Let’s pick up a pen and draw today. We’re going to cartoon ourselves from two perspectives.
Don’t worry, this isn’t about your drawing skill. There’s no “right” way to draw a cartoon, so let yourself have fun with it and do your best. If you get stuck, think of all the different styles you’ve seen: Peanuts, The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, South Park, Japanese anime and manga.
First Perspective: Yourself in Real Life
Cartoon yourself in your “natural environment.” What do you do most of the time? If someone walked in to your house, what would they find your doing? Maybe you like to sleep or read or play video games. Or perhaps you’re always at the office wearing a suit, so you live in a corporate environment.
Try to draw the details of what you look like, what you wear, the things around you. It’s OK to exaggerate! Maybe you can include some action, or make a multi-panel story.
My Real Life: sitting at the computer in my pajamas, hair going everywhere and coffee nearby. This is me pretty much every day…including right now.
Second Perspective: Yourself in Your Dreams
Next forget reality and cartoon yourself doing something you wish you could do. Singing in front of 50,000 people? Winning the lottery? Bringing peace to the world? The sky’s the limit, here.
But remember to include details to show where you are and what you’re doing.
My Dream Life: manning a mission to Mars. Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut or an astronomer, but my eyes aren’t good enough and my math stinks! But in my dreams, I am in flight, trying on my space suit. So fashionable…
Want to share your cartoons? Post a URL in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you’ve drawn!
Posted by kuri at December 26, 2003 12:17 PM