Cartoon drawings are fun. There’s something about cartoons that is magical. At least I think so.
When I was a child, I used to watch cartoons. I remember that sometimes my parents made us watch children movies that had real actors instead of cartoons. How I hated them! I was bored to death and I just wished they could let me watch cartoons instead.
As I grew, so did my love for cartoons. I eventually learned to draw. Although my cartoons drawings aren’t impressive, with time and practice, I have learned to make some good ones (not good enough that somebody would pay for them, unfortunately).
If you’re a beginner, I can suggest to you the following tips.
Start with the form of the whole body. Cartoon drawings are much easier when you have a reference frame and then work up the details from it. Draw a circle for the head, and then a line that will be the body. Four lines will do for the two arms and two legs. If you want to include objects on the scene’s first plane, then outline them as well. You don’t have to include details, for example, you can use a square for a book or a circle and two lines for a table.
When dealing with cartoon drawings, feel free to experiment. Since cartoons aren’t necessarily subject to the laws of physics, then you can create situations, movements, and body parts that defy them. In fact there’s really not much point in being realistic with cartoon drawings.
However, this depends on every person and author. For example, some authors’ cartoon drawings tent to be realistic, like Archie. Others tend to exaggerate only a little, like Doonesbury, and Peanuts. And finally, some cartoon drawings are out of human proportion, like the Powerpuff girls.
In any case, for your cartoon drawings to look consistent, you have to keep a scale. Realistic cartoon drawings have a scale of 7 heads. That means that the height of a character is 7 times what his head measures. Changing this scale will make the characters less realistic, according to what you want. The bigger or smaller this scale is from 7, the more cartoonish your cartoon drawings will be. For example, the Powerpuff girls’ scale is about 2, which makes their heads’ length almost half of their bodies’ height.
Lastly, making cartoon drawings requires some work from your part. But as you practice and experiment, you will be able to gain more skill and hone a personal style.
Even with the possibility of color, there are a lot of artists that keep making black and white drawings. Some of these do it by need of the drawing technique they use, and some just because they prefer it.
There’s something about black and white drawings that is still captivating. Some people say that they are more shocking and impressive than their color counterparts. Others think they’re more beautiful. Yet others say it’s their simplicity that makes them attractive.
I’m not an expert in the subject, but I like to think that the reason I like them is similar to the reason I like books over their movie versions.
When I read a book, I can use my imagination to create all the characters and situations. It’s my mind who decides how tall they are, what type of clothes they wear, how many wrinkles their faces have, and how often they smile.
However, when a movie about a book comes out, it sort of forces you a standard image of a character on you. This might be good for the people who design and sell action figures, but for the ones that like to use our imaginations to make the characters come alive in our minds, it’s not that great.
With black and white drawings, something similar happens. Black and white drawings let us add our own details to the image. Hair has the color we want. Clothes have the texture and tone we feel it’s more appropriate. Black and white drawings let us fill in the blanks as we please. Color drawings don’t.
My favorite black and white drawings come from the book “The little Prince.” I like them because they remind me of my own drawing abilities and the things I used to draw when I was a child. In fact, the book starts with the author’s supposed first black and white drawings of boas eating elephants, which he assumed would scare people. It didn’t and made him abandon his drawing career at 6 years old, until he met the little prince years later, when he was an adult.
At the little prince’s request, he tried to draw a sheep for him, one that he could keep on his home. The author drew several sheep, none of which pleased the little prince. Finally, he made a black and white drawing of a box, and told the little prince that the sheep was inside. The little prince was very pleased.
Years after the book first came out, some editions started to print versions that substituted the black and white drawings with color ones. To me, it just isn’t the same book anymore. I guess, like the little price’s hidden sheep, it’s much better when your own imagination gives you the details.
