Toon Me
December 10, 2023 2:28 PM Subscribe
I'd like to get better at cartoony drawing -- action, movement, but not necessarily realistic -- and would like to learn how to, but not just watch someone else do it.
So, I'm looking for something that's more serious training -- videos called "how to draw a cartoon", where someone says "here's how you draw a cartoon", then you watch them draw a cartoon...doesn't teach me how to draw a cartoon. I need something more substantial, with assignments for me to do to execute what I'm learning, something structured.
This could be books, or videos, or online training like LinkedIn Learning or elsewhere. First hand knowledge preferred vs just googling for me.
I'm looking at this as a way towards improving storyboarding skills, so drawing things doing things, not still-life, is the goal.
My current drawing skills are pretty good, not super (hence wanting to learn), and this will give me focus in a practical direction vs sketching things when I'm in the mood. The resources don't have to be free; they can cost money if they're useful.
Last note: I'm not looking for animation, more comic strip. Thanks!
So, I'm looking for something that's more serious training -- videos called "how to draw a cartoon", where someone says "here's how you draw a cartoon", then you watch them draw a cartoon...doesn't teach me how to draw a cartoon. I need something more substantial, with assignments for me to do to execute what I'm learning, something structured.
This could be books, or videos, or online training like LinkedIn Learning or elsewhere. First hand knowledge preferred vs just googling for me.
I'm looking at this as a way towards improving storyboarding skills, so drawing things doing things, not still-life, is the goal.
My current drawing skills are pretty good, not super (hence wanting to learn), and this will give me focus in a practical direction vs sketching things when I'm in the mood. The resources don't have to be free; they can cost money if they're useful.
Last note: I'm not looking for animation, more comic strip. Thanks!
Best answer: Here's a book on stylizing your drawings, called How to Draw Adorable.
posted by ananci at 2:59 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by ananci at 2:59 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Check out the Center for Cartoon Studies.
posted by shadygrove at 8:03 PM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by shadygrove at 8:03 PM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Here’s a link for the book ananci mentioned: How To Draw Adorable
I treated myself to this book this year and it’s absolutely terrific, and the advice for facial expressions etc is helpful for all styles, not just super adorable ones.
posted by mochapickle at 8:10 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I treated myself to this book this year and it’s absolutely terrific, and the advice for facial expressions etc is helpful for all styles, not just super adorable ones.
posted by mochapickle at 8:10 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Loomis - Fun With a Pencil is classic.
posted by enfa at 9:37 PM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by enfa at 9:37 PM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: There are a ton of books on this and this might be the perfect use case for actually going into a bookstore and flipping through some. If you came into my store I could show you at least a dozen in different styles and you could look through the exercises and see if they made sense to you. (I know for me, some styles of art instruction click better than others.)
Manga specifically is the most popular but there are Western cartooning, storyboarding, and a whole bunch of more specific books (character design, faces, action poses, etc) that drill down into the specifics.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:08 AM on December 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Manga specifically is the most popular but there are Western cartooning, storyboarding, and a whole bunch of more specific books (character design, faces, action poses, etc) that drill down into the specifics.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:08 AM on December 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Ed Emberly writes and illustrates books on how tio draw all sorts of stuff in a cartoon-y style; a friend loved them.
posted by theora55 at 2:53 PM on December 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 2:53 PM on December 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Etherington Brothers post short tutorials about drawing a broad range of subjects in an energetic, cartoony way. Pay attention to their Kickstarter account if you’re interested in printed volumes.
posted by Eikonaut at 9:16 AM on December 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Eikonaut at 9:16 AM on December 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is excellent, and may interest you. His later book Making Comics might be even more appropriate for what you're after, though I haven't read it myself.
posted by Kabanos at 2:06 PM on December 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Kabanos at 2:06 PM on December 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Update: I bought a copy of "How to Draw Adorable", which definitely meets my "homework" requirement -- it starts out very basic -- "here's how you draw a circle, here's how to draw straight lines NOW YOU PRACTICE HERE'S BLANK SPACE".
I also found, not through here but browsing similar books in a physical bookstore, How To Draw People by Jeff Mellem, which also is very show-how-then-here's-your-assignment in structure; it starts out a little advanced, it expects you to know how to draw shapes and stuff, which I'm well beyond anyway, and it will eventually go way more advanced than I like (musculature, etc,), but I'm only a dozen pages into it and feel like I've learned a lot of how to see somebody in some pose and translate that into pencil on the page.
BONUS: Completely separate but art-related and I love it: There's a kind of automatic pencil called a kuru toga, made by Uniball, which is 'self sharpening' in that it rotates the pencil lead while you write so that you're always writing with the point, and not the flat side you get from writing with the same edge of the lead. They're like $5 - $10 on Amazon and after buying the first on a whim I bought two more, in different thicknesses and one for blue lead for sketching out shapes. I'd never heard of this before but after starting out learning drafting with pencils and triangles and t-squares I have always rotated my pencil in my fingers for line consistency when writing or drawing. This does it for me!
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:51 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]
I also found, not through here but browsing similar books in a physical bookstore, How To Draw People by Jeff Mellem, which also is very show-how-then-here's-your-assignment in structure; it starts out a little advanced, it expects you to know how to draw shapes and stuff, which I'm well beyond anyway, and it will eventually go way more advanced than I like (musculature, etc,), but I'm only a dozen pages into it and feel like I've learned a lot of how to see somebody in some pose and translate that into pencil on the page.
BONUS: Completely separate but art-related and I love it: There's a kind of automatic pencil called a kuru toga, made by Uniball, which is 'self sharpening' in that it rotates the pencil lead while you write so that you're always writing with the point, and not the flat side you get from writing with the same edge of the lead. They're like $5 - $10 on Amazon and after buying the first on a whim I bought two more, in different thicknesses and one for blue lead for sketching out shapes. I'd never heard of this before but after starting out learning drafting with pencils and triangles and t-squares I have always rotated my pencil in my fingers for line consistency when writing or drawing. This does it for me!
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:51 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]
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posted by Lluvia at 2:55 PM on December 10, 2023 [4 favorites]