Begin Drawing Cartoons Of Children

One advantage of drawing cartoon style pictures of children at work and play is that, once you have learned how, they are impressively quick to complete. The essence of a child can be extracted and expressed in a relatively small number of drawn lines compared to a full portrait.

Even if you are new to drawing cartoons it is easy to start. And it is easy to develop your skill if you do it steadily and in gentle stages. In that case each piece of your new skill builds on the one before. A good guide, coupled to a few simple, but good quality tools, is all you need to get under way.

Some people tell me that they find it difficult to set aside a chunk of time for a cartooning session. It often turns out that they are seeking to be too ambitious at first. If you are looking to find a couple of hours at a time then it is likely tha you will find that difficult, at least initially.

The secret is to look for smaller opportunities, no more than half an hour, but even shorter periods will do so long s they are frequent. After all, with only pencil and paper there is little set up and clearing up time lost.

Choose your time and fit it into your regular daily routine. For example, get up fifteen minutes earlier and start your day with a short drawing session, daily or at least three times a week. You will be surprised how much more observant you will be throughout the day once you have your 'eye' in.

Small, but regular, amounts of "Purposeful Practice" reap great rewards. Your perception, your choice of drawing tools and materials and your hand - eye coordination will develop in leaps and bounds as you follow your chosen course.

Time spent in the early stages getting the feeling for your tools and building up the basic skills of drawing lines, developing smooth curves, and managing emphasis will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life.

As your drawing style develops you will be more confident knowing your skill has firm foundations. As you work on these early stages look out for cartoons of children drawn by others. Begin to build a collection of examples. Children's comics and magazines, newspaper cartoon strips, second hand bookshops all can provide materials for your archive. Soon you will understand how they are built and can begin to copy them and use those attempts to reinforce your learning routines.

Finally, remember as you are learing and practising, quality and consistency in your drawing is more important than speed. It is difficult to replace bad techniques with good ones than to take the trouble to master the basics. That way you will develop and easy relationship with your materials that will come through as you share your finished results with others.