Characterization Part 2
Here is an example of the benefits which can be attained by creating your own original characters.....
Once you get over the hurdle of coming up with good designs and strong-looking central characters (by far the most difficult obstacle to clear, following a Century of tried and tested cartoon creations from the pool of humanity) the good news is you can get away with a lot more once the characters become instantly recognizable and you are comfortable drawing them ( this normally takes a few hundred drawings of each individual character, before you reach this level): although quick sketches alone are usually enough here.....you can knock out scores of these in a single day fairly easily....this is how I went about this:
Anyway just take a look at the endless imagery seen in the media featuring Minnie Mouse, Snoopy and Bart Simpson etc......a lot of this graphic material is personality based, meaning if your characters look good and accomplished enough, you can get away with them just standing around doing nothing in particular......other than acting themselves.
Artists who do not go this route either have to rely on blueprints established by others and are basking in reflected glory rather than breaking brave new ground, or more typically, have to go the 'strong gag idea' route, meaning they have to get a very good witty visual gag down, which is usually supplemented by a gallery of generic-looking characters, created especially for their one-off. current appearence......I often use this approach myself in some of my more quirkier cartoon endeavors.
However, take a look at the following quick rough:
Because I am using my small cast of characters which I am more than comfortable putting together after me turning out many, many drawings, this means I can come up with effective imagery even using a not-especially-brilliant gag idea like this 'coochie coochie coo" approach like I have used here.
Although it is much harder to mint original new characters in the first place, I reckon that in the long run, this approach actually makes the task of creating effective new imagery much easier for the artist eventually...this way ends up with a working approach that proves far easier than having to come up with strong new ideas every single time you want to do a cartoon.....personality based stuff is far easier to get down on paper after your characters are defined-looking enough.
This method is a more long term strategy approach to be sure and as such is probably not reccomended to those who expect to earn doobs NOW.
ROBBO
UPDATE, 5 June 2016;
----a higher-rez scan of the pencil/pen rough drawing, in all it's spontaneous glory:
Once you get over the hurdle of coming up with good designs and strong-looking central characters (by far the most difficult obstacle to clear, following a Century of tried and tested cartoon creations from the pool of humanity) the good news is you can get away with a lot more once the characters become instantly recognizable and you are comfortable drawing them ( this normally takes a few hundred drawings of each individual character, before you reach this level): although quick sketches alone are usually enough here.....you can knock out scores of these in a single day fairly easily....this is how I went about this:
Anyway just take a look at the endless imagery seen in the media featuring Minnie Mouse, Snoopy and Bart Simpson etc......a lot of this graphic material is personality based, meaning if your characters look good and accomplished enough, you can get away with them just standing around doing nothing in particular......other than acting themselves.
Artists who do not go this route either have to rely on blueprints established by others and are basking in reflected glory rather than breaking brave new ground, or more typically, have to go the 'strong gag idea' route, meaning they have to get a very good witty visual gag down, which is usually supplemented by a gallery of generic-looking characters, created especially for their one-off. current appearence......I often use this approach myself in some of my more quirkier cartoon endeavors.
However, take a look at the following quick rough:
Because I am using my small cast of characters which I am more than comfortable putting together after me turning out many, many drawings, this means I can come up with effective imagery even using a not-especially-brilliant gag idea like this 'coochie coochie coo" approach like I have used here.
Although it is much harder to mint original new characters in the first place, I reckon that in the long run, this approach actually makes the task of creating effective new imagery much easier for the artist eventually...this way ends up with a working approach that proves far easier than having to come up with strong new ideas every single time you want to do a cartoon.....personality based stuff is far easier to get down on paper after your characters are defined-looking enough.
This method is a more long term strategy approach to be sure and as such is probably not reccomended to those who expect to earn doobs NOW.
ROBBO
UPDATE, 5 June 2016;
----a higher-rez scan of the pencil/pen rough drawing, in all it's spontaneous glory:
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