How to Draw Cartoon Faces

Sketching cartoon faces is a great hobby and when mastered can even evolve into a vocation. Animation has progressed leaps and bounds in the last decade and animated movies have succeeded in enthralling the audiences. Drawing cartoons requires immense creativity and patience. Ever wondered how creative and talented cartoonists are! Consider the Bee Movie for instance: who thought bees that sting could look so adorable! Credit goes to the cartoonists, animators and creative heads! Drawing cartoons, especially the faces is not a facile task, and encompasses talent, wit, creativity and style. However, amateurs wondering how to draw cartoon faces can make use of the guidelines mentioned below.

Drawing Cartoon Faces

Basic Shapes
The simplest way to get a grasp on drawing cartoon faces is to gain mastery over simple geometric shapes such as square, circle, oval, triangular, etc. One should also be good with all kinds of lines, such as curved, slanted, curly, straight, zigzag, etc. Once these basics have been inculcated, one can move towards the next few steps of cartoon drawing.

Proportions
Cartoon faces comprise common features such as a head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and eyebrows. These features are common to all cartoons, therefore while drawing cartoon faces, one must keep these features in mind. It is best to start off by drawing crossed lines, so as to keep the different facial features well-balanced and in proportion to one another. In terms of balance, cartoon faces are similar to the regular faces, that is the eyes will be half way down the face, the nose will be further down by another quarter. The same trend applies to the mouth as well, which is also a quarter away from the nose.

Face Shapes
The intriguing aspect of cartoon drawing is its versatility. There is no hard and fast rule regarding the shapes and sizes of the faces. One can get as creative as one desires. Permutations and combinations of different shapes and sizes oft result into exclusive cartoon characters. As far as shapes and sizes are concerned, one can start of by changing the shape of the head. Cartoon heads are not confined to circular heads, and one can try out triangular or squarish heads. Moreover, applying this 'change of shape' rule to the nose can assign different personalities to the cartoon face.

Hairstyles
Cartoons are incomplete without hair on their heads. One tip, while drawing the hair, is to draw the ears before actually drawing the hair. This is because the position of the ears pilots the positioning of the hair. The hair need not be complicated and simple lines and shapes suffice a good hairstyle. As far as facial hair is concerned, one can also be creative and have unconventional beards and mustache.

Expressions
To attain various disparate cartoon faces, altering three factors of the cartoon face is required. These three features are eyelids, eyebrows and mouth. By linking an eye expression with the eyebrow and mouth position, one can attain different expressions such as joy, anger, excitement, anxiety, shock, etc. One can even add accessories to the cartoon face to add to the expression, such as sunglasses for a cool dude look, etc.

Finally, let's learn how to draw cartoon faces. Keeping the above mentioned essentials in mind, one can approach drawing the face. One should start off by holding the pencil lightly over the page. According to one's choice, one can select a shape for the head. The next feature to draw is the nose, which also comes in different styles and sizes. Keeping it in proportion to the face, one can draw a nose commencing from the center of the head. Since the nose lies in the center of the head, it is a good point of reference for the other facial features. Next, draw the eyes and mouth, and then go back to the eye area, to draw the eyebrows. A touch of wrinkle lines can be added for an old or tired look. Next, come the ears and hair. Try practicing as many permutation and combinations of facial features as one can. This will make cartoon drawing easier as the time progresses. Paying heed to some cartoon drawing tips can enable one to excel in the cartooning arena.