Odd Days!: Turning 2-D

It’s Bonnie again!

I had a super cool project lined up for recycled jeans, but lo and behold…I have no jeans in need of being recycled at the moment. So I’m holding onto that idea. Instead, learn how to cartoonize yourself without risking a virus on your poor computer!

You will need:

Colored pencils
Pencil sharpener
Regular pencil (I used mechanical)
Paper
Pen (preferably a thin black one that dries quickly! You don’t want it to smear!)

What’s that? Your pencil sharpener isn’t a super cool walking dinosaur? That’s okay, a regular one will do.

Step 1: These steps are all in pencil!

Draw a circle! Or a roughly circular shape! And section that circle off into quarters (using this + shape). On the bottom, centered, draw two vertical lines. (Don’t make them too long or you’ll look like a giraffe!) At the bottom of those lines, slope lines down slightly at a horizontal angle (unless you have straight shoulders, in which case draw rigid lines going straight out.)

It should look like this so far:

Step 2: At the horizontal line in the circle, draw two eyes. There should be room between the two (or a little less) for roughly one more eye, just so you know the proportions. If you don’t know how to draw eyes, here’s a quick tutorial:

Tip: Make the shape different if your eyes are a different shape! Don’t be afraid to play around with the lines. And if you’re drawing a male, I would suggest not adding the eyelashes.

Step 3: Draw the nose underneath the eyes, centered on the vertical cross line. I usually draw cartoon noses as a flattened-looking “u”.

Here are other noses you can use instead, for different styles and looks:

Step 4: Draw the mouth! This should be centered by the vertical cross line as well. I always start at the middle of the center line of the lips. Then I add in the top, also starting at the middle. (The arrow is pointing to where I started.)

Lastly, I add in the bottom lip. I don’t connect this to the upper lip usually. Instead, I just draw the rounded line to signify that that’s the bottom of the mouth. The fuller your lips, the rounder the lines should be. If you are drawing a male, the lips should be straighter and less defined.

Tip: You’ll notice my lips are kind of edging outside of the circle. That’s fine, because you still have to add in the chin.

Step 5: Draw the chin, cheeks, and eyebrows! I try to use a narrow chin, usually, and then round it into the cheeks. The chin goes below the circle, the cheeks should sort of follow the circle. If you are drawing a male, make these lines more square and straight. The eyebrows totally depend on your own eyebrows! If you have very expressive eyebrows, draw them super curved. I have straight eyebrows. Thus, I drew them straight.

Step 6: Sketch in the bangs! I start where my bangs separate, a little bit below the top line of the circle. I have a side part, so I start over the right eye. After that I sketch in the other side.

If you don’t have bangs in your face, sketch the shape of how you keep them out, just don’t use the jagged lines like I did!

This is where you start with the hair. I draw a little “+” above the part in the bangs, about even with the top line of the circle. Then, just a tad bit above that, I draw a few jagged lines sticking up. That’s because my hair is all over the place. From there, I draw curved, jagged lines going down in the shape of the head. This should be just outside the circle you drew. If your hair is smooth, draw a single, curved line going down from either side of the part.

Step 7: Darken the lines for the neck and shoulders. Add a little flattened “u” for the dip between your collar bones, and a line close to either side of your neck. That’s the little dip in your throat.

If you want to add a little extra to your drawing to make it more you, here are some accessories to consider:

Step 8: Finally! The pen!

Trace the final lines. I usually do the hair first, because it’s the top layer. After that, I do the facial features, and then lastly the outline of the cheeks and chin, the neck, and the shoulders (plus the details).

Step 9: When your pen lines are dry, erase the sketched pencil lines that you no longer need!!!

Step 10: And now, the colored pencils!

Color a flat, base tone first. I used light brown for the hair, peach for the skin, and pink for the lips. If you’re blonde, I suggest a yellow base for the hair, but don’t make it too bright yet. If you have darker skins, choose a shade of tan or brown that suits you.

Tip: When I color in the eyes, I leave the little shine circle white. The pupils I usually color in with pen. For the iris, I use a dark shade and a light shade (in my case, of brown.) Use the dark shade for the top half of the iris, and the light shade for the bottom half.

Step 11: This is the final part! The shading! For shading the skin, use either light blue, light purple, or a darker shade of your skin tone. I chose light blue for this. I shaded lightly around the eyes and down the (imaginary) lines for the sides of the nose. I also shaded just below the bangs, and a little down the left side of the face. I shaded a thicker line in the shape of the chin right below the chin, and down the right side of the neck. I followed the line in pen, and I also shaded in the little hollow by the collar bones. The last part I shaded for the skin is the dip of the shoulders.

Tip: If you’re careful and don’t make it too obvious, you can use a black colored pencil around the eyes to make them look deeper.

I used an orange-red to lightly shade across the cheeks and nose. This is because I blush 90% of my life. It also adds a bit of rosiness to the drawing.

To shade the hair, use a darker color than you colored it. I used dark brown. If you drew a blonde, use a tan, light brown, or light orange to shade! I colored in some jagged lines coming out from the “+” part. I also colored in below the bangs, by the neck. To add a bit of fun to the hair, draw in some darker streaks, and some lighter ones too, if you want!