Cartooning Basics

Name: Cartooning Basics
Rating: 4.6 (26 reviews)

A Beginner's Guide to Creating Comics Art + Characters

Created byDavid Miller

Last updated 3/2020

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Cartooning your own characters
Effective page layout for comics
How to tell a simple story in a minimal amount of space

Course content

2 sections • 12 lectures • 44m total length

Introduction1:42
David Miller shares lessons on creating cartoon characters and building a six-panel comic, guiding you from sketching with pencil and paper to choosing ink tools and paper types.
Creating Characters Part 13:33
We'll work on creating a set of characters and compare and contrast them with some of the more well known character sets in cartoon fiction.
Creating Characters Part 23:33
We continue generating characters and discuss effective design.

The Six Panel Strip8:36
The six-panel strip is a classic form of Sunday comics, telling a tight story in very few panels of equal size. You'll see how I put together a Superman story involving a bank robbery with a resolution in 6 panels.
Penciling and Inking3:20
We cover basic materials involved in penciling and inking the story.
Expressiveness4:57
Learn to draw expressive faces and hands by studying real people, paused videos, and photos for emotion, using Eisner and McCloud for facial muscles, and mannequin hands for reference.
Backgrounds and Setting3:19
Establish the setting at the start to indicate time and place. Use establishing shots for location changes and move the camera anywhere to serve the story.
Comic Panels and Placement3:18
Explore how panel size drives storytelling, using large panels for big moments, medium panels for dialogue, and small panels for quick details to establish rhythm, as in Watchmen's nine-panel grid.
Thumbnailing the Story3:40
Thumbnail your four-page story on standard printer paper folded into quarters to map out the story, establish the problem, deepen conflict, and tease readers with page turns.
Lettering5:31
Master lettering for comics by blending hand-drawn word balloons, thought balloons, and explanatory boxes with hybrid lettering, using tracing, fonts, and onomatopoeia to fit your art.
Comic Paper Suggestions1:59
Use a comic-art crystal ball with guided lines to lay out panels and gutters, then switch to plain Bristol board to reuse 6–10 layouts for efficient storytelling.
Final Thoughts1:11
Put your pencil to the paper and see what happens. Embrace self-expression and share your work to connect with others; there is an audience for every kind of cartooning.

Requirements

None

Description

Welcome to my course on cartooning basics! In this class we generate characters, create a six panel comic strip, and work on a 4 page story on professional comic paper.

We'll cover

tools and materials
designing page and panel layouts to maximize storytelling
tips for having our characters act,
creating believable settings,
effective character design
and more!

Who this course is for:

beginning drawers who feel unsure about their drawing or ability to communicate a story
creatives with an interest in sequential storytelling
anyone with an interest in producing comics, zines and picture books

Cartooning Basics

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Preliminary Steps3 lectures • 9min

Cartooning Comics9 lectures • 36min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: