Developing Cartoon Characters…
Developing cartoon characters seems easy enough, isn’t it? You just draw a human-like or animal-like figure and add in some facial and body details, and presto!—your very own cartoon character. However, creating a drawing is just the start of the process of bringing cartoon characters to life, so to speak.

Cartoon character created for Badgebase:  http://www.badgebase.co.uk

When a client asks me to develop cartoon characters, the first step of the process is to discern the purpose of making a certain character. Do they wish me to develop cartoon characters that will depict common, everyday life or do they wish me to create superheroes and villains? How about out-of-this-world creatures? Are the cartoon characters meant to promote a business or to enhance the contents of a book or a magazine? Once the client has supplied me with sufficient information, I get to do some preliminary sketches. Based on the details they give me, I then look around for some sort of inspiration. When they want me to create cartoon characters that look like people, I may just have to imagine a friend, an acquaintance, or a complete stranger seen in the streets and derive my sketches from them. Sometimes, an extra little detail is added to add interest and a touch of humor. Sometimes I get to do caricatures of persons that the client wishes to be portrayed. And then there are cartoon characters that I just pulled out from thin air, born only out of my imagination.

Once the client approves my preliminary sketches, I get to refine my work and add some detail they might specify. Then colors are added and the work is just about done.

Sometimes, a client might specify additional cartoon characters to act as support to the main character, perhaps to enhance whatever messages they wish to convey to their target market.

There are also times when the client specifies a certain artistic style to employ when developing cartoon characters. Generally, the characters I create are of the gentle, and therefore, more realistic side. But when exaggerations and elaborations are called for, I’d be more than happy to accommodate.

When developing cartoon characters for children, I make sure that the images I created are appropriate for the age-group of the readers. This means that characters included in books for preschoolers are larger in scale and are quite simple, though still fun to look at. Cartoon characters meant for older kids, however, are more detailed, more realistically scaled to suit their comprehension abilities. In this way, concepts and ideas are easily communicated through these characters.

In developing cartoon characters, I keep in mind two considerations. First, that cartoon characters are meant to be funny and must have the capability to amuse its viewers. At the same time, these characters must also be effective communication tool. After all, it won’t have much purpose on itself. What draws the average person to cartoon characters is their capability to depict life’s funny, lighthearted, sometimes amazing moments in a non-threatening and colorful way.

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