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EDITORIAL CARTOONS

Text/Printable Version How to Draw an Editorial Cartoon

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· Introduction
· How to Draw
· Techniques
· Models
· Lesson Ideas
· Resources

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   Contents

Tools of the Trade

Using quality tools can affect the quality of the drawing. Likewise, learning how to use the correct tools can dramatically improve your work. Talk to your adviser to see how much the following he/she is willing to purchase for you or may already have available. Here's the list in order of usage.

  1. TYPING PAPER. Use it for doodles, brainstorming and practice sketches.

  2. CARD STOCK. Card stock is thicker than typing paper and takes inks well for the final draft. Keep the paper in a dry place. Humidity causes the paper to soak up ink, and you end up with bleeding lines.

  3. RULERS AND TRIANGLES. These are indispensable for measuring, making borders, and creating perfect 90-degree angles.

  4. PENCILS. It doesn't matter if you use a wood pencil or a mechanical, but the lead grade is important. Lead comes in different grades. 8B is the softest, 8H is the hardest, and HB is somewhere in the middle. Try a few to see which one is best for your drawing style. Be warned that the softer lead you use the easier it is to smear all over your work. The other extreme is the hard lead which makes you press really hard to get legible lines. This creates gouges and depressions on the paper that make complete erasing difficult and copy machines usually reproduce these lines. A safe bet is to use pencils with HB or B grade.

  5. ERASER. Get one. Pink, white, gray, big or small it doesn't matter as long as it works.

  6. PENS. Get a variety of black pens with different tip sizes. Experiment with different pen brands to see which ones are better at tracing over pencil. A good set of felt tipped pens is indispensable.

  7. BRUSHES AND INK. For the experienced or the courageous, get a bottle of waterproof black india ink and a brush (sizes needed range between 0-4 depending on how big the drawing area is). The brush adds variety and weight to the lines that can't be duplicated by pens. Be diligent in cleaning the brush bristles or the hairs will split. Don't forget to let the ink dry before you erase the pencil sketches.

  8. DICTIONARY. Learn to spell check your work during and after your work. Nothing is as embarrassing as misspelling a word.

  9. WHITE OUT. There are all types of white out products. For the most part, regular white out from the office supply store will work fine. These tips are a starting point. To be really good at cartooning, you will have to spend hundreds of hours at the drawing board drawing, doodling, writing and studying the work of other artists. It will take persistence and patience but when you finally get it, every politician, administrator and/or city councilman will wish you never did.

 

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