Sid Gatt blog…

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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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This series of cartoons appeared in national newspapers in conjunction with England’s games in the 1998 World Cup.

I was asked to create two cartoon characters who were football crazy. They
would never leave the TV throughout the whole of the World Cup.
The main characteristic of both Norm and Joe was that they were total couch
potatoes and over-ate (and over-drank – but this was later eliminated for
obvious reasons!) Here they are getting ready for the World Cup tournament to start.

This cartoon was drawn to coincide with an England player getting sent off. And, unfortunately their chances of getting any further in the competition comes to an end.

How about creating some similar cartoons to run along side the next tournament? There’s going to be a big audience!

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Here’s one of them…

It wasn’t the sort of thing my client was after by the way!

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“Through the use of fun, entertaining and educational cartoon videos on your website you can generate massive leads, explode your sales and gain far reaching publicity for your business or cause.  I know first hand the power and impact of online marketing videos created by my friend and colleague Richard Duszczak of the Cartoon Studio.”  Gary Ryan Blair

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Cartoon for original Cartoon Studio home page!

What do you reckon?

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Hi, just had a look back in my archives and found this in a folder dated 6th March 1999. It was an early artwork on the computer and I was experimenting with the Painter software. This piece was a promotional piece outlining that you should employ a top quality professional cartoonist(Like myself) as opposed to some amateur who wasn’t 100% dedicated!

Danny Smell The Cartoonists From Hell!

Just look at the email address! I can’t believe I used that. It must have been before I knew anything about domain names. No wonder no one ever found my web site! Try spelling that out over the phone when someone asks you for your web site address! I must have lost more work with people getting frustrated trying to find me on the Internet.

I did eventually get the message and go out and start purchasing domain names – the first being http://www.cartoonstudio.co.uk I wanted the .com version but someone had bought it already and has never done anything with it!

Anyway, back to Danny Smell – I think I did do another strip and I’ll see if I can dig it out.

Any comments welcome!

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Levers
So what’s the big deal about levers? Well, they are simple machines that help make your life easier. Have a look at this….

Archimedes (Greek mathematician, 287 to 212 B.C.) said, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth,” meaning that if he had a lever long enough, he could move the Earth by his own effort.  At the very least we can show that a child can lift an adult:

Archimedes lifting the Earth!

You will need:
* An adult
* A child
* A brick or block of wood
* A plank of wood 1 inch thick and at least 4 feet long

What to do:
1. Make a lever by placing the plank over the wood block.
2. To take advantage of the properties of the lever, make sure the fulcrum (wood block) is closer to the end of the lever on which the adult will stand.
3. Have the adult stand on the short end and the child stand on the long end. What happens?
4. If the child cannot lift the adult, adjust the fulcrum so that it is closer to the side on which the adult is standing.

“We’ve used Richard a lot for various features on http://www.planet-science.com
His cartoons and illustrations are winners for us, I think because at
heart he’s a very talented artist and can draw anything well. He has a
great knack of being able to quickly absorb what it is you’re aiming at
and adding loads of wit, cuteness and clever ideas to your project,
whilst listening and using any feedback you have for him too. He has
always met (some pretty tight!) deadlines and is great at sticking to
your budget if you have a limit. Thanks Richard!”

http://www.planet-science.com/sciteach/index.html?page=/experiment/

Katie Walsh, Editor, www.planet-science.com

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