Modern Cartooning

Excerpt

"First, let’s examine the various theories of cartooning from a contextual standpoint. Oh, what the heck, let’s just start drawing!
You may be wondering if it’s possible to create cartoons with personality by beginning at a basic level. You foolish, foolish mortal. You’re only half right. The faces you’re going to begin with are easy to draw, but they’re also pro-level character designs that are highly entertaining and stuffed with personality. You can achieve these results by using a few simple head shapes and filling them with simplified facial features. But there’s more to it than that: The initial construction of the head shape (in this case, a circle) should remain conspicuous even in the final character design. This technique causes the head shape to appear as an obvious feature of your cartoon character. The basic head construction does not just serve as a guideline for the finished drawing; it becomes a caricature of a “regular” head. "

Excerpted from Modern Cartooning by Christopher Hart. Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Hart. Excerpted by permission of Watson-Guptill, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.