How to create a CG drawing of a cartoon character.

Many imaginary people have asked me how I create my artwork. It is my goal with this page to familiarize them with my creative process. By following these thirty-one easy steps, anyone can work as effectively as I do.

  1. Decide on your subject matter. Creating a piece of artwork is a long-term commitment, so don't rush into this decision. I recommend you start thinking about it when you wake up in the morning.


  2. If it's around midnight, you're ready to set up your workspace. Be sure to locate at least three different types of clicky pencils, a really big eraser and a really small one. Get out a fresh ream of paper and empty your trash can. Pour yourself something caffeinated. Play your favorite music.


  3. For this step you're only going to draw the head because that's the most interesting part. Don't worry about where you put it on the page. If you run out of room for the body you can always tape on another sheet. If you don't have any tape, start a shopping list. Put aluminum foil on there if you don't have that, either.


  4. Flip the paper over and hold it up to the light. You probably see some mistakes. If not, continue with this step until you do.


  5. Sit down at the light table and redraw everything on the opposite side of the paper, fixing the mistakes found in step 4.


  6. Flip the paper back over, erase your original drawing and draw it back again.


  7. The lines get messy during step 6, so trace the drawing onto a new sheet of paper. Flip this paper over and hold it up to the light. Do you see any more mistakes? If so, repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 until it looks right. Save all of your old versions. You might decide one of them actually looks better.


  8. Once you are satisfied with your drawing of the head, go play with your pets for a while. Refill your drink and stop at the bathroom on your way back. This next part takes a while.


  9. Draw the body. I recommend you do this on a separate sheet of paper so that you don't mess up the page that has the head on it.


  10. Repeat steps 4-7, but this time for the body instead of the head. Actually, you might want to double check that the head still looks right, too. You simply cannot move on to the next step until you are certain that both the head and the body look correct.


  11. Go to sleep.


  12. Repeat step 2.


  13. Scan in the drawing of the head and the drawing of the body and paste them together in Photoshop. This is an optimal time to adjust the size of the head to match the body if the proportion seems off.


  14. Flip the image horizontally. Does the drawing still look correct? Well, you can't do anything about it right now if it doesn't.


  15. Print it.


  16. Download some mp3s.


  17. Trace the printout neatly on a new sheet of paper, correcting any mistakes you may see. If your tracing job gets too messy, you will have to trace this drawing. Hopefully it won't come to that.


  18. Scan your drawing.


  19. Erase all of the little dots in your image that were caused by having a dirty scanner.


  20. Select the lines and paste them into a new layer.


  21. Save your image. This should have been step 19.


  22. At this point you must decide whether you need to repeat step 11. If you do, be sure to repeat step 2 before moving on to step 23.


  23. Color your drawing. Place the color on separate layers beneath the lines. You will probably start to notice more errors in your drawing as you work on this step. As soon as you do, move on to step 24.


  24. Fortunately, for these mistakes you don't usually need to redraw everything. Simply redraw the sections that need fixing and repeat steps 4-7, 16 and 18-20 for the revised pieces and paste them into your original image.


  25. Repeat step 21. Do it a few times, just to be sure.


  26. Using tape, adhere aluminum foil to your windows so the sunrise won't create glare off the monitor. If you don't have either of these items, take the shopping list from step 3 and go to WalMart.


  27. Continue with step 23 until all areas are colored.


  28. Flip the image horizontally. Does the drawing still look correct? If not, repeat step 24. When it looks correct, move on to the next step.


  29. Print it.


  30. Put the print-out somewhere that you can see it everyday, but nobody else will. For the next week and a half, contemplate whether it looks correct. If something occurs to you that needs fixing, repeat step 24 and do this step again. If not, you're just too blind to see the mistakes and you should never show the picture to anyone.


  31. Throw out the stack of papers you've accumulated throughout this process. Be sure to take it out on the next trash night, before someone has a chance to go through your garbage looking for evidence of your artistic ineptitude.


Thank you for your interest in my creative process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact my receptionist. I'm afraid I only work in crayon now, but they're very good about reading my messages to me here.

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© 2002 Liz Kalter