How to Draw Cartoon People Easily

Draw a cartoon person.

Drawing cartoon people can be fun and easy if you keep a few guidelines in mind. Simplification is one guideline. Compare a typical cartoon figure to a photo of a real person, and you'll see that only the strongest or most obvious features are represented in the cartoon. While drawing just these obvious features may seem an easy task, it isn't: Our innate knowledge of how a body should appear interferes with a drawing, and novice artists end up feeling frustrated that they can't fully capture the essence of their subjects. When or before this frustration occurs, it's wise to guide your cartoon drawing by referring to written guidelines.

Instructions

1. Draw an oval onto a page of drawing paper. This is the outline of the cartoon head.

2. Near the top, inner part of the head oval, draw two smaller ovals side by side. These represent the eye outlines.

3. Create pupils by adding smaller, filled-in circles to both eye outlines. Notice the effect this action has: Your cartoon person only has a few basic shapes, yet already has a sense of pseudo-life to it.

4. Add eyelids: Draw crescents that partially cover the tops of both eyes. Erase the portion of the pupil that's covered by the eyelid.

5. Add eyebrows by drawing a wavy line over both eye outlines. At this point, you can begin experimenting with different facial expressions: Try erasing and redrawing the pupils so that they're on opposite sides of their respective eye outlines. Or draw one pupil near the top of its outline and the other near its bottom.

6. Make a simple nose: Draw a backwards "L" whose top point lies between the eye outlines, and whose bottom leg is at the center of the face outline.

7. Add a mouth: Draw a filled crescent halfway between the nose bottom and the bottom of the face oval. You can sense greater realism and character in your figure with a mouth added. Experiment with downward-pointing crescents, lopsided triangles or filled ovals (for an "Oh!" surprised expression).

8. Add a single ear: Only one is visible in this oblique view of the person. Draw a small rectangle or an oval whose vertical center is the nose tip, and whose horizontal position is just inside the left or right edge of the face oval.

9. Form the torso as a simple 3D box: Draw three vertical lines whose tops are under the face oval bottom. Make the lines about the same length as the oval head's height. Two of the lines should be spaced fairly close to each other, and close to the left outline of the face oval. These represent the character's side. The other vertical line should be near the right side of the face oval. Draw two horizontal lines connecting all three verticals, to complete the torso.

10. Form upper legs as large ovals with the thickness of the head's width and the length of the torso's length. Repeat this instruction to draw lower legs, except make their widths half the width of the upper legs.

11. Form arms as boxes or ovals connected to the left and right sides of the upper part of the torso. Extend the arms down to mid-thigh.

12. Complete your character by giving it life: Change the position or orientation of one of its parts, starting with the torso. Tilt the box forward or backward slightly, noticing the apparent effect it has on the character's balance. Reposition legs next, to restore balance. Experiment with different poses by erasing and redrawing the oval and box shapes.

References

• How to Draw Guide: How to Draw Cartoon People: