MORE DRAWING TUTORIALS:

How to draw a rose
How to draw a dragon
How to draw a horse
NEW: How to draw a wolf
NEW: How to draw a betta fish
How to draw animals from pears
How to draw an owl
How to draw a cat
How to draw animals from alphabets
How to draw a frog
How to draw a parrot
How to draw a bird
How to draw a butterfly
How to draw a sheep
How to draw a pig
How to draw a swan
How to draw a penguin
How to draw a peacock
How to draw a lion
How to draw a rabbit
How to draw a cow
How to draw a dachshund
How to draw a seahorse
How to draw a tiger
How to draw a kitten
How to draw a monkey
How to draw a unicorn
How to draw a phoenix

How to draw a deer
How to draw a squirrel
How to draw a crocodile
How to draw a dinosaur
How to draw a whale
How to draw a duck
How to draw a giraffe
How to draw a snail
How to draw a koala
How to draw an angelfish
How to draw an elephant
How to draw a griffin
How to draw a walrus
How to draw a cocker spaniel
How to draw a poodle
How to draw a donkey
How to draw a chicken
How to draw a rooster
How to draw a porcupine
How to draw a kangaroo
How to draw a bear
How to draw a mouse
How to draw an octopus
How to draw a turkey
How to draw a goat
How to draw a camel
How to draw a hippo
How to draw a possum
How to draw a rhino
How to draw a centaur

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How to Draw Cartoons > Cartoon Children

There's a reason Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most popular cartoon series of all time. It's because children are terrific models for the cartoonist. Their openess and emotional honesty make them a limitless field for exaggeration. You can draw their body as big as a bird, a head like a ball, and eyes like saucers, yet in a cartoonish way the child still looks real. You can also shorten little dresses, or make pants sized to fit a mosquito... and still your cartoon is convincing.

And it is not just appearance, but also behavior that can get accentuated. Your cartoon kids can be brats or sweet, docile little angels. So long as you keep with the spirit of childhood (and especially if you can remember how you felt as a child), your cartoons of children can go places and do things that cartoons of adults never could.

Children's heads grow proportionately smaller as children grow older. Tiny babies are usually about three heads high, in cartoon drawings - four heads in reality. In a very little child, eyes are placed below the imaginary center horizontal of the head. By the time a child is about the age of twelve, the eyes have reached the center line; as in the adult head. The younger the child, the more abbreviated the neck should be. In cartoons, babies usually have no necks at all.

Toys and pets make children's cartoons more interesting. Adults shown in the picture sharpen the contrast and show up children as ridiculously small. Study children wherever you see them. They are moving all the time. The poses they naturally take are important to the making of good cartoons. Comics show children in the most ridiculous positions. Yet children, limber as they are, actually hold ludicrous and seemingly impossible poses, quite unconsciously. It is important to sketch children when they are not looking. Keep a notebook of changing action in childhood.

Continue to How to show action in cartoons

How to Draw Cartoons

If you're worried about not having enough artistic "talent", try some free cartooning lessons. You'll be drawing and laughing in no time flat.

Coloring Pages

Free printable coloring pages for kids.

Magic Tricks for Kids

50 tricks and that anyone can do. Puzzles and brain-teasers, too.