Humongous Book of Cartooning Read online

  I’m Madder than Heck!

  I Don’t Have All Day.

  I’m Overjoyed!

  Don’t Trust Me!

  OMG!!!

  I’m Bored by This TV Show.

  I Never Heard Anything So Funny!

  Now You Listen to Me!

  I Didn’t Do It!

  Whoopee!

  Aren’t I the Greatest?!

  He Went Thataway!

  TURNING A WALK INTO A RUN

  There are many ways you can do a “cartoon walk.” The three I talk about here are among the most popular. Each “cartoon run” is derived from the cartoon walk of the same name. All you need to do is to tweak the cartoon walk with a few flourishes, and you can turn it into an equally silly run.

  THE “BICYCLE WALK”

  Both feet are in constant motion, off the ground, with the feet angled up, as if peddling. Place the hands down by the sides, or in the pockets. (Does a dog have pockets? Cartoon dogs do!)

  THE “BICYCLE RUN”

  Based on the bicycle walk, the “bicycle run” spreads the legs farther apart, and the body is higher off the ground than in the bicycle walk. The arms are held steady at chest level. Note the trailing speed lines following the far foot. It’s a particularly funny cartoon-style run.

  THE “HURDLE WALK”

  Like a runner leaping over a hurdle, this walker has one straight leg out in front, with the other leg bent behind. The heel on the contact foot should be pointed down. It’s an enthusiastic gait.

  THE “HURDLE RUN”

  For this gait, lean your character way forward into the run. The arms should be down at the sides, so they don’t compete with the dramatic leg action. Trail the ears to show speed.

  THE EXTENDED LEG WALK

  This is the silliest walk, with two stiff legs and no bend in the knees whatsoever! Note the rounded tummy protruding.

  THE EXTENDED LEG RUN

  Really get those arms pumpin’ for this pose. And arch the back for a very determined run. The legs are in the widest possible position in this ridiculous style of run.

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  Designing Basic Layouts

  Say you want to show more than one cartoon character in a scene. How do you lay them out so they grab the viewer’s eye? Or maybe you’d like to include some cartoony backgrounds. You might have some gnawing questions about basic perspective that you hope can be answered without complicated diagrams. Well, dear friends, this chapter should do the trick!

  The term layout means composition. A good layout does three things:

  It directs the viewer’s eye where you want it to go.

  It gives the drawing a sense of rhythm.

  It establishes the scene.

  PUTTING TWO CHARACTERS IN A SCENE

  Give a beginning cartoonist the assignment of drawing a scene with two characters talking to each other, and you’ll most likely get back a picture of two heads facing one another. Well, okay, that works … but it’s sort of … plain. There’s not much, visually speaking, to write home about. So let’s look at some alternatives. Part of the lesson here is that you should always take a moment to pause and consider your layout options before you begin to draw.

  Turn One Character Toward the Reader

  As I say, showing the two characters in profile is a dependable enough layout, but it’s nothing fresh. Also, the characters look uncomfortably close—but if you separate them too much, the scene loses energy. What can be done about it? Well, by turning one character to face the reader, you open up the scene. Now it feels like there’s more room between them, even though the distance between them hasn’t changed.

  Try a “Reverse Angle”

  This angle, shot from behind one character’s head as he looks at another character (shown in three-quarters view), is called a “reverse angle.” It allows you to squeeze the characters closer together on the page without getting uncomfortable. Why all this emphasis on placing characters close together? Because spacing them farther apart will lessen the energy of the scene.

  Have Both Characters Face the Reader

  These two characters are talking, but they’re both looking in the same direction, facing the reader. Be sure to overlap them, with one standing in front of the other. This allows you to favor the speaking character by situating him nearer the reader. It also builds a nice visual rhythm.

  Have One Character Call Out to the Other

  Of course, you’ll need to widen the space between the characters when one is calling to another. Make sure that the speaking character’s mouth is opened wide, to let the viewer know that he is shouting.

  Make One Character Bigger than the Other

  You can overlap characters, making the bigger one tower over his poor victim, to humorous effect.

  DRAWING OBJECTS IN PERSPECTIVE

  Everything we see, we see in perspective. Perspective will make objects in your drawings look more solid and three-dimensional, as if they exist in space. When you, as a cartoonist, use perspective, sometimes you’ll do it subtly—and sometimes you’ll greatly exaggerate it. It all depends on the effect you’re looking for.

  There are three types of perspective we need to know about to draw cartoon objects and props from various angles: one-point perspective, two-point perspective, and three-point perspective. Let’s look at each kind.

  One-Point Perspective

  One-point perspective is the most basic. In one-point perspective, you are looking straight at the object. (Often, cartoonists like to draw from a vantage slightly above the object.) From this vantage, the object looks as if it is receding toward a single point in the background. That’s why it’s called “one-point” perspective.

  Give it a try with this simple cartoon cabinet. Here, instead of sketch guidelines like the ones we use when drawing faces and bodies, we use lines called vanishing lines.

  Vanishing lines are guidelines that represent the way our eyes see through space in perspective. Our vision travels along these vanishing lines, making the object appear to diminish in size the farther back it goes.

  First, we need to pick a spot where the two vanishing lines meet. That spot, which is called the vanishing point, is placed on the horizon. So how do I know where to place the horizon? I don’t! I just put it anywhere I want to—wherever I think the horizon would appear if I could look through the wall and see the horizon in the distance. Notice how the tabletop diminishes along vanishing lines to the vanishing point, which resides on the horizon line. Whew! Say that last sentence five times fast!

  Two-Point Perspective

  You see an object in two-point perspective when it’s at eye level but you’re looking at it from an angle that’s off to the side. There’s still a horizon line, but now there are two vanishing points, and four vanishing lines leading to them: two that recede toward the vanishing point on the left and two that go toward the vanishing point on the right.

  Three-Point Perspective

  Three-point perspective makes this little cabinet appear huge. Here, the vanishing points are to the right and left of the object but also at a spot far above it.

  In three-point perspective, you’re viewing an object from two angles at the same time—for instance, looking at one of the object’s corners from a position above or below the object. This kind of perspective can make an object look awesome!

  Kooky Perspective

  For a cartoonist, it’s sometimes better—yes, better—to draw incorrectly on purpose. Look at these drawings. True perspective requires the floorboards to look as they do in the drawing below. But by tossing in a few slats that slant in the wrong directions, we get a kooky-cartoony look that immediately reads as funny.

  DRAWING A ROOM—MADE SIMPLE!

  The interior of a room is basically a box with four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. But how should you set it up? How many walls should you show? Should you show the floor? What about the ceiling?

  Here is a sampling of classic layouts for staging interior scenes for your cartoon c
reations. Some examples show depth, while others are purposely flat. Choose the ones you prefer, and give those a practice try. Always keep the décor simple, so as not to compete with your cartoon characters.

  FLOATING WINDOW

  This look is very flat, graphic, and modern.

  CORNER SHOT

  Looking down into the corner makes the pup (or any object) look small.

  SIMPLE HORIZON LINE

  Keep it low across the bottom third or quarter of the panel.

  LOOKING INTO THE HALLWAY

  This option opens up the house or apartment.

  TWO WALLS AND A FLOOR

  This setup requires furniture, so the place looks lived-in.

  TWO WALLS AND A CEILING

  To make this angle work, you need to cut the character at mid chest level.

  DRAWING EXTERIOR LAYOUTS

  Remember that backgrounds are just that—backgrounds. They are meant to recede. So keep them simple. Lots of detail tends to bring them to the fore, making them compete with the characters in the foreground. If there are no characters in the scene, a too-complicated background will make the image lose its cartoony feel.

  BIG SKY

  The low horizon line gives this panel its feeling of boundless space.

  FRAMED SHOT

  In this panel, one object (the boat) is framed between two bookending objects (the heads).

  THE COUNTRY

  The high horizon line topped with a thick row of trees gives the feeling of dense woods.

  ENDLESS ROAD

  The road zigzags to infinity—or at least to the horizon line!

  MOUNTAINS

  Draw many peaks, shading each of them on the same side.

  ROOFTOP VIEW

  Peering over the roof to the vista is a good way of establishing a scene or environment.

  VALLEY/FARM

  The rolling terrain is emphasized by the rows of crops going in different directions.

  FOREGROUND OBJECT(S)

  Looking through foreground objects to the subject in the background is a good way of establishing depth.

  GROUPING OBJECTS

  When you group objects in a panel, you establish a visual rhythm. Are they spread out evenly, or are they grouped in clusters? Usually, the visual rhythm is more interesting if the objects are clustered—and the more unexpected the cluster, the more interesting the rhythm. If you just spread things out evenly across the background, the result will probably be boring. Here are some examples showing the difference.

  DRAWING CARTOON BUILDINGS

  The kind of domicile your character lives in says a lot about who he or she is. Is the home upscale? Downscale? In the city? In the ’burbs? When drawing cartoon dwellings, go to extremes. If your character is rich, make the home a mansion. If he or she is middle class, make it a super-basic suburban house. If the character lives in the city, consider an apartment in a tenement rowhouse.

  Be sparing in your use of detail—just enough to produce a humorous effect. For example, you might want to add shutters to the windows, but there’s no need to draw details such as plants lining the windowsill. That wouldn’t add to the quick, overall impression you want to create. We cartoonists are all about the big picture.

  Middle-Class Family Home

  Here’s a little patch of heaven, in an unending sea of identical suburban houses. It’s important to show that the houses are practically within arm’s reach of each other. The garage is featured prominently—in fact, it takes up as much room as the house itself. There’s a little awning out back for summer barbecuing. And it’s also got a swatch of lawn and a white picket fence. Who could ask for more?

  The Manor House

  You can tell this is a Tudor-style estate because of the twin towers and the decorative wooden planks on the facade. Only rich people’s houses have more than one front door, and this one has three. I’ve added massive chimneys and dormers to the rooftops, just in case you missed the point that this place is expensive. Rule of thumb: If it looks like you’d need more than one maid to clean the joint, the character is rich. (An impressive driveway is also a must-have.)

  Tenement Apartment

  The city is crowded, with many buildings jammed together. Overlap them as they go off into the distance. Each window represents a different person’s apartment and an entirely different life story. If you cut in close enough to one of the windows, you can draw the character or characters inside one of those windows. Tenement-type buildings typically feature moldings, brick walls, rooftop water towers, piping, and fire escapes.

  Skyscrapers

  The metropolitan skyline is punctuated with concrete rectangles, each dotted with little windows representing different floors. But put away that ruler! It’ll suck the life out of the drawing. Instead, draw your buildings freehand, and curvy. Note that the outline of the buildings is thick but the interior lines are thin. This gives the image a flat look, which is great for a graphic-style background. If you’re going to shade the buildings, make sure to shade all of them on the same side, as the light source (moon or sun) will hit them from the same direction.

  8

  Special Characters: Robots

  Funny cartoon robots have been popular ever since the Rosie the Robot Maid character made her debut on The Jetsons animated TV show way back in 1962. And they have only grown more popular since then, especially in the wake of recent box-office smash hits like Robots and WALL*E.

  Creating characters based solely on the imagination, as robots are, is challenging. When you’re drawing cartoon animals, you at least know what the real thing is supposed to look like and can therefore use it as a guide. The thing to remember is that you’re drawing cartoons first, robots second. Don’t get so caught up in the gadgetry that you forget to create a basic overall construction for the head and figure. Everything should be drawn freehand, which gives the pencil line a look of vitality and infuses personality into robot cartoon characters.

  Keep it simple, using only a few techno-gadget decorations or other doodads—just enough to make the character look like a robot. Anything extra will detract from a pleasing simplicity of design, which is what you want. This is cartooning, not intricate science-fiction illustration.

  Cute Robot

  To make a human or animal character cute, you put a big head on a small body—and the same technique works for robots. This robot’s clamp-like hands are reminiscent of mittens, which makes them cute and harmless looking, too.

  Get the Details Right

  Add a shine to the wheel.

  And add a shine to the helmet, too. Always draw the shine on the top, where overhead light would naturally hit it.

  Letting the sleeve fall over the clamps makes the character look younger—just like an oversized shirt on a little kid.

  Robot Brute

  This massive guy means trouble. Robots brutes can crush and destroy. But how do we draw him so that he looks powerful? It’s all in his proportions. They’re classic. It doesn’t matter whether you’re drawing a human or a robot: A small head, a barrel chest, and a small lower body equal power!

  We know this robot’s a battler, because he’s wrapped in armor. Notice those humongous shoulder spikes. His claw-hands look quite sharp—ouch! And note how the head is screwed down right on top of the shoulders, with no neck at all—a very bulky, strong look.

  Tip

  When shading the metal, use the side of the pencil, not the point.

  Human-Type Robot

  For the torso of this humorous robot, I’ve used a triangle for the ribcage, another triangle for the pelvis, joining them with metal tubing that functions like a spinal column. Notice the economy of the gadgets: Just a few repeated buttons and a couple of antenna are all that’s needed. More would be overkill. Note, too, that his arms and legs are not perfectly straight but slightly curved. I drew them this way on purpose to avoid a ruler-straight, static look.

  The reason I haven’t included a construction step for this robot is that
he’s little more than a construction step. Look at him—he’s practically a how-to-draw stick figure!