Drawing simplified people?

[JackCowley1985]

Hello there! I am new to these forums so apologies if this is in the wrong one!

I am looking for learning resources on how to draw people in a simplified style? Examples such as Disney, anime etc? I'm really into cartoons and not so much the realistic style of artwork. Just resources on proportions in a cartoon style would be great!

Many thanks!

[Servant777]

Big Book of Cartooning by Bruce Blitz
The Illusion of Life by some of the Nine old Men from Disney

And it doesn't hurt to learn the basics of realism; you develop a sense of mass, form, and proportions with your characters. The best cartoonists and animators can hold their merits to Raphael and Dore. I recall an interview that Glen Keane, from Disney, studied Michelangelo's sculptures when developing the transformation sequence at the end of Beauty and the Beast.

Many welcomes!

[dpaint]

The Preston Blair books can help with this too. You can probably find them for free if you search.

[JeffX99]

"Fun With A Pencil" by Loomis.
Heinrich Kley would be good.
Moebius is brilliant for simplified people that retain a great deal of character and personality.
There's tons...you kind of have to be interested enough to find them on your own.

[[email protected]]

Ask some simplified people to pose for you?

[JFierce]

Villpu's fun. If I remember correctly he taught Disney animators not sure though. Saw a lecture of his online ages ago that was interesting dealing with anatomy for the torso. Didn't get to finish it though.... ...... .... makes me want to finish it....... Wonder what series the clip was a part of.... Eh. I digress..... ... Villpu is fun to learn drawing in general.

[Alice Herring]

Big Book of Cartooning by Bruce Blitz
The Illusion of Life by some of the Nine old Men from Disney

And it doesn't hurt to learn the basics of realism; you develop a sense of mass, form, and proportions with your characters. The best cartoonists and animators can hold their merits to Raphael and Dore. I recall an interview that Glen Keane, from Disney, studied Michelangelo's sculptures when developing the transformation sequence at the end of Beauty and the Beast.

Many welcomes!

I wouldn't recommend the Illusion of Life as a how-to draw or animate book. Great on talking about the concepts and how they developed, and often inspirational - but a little light on the technical aspects.

I'm going to second dpaint's suggestion of Preston Blair, and add Tom Bancroft's books on character design and character mentor. Nancy Beiman's Animated Performance is a gook book too, and I'm going to recommend it - since it's good to develop the process of understanding acting and how to pose characters in addition to the technical aspect of drawing simplified characters. Rad Sechrist goes over some simplified ways of drawing on his blog, which is pretty easy to search for.

There are also a ton of cartoon model sheets floating around the internet. Find some and start drawing! (And of course, life-drawing is always important too.)

[JackCowley1985]

Brilliant thank you so much for all your help! I'm trying to figure out stylistically what the best way is to go about creating characters and their faces. I've seen Disney and Anime but am wondering if its best to do something my own way or work on a template already?

[blogmatix]

I wonder of one can really get away with skipping the basics of realism. Cartoon figures may be simple, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are any easier to pull off than realistic ones.

[JeffX99]

Just do it...let your style evolve naturally. Drawing is many, many things...not either or.

[JFierce]

I keep hearing style and not wanting to draw realistic. I'm surprised someone hasn't said it because usually someone does. Especially when anime is brought up.

Don't use cartoons or stylization as an excuse to be lazy. Most people say they want to draw cartoons or anime because they think it's easier. But the problem is all drawing takes foundations. You need to learn to draw before you do anything. Your still going to need to do some life drawing, get down basic geometric forms and such. Drawing whatever is in front of you. Learning to draw things in space, giving form, observing the world around you before you think about stylizing it.


Not accusing that you are being lazy since you haven't shown any drawings, just simply pointing out to not do that since I keep hearing the magic words of stylizing and anime, disney etc. When any disney artist, and even an anime or manga artist is traditionally trained. Main thing to do is to draw though and do some stuff from life even if you don't like it. Still need to learn to draw to draw cartoons.

[QueenGwenevere]

Jack Hamm's "Cartooning the Head and Figure" is fun, and has basic tips on proportion, form, how to exaggerate to show action and emotion, etc.