Today I’m going to go through the steps involved in creating this cartoon..
I was looking at some pictures of goats having encounters with cougars and thought I’d try to draw something similar. However, after sketching a few ideas set on mountains, I thought I’d set the action a little higher than intended on top of a biplane.
The initial outline
After getting the idea, I started drawing it before I’d decided what the background would look like.
2. Adding the background outline
I thought a few simple lines would suffice for the mountainous backdrop.
3. Adding washes to the background
I used a digital water brush set at 20% opacity to build up the layers, making sure that the mountains are darker at the bottom, and also get progressively lighter
4. Colouring the characters
Or perhaps that should be ‘adding washes to the characters.’
5. Adding hatching and shading
I really like the effect of putting hatching on top of the shading. It really seems to increase the sense of depth.
6. The finished cartoon
What’s next
I put out a cartoon newsletter with a whole bunch of different characters and occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.