Cartooning Basics: 2 Ways to Make *Anything* Look Cartoony

cartooning basics from classic cartoons

What cartooning basics do Tweety Bird and Pink Panther — along with numerous classic cartoon characters — have in common?

Once you figure it out you’ve distilled at least two things that you can use over and over to create a sense of cartooniness in anything you draw.

In essence, Tweety and Monsieur Le Pink are unexpected

Surprise is part and parcel of cartooning basics, so as soon as something is unexpected, it feels cartoony to us. Two ways in which Tweety and Pink are are unexpected (and which are the easy to use as a beginner) are:

  1. they behave more like humans and
  2. they have exaggeratedly large and expressive eyes

Shall we take a closer look at those points for a moment?

Tweety and Pink behave like humans

As you know by now anything is possible in Cartoonland, which is exactly why cartoonists get away with making animals behave like humans.

Watchers don’t bat an eyelid at Pink Panther walking about on two legs or Tweety gesturing with feathery ‘fingers’ — in fact, we delight in it. Somehow, seeing animals walk and talk like humans while still retaining some of the animal characteristics makes us cackle with laughter like a bunch of hens in a farm yard.

But what’s so special about the eyes?

Cartoon characters & ‘google-y eyes – cartooning basics there

This works like gangbusters because eyes do much of the work of portraying emotions, so having huge eyes makes sense when creating expressive cartoon characters. Making the eyes exaggeratedly large immediately conveys a sense of cartooniness to anyone watching.

So how can you test out these cartooning basics and stir up your imagination a little?

Here’s a wee exercise to get you going…

  • Use circle-y circles (rough, sketchy oval shapes) to draw a rough-and-ready version of a coffee mug
  • Add round, google-y eyes to it somewhere
  • Draw sketchy legs and arms to make it seem ‘human’ and able to move
  • When you are done, draw it again 2 or 3 times, varying the direction that the eye pupils are looking. You’ll notice that eye direction can change the whole mood of the ‘character’.
  • And then draw it a few more times, varying how the legs and arms move
cartoon colouring course notes

 

Don’t worry how good or bad it looks…

Just focus on the playful, ridiculous possibilities offered by having a dancing, google-eyed coffee mug scuttling about on your page.

Remember…

…the essence of cartooning basics is that anything is possible in Cartoonland

😉

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