Making Your Characters Move Faster

Today’s article gives you a few quick tips to make your characters move faster.

Add movement lines. You can experiment with the number of lines, and also if they’re solid lines or broken-up.

If you separate your character from the ground entirely, then it’ll give the impression that it’s moving so fast that it’s flying.

You can have the ears and tongue being blown by the wind. For human or long-haired characters, you can also have the hair trailing in the slipstream.

Try adding a more dynamic pose. In the above case, our everyday pooch is now zipping along like a greyhound.

Space permitting, have a trail of dust extending beyond and beyond the character. You may recall similar effects from cartoons such as the Roadrunner.

Spot the mistake in the above caption!

A diagonal angle can really give an impression of speed, along with making a picture more dynamic in general.

Over to you:

Have a go at doodling your own dog or another character going flat out. Experiment with using a combination of the previous techniques.

Feel free to try out different ideas, whether your own or from other cartoons.

Would you like to draw your own cartoon dogs?

Add your name, best email address, and type “woof!’ in the subject line, and I’ll send you details of the ‘Cartooning Canines - How To Draw Cartoon Dogs’ course.