3 Top Cartoon Drawing Tips For Beginners

Cartooning is not about drawing it is about telling stories. Yes, even when you are drawing a single illustration you are telling a story. Cartooning is about expressing your thoughts. And it is your thoughts expressed beautifully through your cartoon characters that make you different from other average cartoon makers.

But as in every other field of life here also you must learn to walk first before you try running. To express your thoughts and ideas through your cartoon characters, you need to master the skill of cartoon drawing first. Then of course you can use your cartoon drawing skills to tell story to your liking.

To be skilled in cartoon drawing you have to face a learning curve. You just can’t decide to be a cartoonist then copy some popular cartoon figures and become an accomplished cartoonist who is rich and famous. If you are lucky and talented with keen sense of observation you may pickup one or two tricks by making copy of popular cartoon figures. But that is too inadequate to be of any use.

There are various ways that you can take to learn cartoon drawing --you can join cartooning school or take a home study course or follow a book of an expert cartoonist -- the bottom line is you have to follow the steps. Like you should first teach yourself drawing 3d shapes, then learn to stretch, squash those 3d shapes in your drawing. Next you need to practice things like drawing hands and head before moving on to motion and emotion and advanced things like that.

If it sounds like lot of work, you are right. But what you achieve at the end is worth working for. If you are smart however you can use the tips you are going to discover here to make the whole learning process fast and painless.

1. ==> Do not start with computers. I agree I run the risk of sounding backdated. But here I am not opposing usage of computer altogether, no sane person can do that. But for beginners there is no alternative to using paper and pencil.

There are various software that help you so much that you can go ahead even without learning how to draw a smooth line. This kind of over dependency on computers from the very beginning always backfires down the road.

2. ==> Nail the fact in your mind that construction of human, animal, cars and most of the things that that we see around us are complex 3d structures though we draw them on paper which is 2D. So when drawing you must mentally analyze your model in terms of 3d shapes like spheres and boxes and not in terms of 2d shapes like circles and rectangles.

Also when you draw something from paper (i.e. 2D), look for and find out the 3d shapes that make up the character.

3. ==> Most of the cartoon drawing or figure drawing tutorials always start with some basic 3d shapes and after a number of steps end up in a complete and beautiful figure. This technique is very effective in learning how we can draw complex figures starting with simple shapes. But what I am going to tell you will make your pace of learning even faster. It is in fact very simple way of using the same tutorial. Just a lot more effective.

What you need to do is start where the tutorial ends and go backward from there. See the completed figure and try to recognize the ingredient basic shapes. And compare your analysis with the exact shapes that are used in the tutorial.

This will give you a very through exercise in recognizing the basic shapes. And after some time you will be analyzing the real life around you like an expert. Just take your time and practice this technique, and see how fast it will improve your skill in cartoon drawing.

Cartoon drawing is pure fun both for professionals who earn their living through cartooning and hobbyists who draw cartoon only for personal pleasure. I do not know what you goal is but hope the tips here will be helpful for you. Never stop learning: there are a whole lot to learn and even more fun to have in the process. Happy journey!

An Introduction To Violins

The history of the violin runs for centuries as an instrument that is used in various musical genres like classical, pop, jazz and country. It is a small, hollow stringed instrument with a long neck and four strings tuned from low to high; with each note having a perfect fifth to the one below it.

The violin is made of different kinds of wood where the top is usually made of spruce while the sides and back are usually of maple. The fingerboard of the violin is usually made of ebony; however, sometimes ivory is also used. Violin strings were originally made of gut but is today made of different materials. Different kinds of violin strings give different tones and sound quality. Some violin strings also stay in tune, and last longer than others. Violin strings are today usually metal, synthetic core or gut strings.

Metal violin strings produce pure, clear and loud tones and are easy to play. Beginners and intermediate players prefer using steel core strings. The synthetic core violin strings are made of the nylon perlon and produce subtler sounds than metal strings and don’t have to be tuned often.

Today, there are also electric violins that send signals via an electrical pickup device. There are also electric violins that work only when plugged in. Electric violins have a solid body design with wiring and batteries found in its body. Being a new invention, electric violin makers today can use their imagination to decide on the shape of the electric violin.

Violins are best bought in violin stores for a better range of violins. There are some violin stores that sell violins from different manufacturers, and some that manufacture their own violins. Some violin stores also rent out violins and sell used violins. As new violins cost between two hundred to twenty thousand dollars, beginners usually rent violins or buy used ones. Whatever the case, make sure that the violin comes with a violin case to provide it protection from any damage.