Writing - Cartoon Styles

Cartoon Styles

 “A humorous or satirical drawing” is the definition of a cartoon. Essentially it means that it is either funny or critical or sarcastic. However there are different styles of cartoons and types of cartoon. Here are some examples of that. 

Caricature Cartoons

Caricature cartoons usually take the two biggest things on the face, and exaggerate their size making it look funny. In many cartoons the head is about the size of the body. They often use these cartoons to reflect situations to embarrass or make a joke about a person who is in the news or doing something important, which may or may not have gone wrong. Political cartoons are funny but they are funny about something that the person being drawn probably won’t find funny, especially the face. Caricature cartoons are also known as portrait cartoons because you are, essentially, drawing a portrait. 

Manga/Anime

Manga & anime both originate in Japan. They are one of the oldest types of cartoons, dating back past 1500 AD. Manga often includes big eyes, pointy nose and spiky hair. These features mean that the character can be expressed better and action scenes are usually quite good. Anime is the animated version of manga. Anime has been used in Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, both directed by Hayao Miyazaki. 

Simple Cartoons

Simple cartoons usually have only basic features of a face. That means that it allows you to be more expressive with the facial expressions. These sorts of cartoons are the basic version of any cartoon. A method of drawing animal cartoons or houses or detailed things is to basically simplify them. That means that you take the basic outline, add a few wrinkles and big eyes and a cheesy grin. As a professional illustrator told me ‘something special about cartoons is that you have a freedom of expression-it’s not a reality. Therefore the impossible can be created-there are absolutely no boundaries’.

Graphic Novels

Graphic novels are cartoons but much more detailed like the Mona Lisa drawn in felt tips. They include all the characteristics of pictures, like shading & lighting, but they also include outlined, basic characteristics of cartoons. Novels are types of books, so a graphic novel is basically a novel in pictures. Some however, like TinTin by Herge, are just in graphics. Graphic novels have been increasing in popularity in recent years.

Cartoonist Styles 

Every artist has their own style and cartoons are no different. You could take two strips of the same idea & the cartoons would look different & that is why it is so easy to tell if it is copied. 

Animation

Some of the most successful cartoons often get turned into an animation. The cartoons are used as a storyboard for the film, & now that animated films have become more popular, the cartoon strips are often over 700 pages long, and before computers came along, cartoonists would have to work through the night, making slight changes on the next picture. An animator from Aardman studios, producers of Wallace & Gromit, said to me ‘an animator would shoot 2-4 seconds a day, so in a week, 10 animators would shoot 100-200 seconds. It would be about 4-5 years to make an animated feature film in the cinemas & about 2 years to make a half-an-hour TV special’. The first feature length animation was El Apostel in Argentina, 1926, 3 years before Snow White by Disney, 1929. 

Other Cartoons 

As well as being political or funny, cartoons can show instructions or information. They are used a lot in advertising & making brands because they can be adapted into adverts, posters etc. Many famous pictures have cartoons, or at least a basic drawing, underneath them as guides for the paintbrush or quill. Leonardo da Vinci & Raphael were the first cartoonists. Their cartoons formed the basis of the picture they created. ‘However, Picasso could create a beautiful image from a straight line but they were not cartoons’ Greg Quinton. In conclusion, cartoons can be adapted into all different styles and types of cartoons. They aren’t just funny or animations; they’re also political, portraits, books & more.