How To Draw A Character On Your Face With Makeup

In this like shooting fish in a barrel cartoon cartoon tutorial, y'all'll learn how to draw cartoon characters. A good cartoonist is one who can excerpt the primary details of an object or a man and represent them with simple shapes. The goal is that a child tin recognize the drawing and be attracted to what they're looking at.

Children are the main audience for cartoons. Masters like Walt Disney, Hanna & Barbera, Chuck Jones, Jim Henson, Walter Lantz and many others have enchanted the world with their magical and eternal characters.

Learn how to draw a cartoon person in this cartoon drawing tutorial. — Learn how to draw a cartoon person and practice different facial expressions.

My part hither is to help you understand the proper way to assemble this puzzle. I'll teach you how to draw characters from the techniques presented. I guarantee you'll exist shocked at how piece of cake information technology is to create a drawing expression that children (and adults) will adore!

To become some inspiration, accept a look at the hundreds of grapheme designs on Envato Elements. Or for a shortcut, try a character creation kit!

What You lot Volition Acquire in This Cartoon Drawing Tutorial

Basics of human perception
How to describe drawing characters
How to draw a cartoon face
How to draw cartoon hair
How to draw characters with different facial expressions
How to draw characters with dissimilar ethnicities
Easy cartoon drawing exercises

Understanding Human Perception

Before jumping into cartoon face up drawing, we'll talk about the nuts of man perception. Homo beings have a very interesting feature: we tin synthesize the details that make upwardly a construction or an object in very complex ways into very basic and simple ones. In this way, we can represent any type of thing through a few curves and geometric shapes.

Tin yous tell me if the two images below stand for the same object?

Weird equally it may seem, you can look at the two pictures and say "information technology's a car".

What happens is that, unlike artists, most people can't tell from memory all the details that make upward a machine, a dog, or even a kid. So they beginning to associate very basic and primitive shapes to the specific characteristics of each object. How many children of 4, 5, or vi years erstwhile came from school with a drawing of two circles and some toothpicks on a slice of paper and said: "That'due south mommy and daddy!"?

1. How to Draw a Cartoon Face up

Let's offset with drawing face drawing. The basic cartoon shape is a circle. Circle Is All You Need (besides Dear, of form). It'southward from the circle that you define the basic proportions of your character's caput.

Once the circle is set up, it's time to trace the face centrality. Draw a vertical and horizontal line intersecting at the center, like in the image below:

How to Depict Cartoon Optics: Step 1

Let's learn how to draw cartoon eyes. To brand the eyes, draw an oval shape with a slight tilt to the side at the summit. Repeat on the opposite side. It is of import to leave a gap between them of approximately the same size as an eye. Every bit we are in the drafting phase, you can draw another center in the center to serve every bit a measure out.

Pace ii

At the top of the circumvolve, slightly thicken the trait that will exist the eyelashes of our character. Place the eyebrows a scrap above the eyelashes to create a sort of a surprised expression. The countenance form is free, and with practise yous will adjust to your own style.

Draw both pupils directed to the center (this is a very effective tactic used by major cartoonists whose sole purpose is to brand our characters wait cuter).

Tip: To give more life and "realism" to our eyes, you tin can draw a small line below them to simulate a kind of wrinkle. This is another very interesting tactic that adds a special impact to our facial expressions.

Stride 3

We've arrived at the most artistic freedom of the whole course. Think of it this mode: in cartoon style designs, the principal structure of a confront is the skull and the eyes of the character. It is at that stage where you lot define the identification with the external world, i.e. it's already clear to people that you're cartoon a character.

Now that we come to the jaw, we will decide if we want a fat graphic symbol or a thin one. They could be old, young, and then on. My grapheme volition be a immature one. And then let'southward design a proper jaw for him.

Step four

When designing a olfactory organ being seen from the forepart, information technology'south common not to utilise many details. If y'all depict only its tip, information technology is probable that already achieves a disarming effect. It is as well very common to describe only one side of the nose, from the idea that this is the opposite side of the light.

Let's put the correct nose on our grapheme.

Stride 5

As our graphic symbol is a child, we will brand a cartoon mouth: something simple but to represent an expression of innocence.

Notice that when drawing a little child's mouth, the lips shouldn't be drawn! In cartoon manner, children, regardless of gender, have quite simple mouths. A good and expressive trace already does the job.

Stride 6

The ears are seen from the forepart side view (because our character is facing the camera), and then that the internal cavities will not appear. Then we will practice just a simple shape using some basic perspective (more than on that later).

Step 7

The shape of our skull is already defined by the circle we did at the beginning, right? So nosotros but need a very simple and childish haircut to give life to our male child. Let's do it now.

How to Describe Drawing Pilus! Assistance!

Easy, piece of cake... at that place'southward nothing to fear. You don't need to be a stylist or way designer to make perfect hair. There isn't a right way to draw hair, and so you'll need to try until yous create the ideal haircut you desire. Just recall that the hair is responsible for defining the personality of our characters. Oddly plenty, the hair can limited age, rebellion, conservatism... incredible, isn't it? Speaking of which... what is your hairstyle?! Oh, never mind...

An accurate and fast fashion of drawing cartoon pilus is to seek photograph references on the web! I practise this all the time: grab a fashion magazine or endeavor a Google search. Later on finding the platonic style, put the image as a reference next to your drawing lath (or tablet) and start making a simplified drawing version of it.

Well, it seems we've completed our character successfully! Congratulations!

Now let's play with drawing drawing ideas and create a completely different grapheme with the aforementioned template we used for little Tommy (yes, I created a name for him).

2. How to Describe an Older Character

Step ane

Hither are some more cool cartoon characters to draw. Older characters can be easy drawing drawings. As usual, let'south commencement with the eyes. This time we will draw faster, calculation wrinkles, eyebrows, and the eye pupils.

Notice that we haven't changed a lot; we just expanded the eyebrow a fleck. Older men take thicker eyebrows, occupying more infinite on the forehead. Eyelashes make no difference in men; they are always drawn in the same fashion.

Footstep two

We will increase our chin a bit this time. Endeavor something similar this. Our character already has a different "look"! This is very good. We will continue by choosing the platonic nose for him.

Stride 3

Following what we did before, let'southward create the olfactory organ. This fourth dimension, I will make a completely different nose from earlier.

Notice that the ends of the olfactory organ are positioned very shut to the bottom of the optics. This is an effective technique to utilise when designing larger and wider noses. The thought is always to exaggerate to go a skillful outcome!

Speaking of overkill, let's eliminate the mouth of our character in favor of another artifact...

Step 4

I decided to apply some other technique now: instead of cartoon the mouth, we'll simply draw a large mustache to create a better persona for our grapheme.

Washed! A big and exaggerated mustache for our old friend!

Step 5

Remember what I said about the hair helping to represent age and personality? Check information technology out.

Nosotros've only added some side hair and left him bald on acme. Amazing how information technology creates a totally dissimilar look, isn't information technology? Also notice that I took the aforementioned ear from Tommy, our love boy. That's the reward of working on templates. That's the magic of cartoon!

iii. How to Draw a Female Graphic symbol

Allow'southward effort some more easy drawing drawings. I don't know... I think Tommy needs a sis! He's been very lonely out there. Let's create a sister for him now, as if past magic:

Hey!!! How did you do that so fast? Very simple... Women tend to take more delicate facial structures. Here'due south a female person cartoon confront drawing step-by-step guide:

Thin eyebrows
Larger and expressive eyelashes
Thinner chin
Small olfactory organ with fewer details
Long pilus (employ a real reference and cull whatsoever style you want)

That's it. These are all the changes you need to brand. Likewise that, I took everything I could from Tommy, her brother. After all, they are siblings, right?

When you start to experience more comfortable, you can slowly create some more "realistic" details for your characters. Such as larger pupils...

4. How to Draw Characters With Unlike Facial Expressions

When thinking nigh drawing characters to depict, emotions and facial expressions should come to mind. We're now gear up to add more than emotions to our dear Lucy (yes, that's her name). Allow'southward describe her after receiving the news that the schoolhouse holidays accept come to an end...

Again, we achieve something totally different just past adding two things: the tears and the new shape of her mouth! Isn't information technology amazing?!

Now let's get dorsum to Tommy and enquire him what he thinks nearly information technology:

Notice that I've totally changed his expression just past following the steps below:

Making 1 eyebrow lower than the other
Cutting the eyes in half with the eyelashes
Adding a grinning (1 side is higher, following the countenance)
Moving up the eye pupils to stay nether the eyelashes

And that's it! Nosotros got the expected consequence with just these few changes. The pilus, ears, nose, chin, and the circular shape of the eyes are the same! Simple every bit that!

5. How to Draw a Profile View

Looking for more than easy drawing characters to draw? Here are some more cartoon drawing ideas. Depict the template below again. Now we'll acquire how to make Tommy and Lucy from the profile view:

Nosotros will fit the face of both now:

Be aware of the master differences in construction when comparing them side by side. Pay attending to these details when drawing male person and female characters:

Tommy's eyebrow is thicker.
Lucy's chin is slightly projected in front of the face.
Lucy'due south nose is thinner and pointed.
Lucy has big, feminine eyelashes.

6. Play With Angles in Cartoon Confront Drawing

Eyes, olfactory organ, rima oris, ears... all the details that make upwards the face up change their shape when viewed from unlike angles. It'due south very common to see cartoon characters looking in every possible management with different photographic camera angles, because they will need to react to situations and objects around them. This helps bring them more to life!

Piece of cake Cartoon Drawing Exercises

Now we will put into practice everything we have learned so far... Below you'll find a basic cartoon face drawing template (merely circles and directional guides) where nosotros tin practice our drawing skills in dissimilar positions:

Let'due south mark the eyes in unlike directions for each one of the circles...

At present, let'due south add some random jaws, with different sizes and shapes...

It'due south upward to you now. There are then many piece of cake cartoon characters to draw. I guess you can walk alone and explore the techniques I gave to you to complete the drawings. Remember that cartoon face cartoon has ii premises:

Simplify the face up details in rounded shapes.
Exaggerate the facial expressions.

Once you lot've managed to sketch the direction of the optics and accept chosen the proper chins, try to utilise your creativity to build however many faces you desire. Y'all tin be sure that, if you exercise at least 10 minutes per twenty-four hour period with the techniques presented hither, cartoon cartoon faces will exist equally natural to yous as animate.

Allow's summarize! To reinforce what I said throughout the tutorial, permit'south remember the proper steps for how to draw a cartoon face:

Brand a circle that will stand for the skull of our character.
Gear up the direction in which your character will exist looking and depict the guidelines.
Make the outline of the eyes in an oval shape.
Draw the eye pupils (make them point to the olfactory organ, if y'all desire a cute character). Don't forget the eyelashes.
Cull the correct eyebrow, depending on the historic period and gender of your grapheme.
Depict an appropriate jaw.
Draw simplified ears.
Search haircut styles in Google (or a magazine) and use them as a reference for your sketch.
Gloat!

Below is my version:

7. How to Draw characters With Different Ethnicities

We are nearing the stop of our cartoon face drawing tutorial. As a concluding tip, I would encourage you to continue experimenting with facial expressions and, whenever possible, to invest more in studies of the face. Acquire how the eyes and oral fissure behave in unlike situations. Take a look at different ethnicities and the key features.

Whenever possible, effort to give a little more realism to your characters. Observe the behavior of people in existent life. Look at photos, study the style of your favorite creative person, or search for inspiration on the Internet. It'south when we expect to existent life that we tin extract quality information for our drawings. But remember: observing the real world does not mean copying! You desire your graphic symbol to be unique and not a re-create of reality, right?

You've Learned How to Depict a Cartoon Face!

Now you know the basic techniques used by the all-time cartoon artists around the world. There is plenty more to come, and this is just a small fraction of the cartoon drawing tutorials I'll be presenting to you. Upwards adjacent, nosotros're going to dig deeper into cartoon expressions.

Take what you learn here and work on your kickoff characters. Yous can earn a nice side income selling your character designs on GraphicRiver as yous ramp upwards your skills. Keep to grow your artistic skills, and you can earn a total-time income as a cartoonist.

Discover More Drawing Cartoon Ideas and Tutorials

At present y'all know how to depict cartoon characters. I hope you liked this tutorial. Exercise you want to find more easy drawing characters to depict? Would you similar to acquire more well-nigh drawing? Here are some cool tutorials and resources:

Think to visit our complete guide: Learn How To Draw.

Editorial Note: This post has been updated with contributions from Maria Villanueva. Maria is a staff writer with Envato Tuts+.