Drawing cartoon strips can certainly feel daunting as a beginner. Fitting a lot into tiny spaces, getting the characters and scene right… yikes!
On the other hand, cartoon strips and comic books are just stories in visual form and the story you are telling doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s a tip that will let you draw first, and let the characters tell a story all their own.
How can drawing first possibly work?
When children first learn to read and write creatively, they also learn to exercise their imagination. They receive a series of pictures and then make up a story based on what they think is going on in the pictures.
Drawing comics strips ‘back to front’ in this way can help you get over feeling intimidated, because you can simply draw your character in a number of whacky poses across the page and then let your imagination tell you what on earth could be going on.
Essentially, drawing cartoon strips simply portrays a sequence of events
If there are loads of ups and downs, that makes it more dramatic and interesting. Pretty much like a rollercoaster ride… or real life, it’s the change of pace that keeps your reader engaged.
Here is a simple format which makes a good springboard for creating stories around a single character, much like the kids at primary school.
Drawing without frames
While traditional comics are a series of pictures drawn within some sort of frame, you don’t need frames to start off with. In fact the frames can feel restrictive and intimidating. Instead you can get going by drawing your character doing three to five different actions or poses from left to right across your page.
Three or five is a good number, but it may take you some practice to fit them in. Start off with three and see how you go. The video below gives a demonstration, and as you will see… I run out of space!
Watch it now, have a go for yourself and let me know how it goes in the comments below: