Cartooning Tips

"I can't draw," you say? Well, that may be an advantage. Out of proportion drawings -- or exaggeration -- is what cartooning is all about.

Have fun, and create cartoons to please yourself. Your cartooning style should be you , unique - like your handwriting.

Keep your cartoon drawings simple; the fewer lines, the better.

Brainstorm ideas, and jot down funny ideas and situations from daily life - when you see or experience them. How do you imagine the face of that cranky voice you hear over the phone? Exaggerate the overdressed, blow-dried person you see, walking as if on display. Make a cartoon of your pet: happy, lazy or silly; what is the furry little creature saying to you?

Use cartooning to share your sense of humor; perhaps to vent anger; as a way to turn your imagination loose (See a vegetable, kitchen timer, and saltshaker transformed).

If the cartooning bug bites you seriously, here's some first aid:

• It's okay to copy other cartoonists - in order to improve. Almost all artists do it when starting out. Practice, practice, and practice some more.

• Stay loose. Draw roughs first with blue pencil or light pencil; finish with a black felt pen. Then photocopy your humorous masterpiece; the blue lines should disappear on the copy. The seemingly effortless cartoons you chuckle and marvel at in The New Yorker were probably redrawn and refined many times.

• To avoid an aimless rut (drawing the same face or character over and over again) write down some goals for yourself. For instance: expressions; males; females; trees; houses; color accents; funny idea list; etc. Try drawing with your opposite hand. Maintain a happy balance between spontaneous doodling and discipline.

• For an effective gag cartoon, the idea is most important - not the elegance of the drawing (see Callahan's cartoons in Willamette Week and elsewhere).

• Try various papers and pens/pencils, even crayons. Draw very large and teeny, weeny. Or use a photocopier to enlarge and reduce your work. Fill in the copies with color, or with patterns (solids, checkered, stripes, polka-dots, and crosshatched).

• Borrow cartooning books from your local library. One of the most entertaining, thorough, and easy-to-follow how-to books I've read is Syd Hoff's The Art of Cartooning (may be out of print). Another excellent book is Cartooning, The Art and the Business, by Mort Gerberg, filled with practical advice from tools to drawing to getting published, with cartoon samples from many cartoon artists. In a word, it's thorough.

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  Cartoon Tool Tips NEW (12/1/99)

  Cartooning may be the most inexpensive way to have fun. You can use a 19¢ ballpoint pen on a napkin or 2 ply toilet tissue. Seriously, both surfaces have a nice soft texture, which gives a thicker line than does a hard surface. While expensive pens and papers may intimidate you (you don't want to waste money with a mistake), cheap materials may make you feel relaxed and more confident.

  You don't have to get fancy with pencils, either. A plain old #2 soft lead pencil on cheap printer paper works fine; here's a rough idea sketch using those tools -- which eventually became this finished cartoon.

  For finished cartoons I use better materials, including a selection of ballpoint or roller pens. Traditionally, very black ink (Higgins) is applied with quill pens and fine pointed brushes on a slick smooth surface like bristol board. Opaque white is used to paint over minor mistakes. The result is good reproduction in newspapers, magazines and computer screens.

  If you are comfortable using computers and graphics applications (Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, Canvas, Corel Draw and Corel Paint, etc.), you can simply go ape making cartoons. Scan your hand made cartoons or use a stylus or mouse to draw inside the application. Add color, distort, add lettering, and make animations. But watch out for spending too much time on learning the latest whiz bang computer techniques -- while spending less and less time on creative and original ideas, which you can generate with paper, pen and imagination.

  For detailed information on tools, see Gerberg's book, above, and visit an art store. Remember, the tools that work well for me may not agree with you. Experiment a bit and respect your own preferences.

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  Art by Simantel

  All art work and text Copyright © 1999-2000, Harlan Simantel