Ensayos

How to Draw New Retro-Style Characters
Christopher hart
Watson-Guptill Publications / New York

Published in 2005 by Watson-Guptill Publications a division of VNU Business Media, Inc. 770 Broadway New York, NY 10003 www.wgpub.com Executive Editor: Candace Raney Senior Development Editor: Alisa Palazzo Designer: Bob Fillie, Graphiti Design. Inc Senior Production Manager: Ellen Greene Inksover pencil: Rich Faber (pages 99. 103, 105, 106, 107. 109, and 110) Copyright © 2005 Art Studio, LLC Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hart, Christopher. Cartoon cool; how to draw the new retro characters of today’s cartoons / Christopher Hart. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8230-0587-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cartooning--Technique, I. Title. NC1764.H342005 741.5--dc22 2004024844 All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means--graphic, electronic, or mechanical. including photocopying, recording, or information storage-and-retrieval systems--without the written permission of the publisher. Printed In USA 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 / 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

Cool Retro ActionPoses 56
TRADITIONAL VS. RETRO ACTION POSES 57 INTROVERTED POSES 58 THE MEGAPUNCH 59 FLYING 60 THE RETRO “TAKE” 61 MORE ACTION POSES 62 THE EPIPHANY 63

The Retro Family Pet 64 Introduction: Lets Go Retro! Retro Basics 6
4
THE CARTOON DOG 64 PUPPY DOG EYES 65 COMMON HOUSEHOLD DOG BREEDS 66 MUTTS 69 CATS AS PETS 70 BASIC CAT HEAD SHAPES 71 THE SIAMESE CAT 72 SURLY CAT 73 BIRDS AS PETS: POPULARTYPES 74 TROPICAL FISH AND AQUARIUM PETS 75

THE RETRO HEAD 6 MORE HEAD SHAPES 9 ENLARGING THE UPPER JAW 10 DRAWING “FLAT” CHARACTERS 11 EYES 12 LIPS 14 FACIAL EXPRESSIONS 15 RETRO BODIES 18 PROPORTIONS 22 BODY SIZE 23 THE IDEALIZED CARTOON FIGURE: TRADITIONAL VS. RETRO 24 THE NECK AND SHOULDERS 26 BUILDING THE BODY SECTION BY SECTION 27 “MOLDING” THE TORSO 28 THE FEMALE TORSO 29 THE ATTRACTIVEFEMALE FIGURE STEP BY STEP 30 RETRO HANDS 32 FEET 33

Cool Retro Teenagers

76

The Retro Family

34

SERIOUS TEENAGE BOY 76 CAREFREE TEEN 77 PRETTY TEEN 78 STYLISH TEEN 79 COOL CAT 80 HANGIN’ AT THE MALL 81 LOOSEY-GOOSEY TEEN 82 THE GIRL NEXT DOOR 83 SCHOOL SCENE 84 THE REBEL 86 POSTURE 87 BASIC TEENAGE STANDING POSTURE 88 POSE AND EMOTION 89

THE SUBURBAN DAD 35 HOME ON THE RANGE: THEBARBECUE 36 A DAD, A BATHROBE, AND A CUP OF COFFEE 37 DADS WITH GLASSES 38 MORE DAD SHAPES 39 THE PERSISTENCE OF DAD 40 THE BASIC RETRO MOM 41 MOM HEAD PROPORTIONS 42 DANGER—MOM ATTEMPTING TO BE COOL 43 PERKY MOM 44 SHOP AROUND THE CLOCK 45 WALK-ABOUT MOM 46 THE SADISTIC OLDER SISTER 47 YOU ARE SO DEAD! 48 DOLLS AND PAJAMAS 49 THE BRINGER OF BAD CHEER 50 THE KNOW-IT-ALL SISTER 51 EVIL AT HOME,EVIL IN CLASS 52 THE YOUNGER BROTHER 53 MORE BOYS 54 RETRO KIDS AND SPORTS 55

THE FACE 90 THE VOLUPTUOUS FEMALE FIGURE 92 MIDRIFFS AND LOW-CUT PANTS 93 COOL CHICK 94 CAN’T BUY ME LOVE 95 NOTES ON DRAWING ATTRACTIVE POSES PRIMITIVE BEAUTY 97

Pretty Retro Women

90

96

Cool Retro Scenes

98

NO, YOU GO FIRST 98 SECRET AGENT CHICK 100 GALACTIC MEDAL OF VALOR 102 SHH! SECRET MISSION 104JEWEL THIEF 106 MY HERO! 107 HERE MONSTER, MONSTER 108 BYE FOR NOW: A CLOSING NOTE FROM CHRIS HART

111

Index

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t's everywhere you look, in animated television shows and comic books. It's the new retro style. What is retro? It's the biggest thing to come along in cartooning in decades. It's a style of illustration loosely based on the animated TV shows of the late 1950s and early1960s—a time when everything had a flat, graphic look, and the sly humor didn't play down to children. Retro is also based on character types-character types influenced by the popular family sitcoms of the early to mid-'60s, when everything looked nice on the surface: brownies and milk, moms in the kitchen, and fathers who never yelled. Yet there was always lurking a sense that these families were...