(Note – If you’re new to my page, this is how it works: At the beginning of each week I randomly draw a new project from my Challenge Bucket, then see what I can create before the week is over. You can read all about my Creativity Challenge here.)
A new week meant a new Creativity Challenge and I was eager to learn what the next project would be. After last week’s illustration challenge I was feeling up for anything, yet I quickly learned it was not time to put away those drawing pencils yet!
My son Elijah (11) was in the office with me. “Wanna watch me find out what the new project will be?” I asked.
“Yes!” he replied excitedly. My boys have loved watching what I create each week.
I grabbed the bucket and pulled out… Create a Cartoon Character!
“Ooh!” He exclaimed, “You should make a giggachad… a cross between a bear and a duck!”
I laughed because I knew he was just spewing out the first words/sounds that came to his brain. He left the room shortly after and I began to set my mind into imagination mode. I quickly realized the options for a new cartoon character were endless! A cartoon can literally be anything: a person, animal, object, food, monster, superhero, etc. And it could be any style: cute, sharp, soft, scary, funny, realistic, or totally bizarre. I was getting nowhere.
I began to consider what kind of character could be useful to me. I make a lot of activity pages for kids at church, and I’ve often thought it would be neat if I could develop a style of drawing people. With that skill, I could quickly sketch out Bible story people or scenes.
I decided that Bible characters was a great contender, but another contender kept playing in my brain, and that was the… what did he call it again?
“Elijah!” I called out, “what did you call your bear-duck?”
“A giggachad!” he exclaimed.
Now you have to know that my kids can name a lot of video game characters whom I’ve never heard of, so I needed to ask, “Is that a real thing?”
“Yeah!” he said, “Well no… I don’t know.”
I laughed and said, “Let’s Google it!”
I quickly typed “giggachad” into the search engine and up popped pictures… of topless men!! Our eyes widened in surprise and then we burst into laughter! Thankfully it was all very mild, but it did make us re-think the term ‘giggachad’. “Maybe we shouldn’t call it that,” Elijah relented.
While the name “giggachad” wasn’t meant to be, I still thought it could be a neat challenge to combine a bear and a duck into a single character.
With that I now had two options: 1. Bible Characters. 2. Bear-duck. Could they be any more different?!
Either way, I decided I would try to learn some new skills.
I searched on YouTube for cartoon drawing tutorials and found some pretty great material. Some of my favorites were How to Draw Different Cartoon Body Types as well as pretty much anything from Draw Cartoons. I began to compile a bunch of practice/reference sketches, while I learned tips and listened to advice on cartoon creation.
As much as I wanted to learn to develop my own style of Bible characters, I began to realize that it was a task that would take more than a week. Pretty much every artist I read/watched said the same thing: you have to practice and practice and practice. Artists who can quickly sketch out a quality character have been doing it over and over for a very long time. I came to the conclusion that I could still learn this skill, but it would need to stretch over weeks/months/years instead of just a few days. Since this would not be the project for the week, I re-visited Option 2: the Bear-Duck.
I pulled out my sketch pad and began to make a few short notes on how this character could be composed. What parts would be bear and what parts would be duck? What style would he be? Goofy or serious? Knowing my son’s love of video games I decided that this bear-duck needed to be a little more intense looking. Yup, this bear-duck would be a warrior. He’d be big, muscular, and angry with weapon-y things strapped to his back.
Turning to the internet, I searched up a variety of relevant images. After compiling them onto an inspiration board, I picked up my pencil, and began to sketch while referencing parts of the various images I’d chosen.
This part was SOOOO fun! I was loving combining all the different elements and was very pleased with how it was coming together, but when I got to the waist I got a little stuck. How do I transition to duck feet? And what is this guy wearing down there anyway?
He obviously needed some sort of warrior bottoms, but pants just didn’t seem like the right option. Could he wear… a skirt? A kilt!! It was a perfect idea. You see, my husband has some Scottish heritage and a kilt would give a nod to the ‘ol ancestry making this here bear-duck a part of the family.
I quickly brought up Scottish warrior images and began to sketch out the bottom half of this evolving character. The bear legs transitioned to duck feet and voila! Draft 1 was complete!
Using a waterproof ink pen, I penned the outline making small adjustments as I went. I decided I wanted his hands to be showing big, awesome, claws, but wasn’t quite sure how to make them look good.
Something I learned in my reading about cartoon creation is the technique of using a lightbox which allows you to easily trace your rough draft onto a new piece of paper. This helps get rid of all the trial-and-error lines and lets you keep working with a cleaner slate. I had a small light table I’d gotten years ago for embossing, so pulled that out to give it a try.
As I traced, I began to make corrections like centering the straps, shortening the toes, and trying to draw in those claws. The claws. I can’t even tell you how many times I penciled and erased different options, but it always looked awful. Fearing that poorly formed hands would betray the entire image, I abandoned the idea and penciled in fists instead.
Adding more details, I continued with the Scottish theme by drawing part of the family crest on the front of the kilt. Once satisfied, I traced it out one last time. For this final copy, however, I decided to use cold-press watercolor paper. I now had my official character design and it was time to add the color!
After debating the various coloring options, I determined that I would use watercolor pencil crayons. If you don’t know what those are, they are a fun little tool. They look/act just like pencil crayons except that they are water soluble. This means that after you color with them, you can dip a paintbrush in water and use it to blend/brighten the colors. I got mine years ago at a garage sale but, honestly, I never experimented with them very much. Was now really a good time?… ummm, yup!
I performed some quick experiments on my rough draft, then took to the main project.
The color was definitely bringing the big guy to life. But what to do about that kilt? I knew the family tartan colors included green/blue/black, but how does one paint plaid??
Again, the handy-dandy internet provided a quick tutorial and I began adding the criss-cross of stripes.
After deepening some shading and adding more details, I decided my bear-duck was complete! Or was it?
This was the birth of a new character. On this momentous occasion it just felt like this guy needed a bigger introduction, and that would require an official name.
I went to talk to Elijah again, “Since ‘giggachad’ is out, what should your character be named?”
He began spouting out every combination of the word “bear” and “duck” he could come up with, and that’s when “Buck” was born!
I went to my computer, found a suitable font, taped my picture to the computer screen, and traced out the letters.
By this time it was late into the night and my tired, foggy head said it looked great and it was complete.
However, when I looked at it the next morning it did NOT seem complete. The font needed more pop and the whole page was crying for a border.
First, I pulled out a fine point Sharpie and added shadows to the letters to make them pop. Next I referenced a comic image and sketched out a top and bottom border along with some clouds and lightening. Lastly, he needed something to make him look powerful. I settled on filling in explosion marks all around. Upon adding in some color and touch-ups, this cartoon character was ready to make his first official appearance.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you… (drum roll please)…
BUCK, the Bear-Duck!
The kids have loved watching this one come to life, particularly Elijah, of course, so I decided to offer to hang it in his room. He thought that was a great idea.
Because of the water in the paint, the paper had warped so it wouldn’t lay flat anymore. I watched a tutorial on how to flatten it… then decided I’d just press it into a frame instead.
Mounting the drawing on a piece of black paper, I put it in an old Ikea frame and we were off to Elijah’s room to find the perfect spot.
Buck the Bear-Duck now boldly proclaims his mightiness for all to see!
This was a lot of fun, and I can officially say this cartoon character has been created! And that’s a wrap on Challenge #8!
You’ll be asked create a weekly cartoon strip next!! Yahoo for Buck!!!!
Haha that could be interesting!!
He looks great! I’m really enjoying reading about your creative process and how the ideas morph into the final product.
Thanks Beth – it’s fun to reflect on the journey each week. Thanks for reading. 🙂
Nice work! I love that so far all your challenges are becoming part of you home. And that Ellijah played a big role in inspiring and direction. An artist needs a muse 😊
Haha yes! With unlimited possibilities its actually nice to have someone narrow it down for me!
Love the creative process here! You’re definitely the coolest and most talented mom out there!
That is definitely too generous of a comment! But I’ll accept it since you’re my sister, who is also an incredibly cool and talented mom. 🙂
Love it…I have to agree that it turned out awesome and such courage and creativity along the way!! Way to go Kara…I also think a cartoon strip is in your future lol.
Thanks Naomi 🙂 I wonder what the cartoon strip would be about? Might have to be a future challenge!