How to Draw the Face of Cartoon Characters

Drawing the face is the first step in drawing cartoons, whether you're drawing people or animals. A cartoon face is easy to draw if you know what the elements are and plan ahead. When drawing faces for your cartoons, think ahead about the facial expression you want to achieve as well as other details and accessories on the head such as hair, ears, hats and glasses.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Draw a large, wide "U"-shape for the basic cartoon face. You can add all of your facial features inside this "U" and then cap it off with hair.

2. Add ears to the "U" when you draw it by simply making 2 lumps in the sides of the "U"-shape. Place the ears low to achieve a silly look with drooping ears, and experiment with the size of the ears.

3. Think ahead to decide if you want the character's hair to be in his face. If you want the cartoon to be peeking out from behind bushy hair, draw the hair first and work the other features around the hair.

4. Add any hats or hair accessories while you are drawing the hair. Hats should be placed overlapping the hair, not on top of it, to give the cartoon realistic spatial interaction.

5. Add any glasses to the face while you are drawing the eyes. Glasses will likely overlap the eyes or take the place of the eyes if you simply add the irises and pupils inside the glasses.

6. Experiment with the shape of the head and face and the placement of facial features. You can make the character look geeky by making his head widen towards the top, for example, or give the cartoon a large chin by orienting all of the facial features towards the top part of the head.

[Colonna]

on 8/12/2008 I would have liked to have seen some photo examples of the steps described above.
Mike Colonna @ [e-mail]