Cartooning With Mechanical Shapes

Man made objects such as cars, forks, buses and sharpeners can be created using Technical Drawing Methods. Guidelines help this process.

Context

Day Four of a five-day comic strip workshop called “The Funniest New Years Resolution Ever” will draw heavily on Tech Drawing Skills and this way of seeing. It is a day of exploration and experimentation.

How Stuff Works has a fantastic drawing section. Here you will find illustrated Instructional "How To Draw" articles. This tutorial shows How to Draw a 1957 Chevy. The use of geometry and geometrical shapes as guidelines is the key to Cartooning and Comic Strip Creation.

It is worthwhile for any artist who aspires to writing comics to practice Tech Drawing. Practice all styles of drawing things mechanical, from simple water jugs to complicated helicopters. After a while, that way of thinking and seeing will become natural. Budding artists will experience a real boost to drawing skills.

The Process

By now, artists have

1. explored simple perspective - The Basics of Perspective
2. explored how to Set The Scene When Telling A Story
3. discovered how to create characters to people a tabletop.
4. It is now time to start thinking about putting the skills together in an environment.

Participants will be asked to use perspective and technical drawing to plan an environment that has objects as its imaginary architecture. When it feels right place characters within the scene.

As the workshop has progressed, participants were continually reminded to be thinking of a little script about “The Funniest New Years Resolution Ever.” Day Five will see that quip created.

NB*. The story does not have to take place on a tabletop. That was just a teaching device.

Let us see what happens.