To recognize the value of humor in our lives and to highlight the art of cartooning (America's most popular art form), the National Cartoonist Society has designated May 5 Cartoonists Day. So pick up your pencils and get out your paper, we're gonna learn how to draw cartoons!
Built as a demonstration of the nFX graphics engine, Cartoon-a-Matic can be played online or downloaded and played offline on any Windows computer. Starting with an existing cartoon face, your mission is to change the characteristics of the features. Want the eyes further apart? How about making the ears bigger? You can even work with the character's facial expression, changing it from mad to sad or from a frown to a smile. When you've perfected your masterpiece, add a caption and hang it in the online gallery. Attention budding cartoonists: nFX is looking for additional cartoon faces to add to the Cartoon-a-Matic. Click on Send Us Your Face for more details.
"Uncle Fred" Laswell has been drawing the syndicated comic strip Barney Google and Snuffy Smith for fifty years. At his popular Web site, he teaches us how to draw "cartoonys" — simple cartoon characters that can be drawn in about twelve steps. Choose to learn how to draw a bunny rabbit, a chef, or a happy puppy from the list of twelve lessons. Or simply start at the first lesson (a surfer) and continue through to the end (a penguin.)
Each month, children's book author and illustrator Gary Harbo presents a new character for us to draw. Presented in ten not-exactly-easy steps, they can be followed on screen, or printed out for later use. In addition to the lessons, Gary offers an assortment of his online illustrations free to schools. Anyone responsible for a school Web site should take a look at these fun graphics, each available in two sizes.
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Cartoon FactoryGilchrist Studio Online: Drawing Lessons | Learn to Cartoon with Kat |
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