Cartooning Techniques; The Basics (prelude)

So, this is the backstory;

It's a funny thing being an Cartoonist (or Artist, or Illustrator). You tell someone that your an cartoonist (or Artist, or Illustrator) and the reaction is usually one of envy, the "Oh I wish I could draw" response. That's usually followed by compliments on my work.

But as an Artist you're never satisfied with your own work. You never feel good about it, and it's always a struggle to get it out there in the public eye.

So rewind to late last year, I was drawing stuff I REALLY Quite Liked (click here to see some of those Awesome Cartoons) , and this is probably the style this comic strip will head back to, as I don't particularly like the current bubblehead style.

So what happened you may ask, why the change?

Well, STUFF (yeah big stuff, mostly covered by those recent Therapy Diary cartoons) had happened to me. I took time out to question my life etc. And this included taking time out to revisit my cartooning style, because after having been a cartoonist for so long, I'd started to ignore the basics, and my style had definitely narrowed, and was lacking in a number of areas.

So it was time to get out and explore again, revisit the basics, and try a few new things.

But what are the basics of great cartoon character design?

So if you're one of those people who responds "Oh, I wish I could draw" I'm here to tell you - You Can!

Over my next few posts I going to talk about how to design great Cartoon Characters, because, with a few simple guidelines, ANYONE can draw great cartoons;

And this is how . . .

 

(Next post - The Action Line)

 

Cheers,
K