Learn To Draw

Showing posts with label Comic strip. Show all posts

Learn To Draw Cartoons

One of the most famous and favourite form of drawings would be cartoons. These are very fun to watch or read. If you want to learn to draw cartoons, here are the basic things you should know for you to be able to start out creating your own.

Choose Your Medium: Still Or Moving?

The medium that you would be using is very important. This would have an effect on the overall impact and look of your work. What is it that you want to do? Do you want to go for single cartoons or cartoon strips like the ones you get to see on the comic page of your newspaper or do you want to have a full scale movie? Picking one would affect how you start. However, for beginners, it would be best to save the movie later!

Who’s Your Main Character?

Pick out a main character. Is it a male or female? Is it human or an animal, or maybe a vegetable perhaps? What are its main features? Usually, cartoons have exaggerated features and roughly ignore other ones.

Start Off By Sketching

If you have seen a movie storyboard, you'll know that it’s just a rough outline and overview of what would be happening on a certain scene. It doesn’t have full blown details on it. If you want to draw a strip, it would be better for you to plan out what would be happening in each of your frames. Get the summary of what you want your final cartoon to look like.

Develop Your Main Character

Doing this would take some time. It's way better to at least draw something than be agonized over the exact placement of each line. Try to see early Mickey Mouse cartoons or even early episodes of the Simpsons. Try to compare these to the present and you’ll see that the characters have evolved over the years.

Add Some Drama: Use Emotions!

Don’t forget to add emotions to your main character. May it be a cheeky grin or raised eyebrows, whatever variation you put on his/her features can help in giving him/her more character, life and personality. Unless you intend your main character to be totally expressionless and still, it’s rewarding to give it emotions. If they are scared or angry, you could emphasize this using the next step.

Add Some Life: Use Color!

Assuming that you would be displaying strip on your Web site or you would be printing it off from your colored printer, it is best that you add color to your work. This would give people variety to look at. It also helps give more life to your cartoon. Remember, since cartoons are not always depicting reality, having a non-realistic colored character is all right, take the Pink Panther for instance.

Add Some Depth: Use Shading

Adding a few strokes of shading would go a long way for cartoons. Your readers’ minds would fill out the blanks. Thus, you do not really have to draw each strand of hair, if your character has a hairy leg. Just place enough strands and some hints. Their imagination would do its job and join the dots. In fact, this is extremely effective and would allow your readers to develop their imaginations.

Add Environment: Use A Background

Like shading, this doesn't require too much detail. Placing a pyramid shaped outline if your character is in Egypt would do fine. You do not have to draw the Sphinx, unless your storyline requires it.

Let Them Speak: Add Some Caption

The final touch in giving your character life is by letting is speak. It doesn’t matter if it’s an animal or human. They do speak. Decide whether you are going to put the lines on a speech bubble or simply below the cartoon box.

Learn To Draw Comics

Sphere: Related Content

Movies, Anime, cartoons, and 3D animations, these are modern day entertainment that people could choose from if they are bored or something like it. A lot of people have overlooked the original and classic form of entertainment back when still pictures were the hit. What are these? Comics of course!

Comics used to be the number one form of entertainment, back when TV did not exist yet. Reading comics is like having your own printed out movie. If you have a unique kind of sense of humor, and you like drawing, why not learn to draw comics? This would be very easy and fun at the same time!

Here are some of the things you should consider if you want to start your own comic strip.

What’s The Theme Of Your Comic Strip?

Before you go on drawing in little boxes, determine first the type of comic strip that you want. Do you want a satiric comic? What’s the main theme? Is it about teenage life? Is it about married life? How about school life? Who are your intended readers? Is it about a super hero? Factors like these are important.

Go ahead and brainstorm. If you are having a hard time on picking out a theme, get some inspiration with your surroundings. Observe people that you encounter daily or randomly. Try to come up with something new, fresh, interesting yet everyone could relate to. This would be a good basis of your whole comic strip.

Have Some Characters

You should also be equipped with a character line up. Have a main character and a couple of supporting characters. Map out the personality of each. Create their profiles, so that they could be unique from each other, yet you have had determined a working relationship for all of them. You do not really have to create a long list of characters. Just be ready with your main and a couple of staple characters. You can always add a new character to the gang in the future once you have a new idea for it.

Now, practice drawing your characters. Draw them in different kinds of facial expressions and actions.

Find A Setting

You should also decide on a specific setting. Would it be during the Jurassic age ala Flintstones? Would you want it to be in a high school, just like Archie? Do you want to have your own imaginary city like Gotham city in the Batman comics? It all depends on your imagination. Once you have all these things settled out, that is the only time that you can start drawing.

Draw Your Panel

The panel refers to the number of boxes you are going to have in one strip. You can have three or four boxes for short strips that usually showcase only one scene or you can have hundreds that cover many pages that usually showcase a whole storyline.

You can start out with short ones, just like the ones you see on your newspaper’s comic page. Have a plot for the scenes along with the dialogues you have in mind. Start plotting how you are going to fit your characters in the boxes, and then draw them. Put dialogue bubbles or boxes and write down their lines or thoughts.

Once you are content with your drawing, put it into ink and erase sketch marks. Add some color if you want to, and you’re done!