Drawing a cartoon is very easy, but they should be unique and expressive. For example, to draw a cartoon of a horse, a step by step procedure is given below:
• First of all, break the basic parts of the horse. Draw a simple oval shape which is the base of its head.
• Then draw a second oval which is its muzzle. Draw one more smaller oval in this second oval, for its nose.
• Now draw the eyes. The left eye should be a small circle with a smaller pupil inside. The right eye should be bigger with a bigger pupil.
• Now add a mouth, tongue and teeth. After this, draw the ears of the horse and there is a cartoon horse in front of your eyes.
• Now erase any needless lines other than your basic shapes. This allows the horse to look more real.
• Add a little color to make the horse look factual.
A cartoon is generally meant to create laughter and fun. It is essentially influenced by funny instances in our daily life. It is the abnormal and uncommon activities around us that become the source of a cartoon. Therefore, a cartoon is an expression of our real life. A cartoonist captures some instances from our real life and draws the cartoon.
The use of cartoons is increasing in print as well as electronic media. Most daily newspapers include cartoons conveying political events, film news, sports news etc. The television media also uses funny cartoons as introduction, banners and of course, cartoon serials use cartoons too. Most computer games are made up of cartoon images.
Every cartoonist has a unique style of making cartoons. Learning how to draw cartoons is possible if you have an excessive interest in cartoon designing and graphics. There are various workshops, contests, courses and group methods that can be helpful in improving your cartoon drawing skills.
A small piece of 3D shading adds depth to the cartoons and makes them more appealing. To add a 3D shade, imagine the sun somewhere and think where the shadows will fall. Then, add the shadows using a darker shade of color than the color you used on the cartoon. For example, if the horse is light brown, use a darker shade of brown to draw its shadow.
While drawing human characters, proportion is very important. For a child, the height of the body is same as the height of the head, while for an adult, the body is twice the height of the head. For animals also, young ones have proportionately larger heads than the adult ones.
A simple pencil is the most useful tool for a cartoonist. Some cartoonists use graphics tablet as well. A graphics tablet is a tool used to draw an image on a board using a stylus, but the picture can be seen on the monitor, and not on the board. It is more accurate than a computer mouse.
Before discussing about how to draw cartoons , we must know what a cartoon is. A cartoon is a piece of drawing intending humor or even satire. A cartoon is universal, and not bound to any language or culture. It can be understood by everyone and usually conveys a message to the spectator. Before learning how to draw cartoons , first of all we must determine the character of the cartoon, whether it is a person, or an animal or a mixture of both.