SKETCHING CARTOONS HELPS DEVELOP YOUR CARTOONING STYLE

Cartoon sketching in sketch books  maintains your drawing style

Cartoon sketching is a great way to keep your illustration and cartooning style “fluid”. Do you find yourself sketching cartoons alot? Do you have a sketchbook handy? Are you looking through old sketches as reference materials to set up a certain kind of cartoon?

I have sketch books and many are actually manila folders with loose leaf sheets of copy papers and scrap paper that I’ve used for sketches of cartoon faces, cartoon expressions, and for rendering a type of action or emotion in a cartoon character’s face.

As most illustrators and cartoonists know, and many will tell you, it’s probably just as important a tool as your pens or brushes. Cartoonist drawing tools vary, don’t they?!

Sketching cartoons is essential to cartooning and cartoonists

Why is sketching so important? For me, I feel as though I remain on the “cutting edge” so to speak, keeping my style in tact. It’s good for you because it acts as a form of exercise and will keep you “healthy” as an artist or cartoonist.

Think of it like working out. If you don’t sketch for a while, your technique or the ability in which you render your lines onto paper will become stale. Don’t let your style go stale! Stay in the game and keep an active sketch book handy that will act as a tool or reference device for what your abilities are and what you can do.

You don’t need to invest in huge spiral bound books that contain costly paper…most any kind of sketchbook will do and you’ll find them at almost any dollar store, and to me, they are well produced…ideal for the struggling ink slinger!

Free hand cartoon sketches from my sketch books accompany this article

I’m putting a few freehand cartoon sketches I’ve done on this page that I’ve created in pen & ink or using markers. It will hopefully provide an insight into what I myself am filling my sketchbooks with. Thank you for stopping by, and instead of reading this any further, get busy and grab that sketchbook and start getting busy!