Wednesday, February 26, 2014

How To Draw Cartoon Characters Step-By-Step

By Krystal Branch


Nearly everybody wishes they knew how to draw cartoon characters, however those who cannot do it seem to think it is some kind of mystical art. They feel it is something that they needed to have learned in their school days, where they could either draw and paint, or they couldn't and would give up easily. Some of their friends could draw cartoons very easily, and they were very envious.

Learning the fundamentals of drawing cartoons does not take very long, and it doesn't depend on having any previous artistic experience. It is all down to your willingness to learn, and being patient. It is not a skill that you have to be born with, or that runs in the family, anybody should be able to draw very simple characters in a few hours. The more time and effort you put into it, the better you will become.

If you take a look at some of the most famous cartoon characters, you will find that they are very simple. The faces of the characters are very basic, and they just have one or two very outstanding features, so in this kind of drawing less is more. There is no need to make them very complicated.

As with learning any new subject, you have to learn every new skill step-by-step. You will need to adopt a strategy to help you draw your characters much easily. When you start drawing the face, decide what shape you want first. If you want your character to have a long face, start with an oval shape, a round face means that you start with a circle, and if you want the character to have a square face, obviously you have to use a square. Making use of geometrical shapes makes your task a lot easier.

Your next task would be to add features to the face. You follow exactly the same principle, using simple shapes to form the nose, eyes and mouth. Your cartoon will generally need a body as well, so go ahead and use the shape you require to complete your initial sketch.

One basic rule you should try to follow in your drawings is to keep them as simple as possible. If you over-complicate your drawings you could easily run into problems, especially when you are starting out as a cartoonist. This could make the whole task very frustrating, and the enjoyment will be lost, and you will probably stop trying to draw.

You should not even think about adding fine details to your drawings until the initial basic sketch has been completed to your satisfaction. Before you start fine tuning your drawings, take another look at some well-known cartoons to see how the artists have made use of simple shapes to form their characters strong features. You should not be too concerned if you feel that you are copying somebody else's work, because, in fact, what you are doing is creating your own style.

Using this step-by-step method is the best way of learning how to draw cartoon characters. At the start you will need a lot of patience, but following simple strategies will help you see the character grow quite quickly. Just remember that it is far easier to sketch out the outline first, and when you are happy with the result, then you can start fine tuning the drawing to add the special characteristics to your cartoon.




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