown up. Kids have a significantly larger head in proportion to their torso size and the cartoonist does well to exaggerate that. These proportions help to show your viewers that this is a child.

Next time you see a baby check out how short its arms and legs are next to to the length of its body trunk. At the age of a few months they are very short and over the coming years they lengthen to reach the adult proportions. As before this indicates age to your viewer so helping them to understand the cartoon and so should be in harmony with your other proportions.

Next, children have smoother skin than older people. Use gentle curves and minimal lines to get your effect. No wrinkles here, but maybe a few freckles to complement that impish grin?

One of the beauties of cartooning is that you can play games with these proportions. At an extreme the caricaturist draws a head and face that is enormous compared to the body size as that’s the bit that’s important to them. But generally the rest of the body is on proportion to itself, even though still tiny compared to the head. As you become skilled you will discover for yourself where you can play games like this to suit your own style.

Remember, the more you practice the easier it is and the better you become. As you work on a new bit you may take a step or two backwards, but do not be discouraged. That backwards step is the platform for the next leap forwards. Do a little every day – but set yourself a purpose every session.

To craft interesting fluid portraits that breathe life you must appreciate the effect of the spine on the skull and shoulders.

To create a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to render the skull slanted. Most people when they are at ease will pose with their skull slightly slanted. In this article we will point out what to look for and how to tackle the slanted skull.

In the slanted skull pose the subject will show a clear change of direction from the action of the torso to the slant of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The subject’s shoulders will approximately be aligned with the base of the nose.

With this information in mind, the first step is to gauge the angle of the skull’s slant (from the base of the chin to the top of the skull) before drawing the arabesque. To do this hold your pencil (or a knitting needle) at arm’s length, closing one eye, and adjust the angle of the held pencil so that it corresponds to the angle of the slant. Keeping your arm straight and locked you can now transpose this angle onto the sketch.

Now that the angle of the slant is found you can draw the arabesque and validate the height/width proportion.

The axis of the features is vertical to the slanted facial angle. A common trend while drawing is to straighten out the features so that they are horizontal to the paper. Be on the lookout for this and ever on-guard because this trend is delicate and is constantly trying to sneak into the sketch.

It is not a recommended practice to establish all of the features at this time. It is actually more correct to first fix the brow line and the base of the nose and work from there.

When the skull is slanted you should also be aware of the effect that gravity has on the face. The flesh, in particular on the underside of the jaw, will be a bit pulled down. This effect is quite faint but for those of you who are advanced portraitists you should capture this in your initial arabesque. If you are a beginner just put this information away for future reference.

Take note, also, of the neck. The critical visible neck muscle is extended. Its companion is compressed. This opposing muscle action is referred to as abduction/adduction. This action of the neck always renders a striking effect.

Once the arabesque is positioned and you are satisfied with its accuracy relative to proportion and form you can draw the features and hatch-in the main big darks and lights. Keep the tone simple. The more complex the lighting arrangement, the more this applies.

The tonal arrangements are worked further, but are still a bit crude and unresolved. The main concern is the overall light effect.

There are a few items to keep in mind as you prepare to finalize the sketch:

1. Ask yourself how far you want to carry the sketch. You can get a real nice effect if you give the shoulders and upper torso an unresolved quality. Remember, drawings are not meant to resemble photographs.

2. As you gain a better understanding of the facial structure the trend exists to render what you know rather than what is actually there. So make sure you always pause to observe the life model or the subject in the photo.

In conclusion, the slanted skull pose is special in that the features will be centered on a slanted axis and that the stress in the shoulders will be different from one side to the other. Also the transition from the torso and shoulders to the skull should be carefully inspected.