How to Make Your Own Superhero Cartoon

You can create your own comic book superheroes in drawings.

Comic book superheroes are our modern-day mythology: larger-than-life figures who grapple with epic conflicts in which the fate of the world lies in the balance. We tell such stories to remind ourselves what we're capable of: that in our own way, we too can be great. On another level, superheroes are just lots of fun, and while everyone loves stories about Batman and Spider-Man, you can also create your own superheroes and illustrate them as cartoons.

Things You'll Need

• pen
• pencil
• paper
• coloring supplies (pens, paint or crayons)
• drawing software (optional)

Instructions

1. Create a superhero for your cartoon. Start by drawing up a list of his powers and weaknesses. They can be anything you like, though they should be unified around a common theme. Scattershot powers are like scattershot personality details: they make the character feel jumbled and random rather than cohesive. In addition, you should avoid making your hero omnipotent or all-powerful. Some weaknesses and personality flaws will facilitate better storytelling. Then develop the hero's background: who he is, how he got his powers, why he uses them to fight crime, and what kind of difficulties his efforts cause in his life. Come up with a cool name for him -- something that reflects his powers if possible -- and design a costume which suits his persona. You can draw your own costume or use software such as Hero Machine to create one online.

2. Develop your hero's supporting cast : the people who surround him and participate in his adventures. In some cases, they will be "civilians," who don't have any superpowers. These are usually family members, friends, or "ordinary" allies like policemen. In other cases, they may be fellow heroes or super-powered partners. In each case, you should develop their backgrounds and personalities similar to the way you developed your hero's.

3. Write down a few paragraphs for each character, covering their background, powers and personality. Include any images you have of your characters. You can use the writing as references when you assemble your cartoons.

4. Draw up an image of your hero engaged in a specific activity: thwarting a back robbery, fighting one of your villains, rescuing his girlfriend, or the like. If you like, you can design it along the lines of a comic book cover, with a title featuring the hero's name splayed above the action. Typically, you begin each cartoon by sketching it in pencil, add word balloons to contain the dialogue and/or sound effects, ink in the lines once you're happy with the drawing, and color in the white space to complete the image. You can do this with pen and paper, or use software such as Adobe Photoshop to do the whole thing on computer.

5. Add new cartoons of your superhero as often as you wish. You may even want to string the cartoons together into a complete series and make a complete comic book out of them.

Tips & Warnings

• When creating your own superhero, try to be as original as possible. You may like the idea of a tough-talking Canadian with unbreakable claws and super-fast healing, but it's been done.

References

• Marvel Comics: Create Your Own Superhero
• How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way; by Stan Lee and John Buscema; 1978

Resources

• Hero Machine