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Cartooning Class, Part I
Apr. 9th, 2010 11:02 pmRobin and I are taking an Informal Class in cartooning.
The first week, our instructor distinguished between "doodling," which is just going right into drawing the outline of what you're working on, and "construction," which is starting with general shapes and adding detail from there. For example, try drawing a duck. If you start by outlining the beak, then adding the head, then continuing from there, you might be a doodler. If you start by drawing a circle for the body and a circle for the head, you're a constructionist.
According to the instructor, most cartoonists (including him) are constructionists because doodling is too hard.
I've been a doodler but decided I should try constructionist techniques since I can't actually draw and would like to be able to.
The best thing he did was give us some hints on how to draw faces at three different angles. The eyes start much lower than I've been thinking--about halfway down the face. The nose, half way down from there, and the mouth halfway down from there.
Our homework was to draw more faces.
In the past, I have doodled faces and they have come out looking like monsters.
I pulled out some photos and tried a few. I used more construction techniques and went for a more cartoony, simple approach than I've tried before. Most of the faces still looked like monsters, but one came out kind of cute except for the "funny goatee" (which was supposed to be a shadow). And one came out looking kind of like Beau Bridges (though I was trying to draw a baby).
The best part is that I figured out a way I like to draw eyes.
The first week, our instructor distinguished between "doodling," which is just going right into drawing the outline of what you're working on, and "construction," which is starting with general shapes and adding detail from there. For example, try drawing a duck. If you start by outlining the beak, then adding the head, then continuing from there, you might be a doodler. If you start by drawing a circle for the body and a circle for the head, you're a constructionist.
According to the instructor, most cartoonists (including him) are constructionists because doodling is too hard.
I've been a doodler but decided I should try constructionist techniques since I can't actually draw and would like to be able to.
The best thing he did was give us some hints on how to draw faces at three different angles. The eyes start much lower than I've been thinking--about halfway down the face. The nose, half way down from there, and the mouth halfway down from there.
Our homework was to draw more faces.
In the past, I have doodled faces and they have come out looking like monsters.
I pulled out some photos and tried a few. I used more construction techniques and went for a more cartoony, simple approach than I've tried before. Most of the faces still looked like monsters, but one came out kind of cute except for the "funny goatee" (which was supposed to be a shadow). And one came out looking kind of like Beau Bridges (though I was trying to draw a baby).
The best part is that I figured out a way I like to draw eyes.