scrapbook

I started off with little stick men and women like in the cartoon to the left. I figured that the best way to distinguish between my various characters would be to draw some of them with different props like a bowler hat, top hat, walking stick, and so on. My female characters were lucky - at least they had hair!

Then I started drawing circles and squares for bodies and I added noses to the faces. The stick figures now had more shape to them and I began to draw more prominent hands (well, stick fingers at least) and feet.

As I got older, I began to add more definition to my cartoons. The next step was to add clothes to my characters. Some elements of the original stick figures remained, and the faces were very plain.

Eventually, I could draw very basic cartoon characters which actually resembled the comics I had loved so much as a child. My cartoon faces were still very simple however. The eyes, nose, ears and hair were all present but I still had trouble distinguishing between my different characters.

With patience and a lot of practice over the years, I began to develop my own cartooning style. Now I can use different styles to represent different characters.

Notice how subtle changes in the way I've drawn the characters' eyes reflect different moods?

Note the positioning of the noses and the way I've drawn the feet.

The final hurdle to overcome was the use of colour. But this has become easier over the years, with the introduction of so many software applications for the PC where it's a simple matter to "click and paint".