Here’s cartoon that I drew back in 2016. I still like the idea of it, however, I thought the drawing itself was long over due a reworking. So today I’m going to look at how I can make a better version of the cartoon.
Some Points To Improve
Alter the direction of her eyes, they’re not quite on the fish
Attention should automatically go to the fish. Although it has a red ribbon, there are two many bright colours competing.
Make the fish brighter
Dull down the green suit/red coat or change their colour entirely
Find a fish reference to use, instead of drawing it from memory
Alter his eyes, it’s as though he’s looking past her. His hair looks a little off as well
The New Version
The changes I made:
I changed their clothes to grey, so that the only colour was on the fish
I gave the fish brighter colours, and also added some white highlights on the red ribbon
She’s now looking directly at the fish
I altered her posture. I wanted her to look more puzzled
I gave the man glasses, but you deliberately can’t see his eyes so as to make him a bit odder
Over To You
Take a look over some of you own cartoons. Is there one that you really like the idea of, but doesn’t look quite right? Look over the following three points and see if they help you to identify points to change. It may help you to make notes from your drawing, as I did previously.
Could the characters pose be different to help get the idea across?
Are there any areas of colour that distract away from the main point of focus?
Could you use a more realistic reference image?