BULGY EYEBALLS AND FREAKISH OVERBITES: AN INTRODUCTION ‘ve been a drawer of curves and ovals ond squiggly lines for about as long as I con remember. | can even pinpoint the moment when my fate as o ifelong compulsive doodler was secled: the First day of the first grade. That's when | began to drow, ond draw and. drow and draw, on whatever surface and with whatever too! | hod handy. Why? Because | found school so unbelievably boring that Thad to do something~anything-to keep myself rom going out of my mind Evortvolly, those crude grade-school scribbles grew more polished and refined, resuiting in that crude grownup cartoon powerhouse we all love and worship, “The Simpsons.” And todoy, "The Simpsons” remains part of a special but disappearing art form: two-dimensional hond-drawn animation, with heavy emphosis on large heods, beord lines, and comicel flab Back in 1993, we put together Cartooning with the Simpsons, the inspirotion for ths monumental instructional ort tome. But as great as the original work was, it looks like « bootleg coloring book for lle babies compared to this big ol’ brick. Check out the gatefolds and tracing Paper overlays, the oodles and oodles of Simpsons characters, including Milhouse, and the highly professional ips and ticks from the ani- motors who have toiled on the show il they have weird litle skin grooves where they hold theie pencils. | ossure you thot if you practice herd and long enough, you too can develop your own special litle skin grooves. I've got lots of cartooning odvice, f you can stop drawing fora second ond pay attention: Keep things simple. [You can convey space, motion, ‘ond feeling wit aly Few lines.) Save your stuff, (Don't let your mom or stepmom throw it out.) Always finish what you're working ing @ fll story) Go cheod and copy other styles. (But don’t just stick to one.) Check out the original ‘artwork of cartoonists and arists you dig. (Pros do make mistakes, but you have to see the originals to learn how they fixed them.) And Finally (here's he tough one): Be original! (Keep practicing, develop your own style, and try to surprise yourself.) This book is fll of rules about how to draw the Simptons characters, and those rules have made it possible for thousands of artists {pencillers, cleoneruppers, erasermonkeys, inkers, inbetweentheliners, crayonisls, colorizers, mouseclickers, and magical elves) to draw the Simpsons pretty much the some way. Ths process has taken us years to got right. But when I started drawing Bart, Lio, Homer, Mar fend Maggie for the frst time there was no “right” way to draw them. | had tried, and fol aw like the sick professional ort 2dmired. So | gave up trying 1 be © drawing master and went back to doodling freakish humanoids with no chins For me, that was when the fun begen. Your pal, MATT GRoENWGWelcome to the world of cartooning...”Simpsons”-style! Bsior you rll up your deeve ond sor gating our bonds dy youl ned fw sopplo, Hore one same sae how, pin sore foc ete you bul He pospering youll Pencils @)— A stondord #2 wil work tn, bu ot pencils come in mary varies, om ver of lead (fore dork ine 0 very hord lea (or ght line. ik he one thet suits you best. Also, you'll nace that much ofthe rough saching in this books done wih ight coor ponc. Then the fina Ines pun wh darker led pencil. You may wan! ory some ofthe many colr peels vclable end find cbrond tht you Ie. Foro shorp drawing, youl ned 0 shorp pene Fr that you'l ned o Peneil Sharpener@ You can splurge ond gto coo, noisy elecrc model coc economize with on ofthe hondcronk vail. You migh also won!'o pickup small perabe handheld sharpener fr when you're drawing on the ge. Erasers @— I's good to have a plastic eraser such ot 0 Stoediler Mors for eradicating unwonted darker ines, and a kneaded eraser for geting ‘dof solar ines ond removing dit ond smudges from your paper. Speoking of Paper @,you'l need some ofthat too. I'l keep you from drawing ll over your walls. Any pope wil do for practice, even © poper bog. Bu you may want a good drawing poper, layout bond 0: brisel board, for your more finshed crowings Pens @-In animation, the tight pencil drowings ore scanned direc, but for printing purposes, ofrished ink in is necessary. “Simpsons” comic books, calendars, merchondise at, ee, all require inking over the finished pencil drawings. Mos “Simpsons” oriss use « Rapidograph technical pen ora Micron archival nk pen to achieve those consistent “Simpsons”syle lines. White Opaquing Point sch a ro Whites good for covering up inking misoes, cn you can easly ik bck overlie hen You'll rarely s00 o porecly straight ine ina “Simpsons” drowing, bt a Tsquare @, Plastic Triangle@, ond Ruler @ wil occasionally come in handy for laying out ines of perspective floor and ceiling lines, etc, in background drawings ond lage props. Fina ines are done without hese items to give the backgrounds and props on organic honddrawn look Drowing Board ® ~ A good sy surfaces essontl oo good sudy drawing. A crowing boot del but o desk or kchen ble wl do as well Som ors eto work with heir paper on o a wroce, while oer prefer to work aan engl. You decide what wrk best for you you FIN Fhe! Heky and Seratehy’s vite gloues are based on those oF many classic cartoon Aoracters of *Ne 1150s and 140%!The Many Moods oF ChieF WiggumPATTY AND SELMAPatty and Sena have shghty A Forent tastes in Jee, another vay to tell then apart! Patty has long Ariangudar earrings Sela has bg round ones “Rat hang below Ker ear From inne books AS, AS, attys nectlace i a series oF smal balls connected by a Usble string “Nat runs through then. Seles nectce isa series oF eval shapes that attach to each other.wteracting Wh each ANS point You nay be asting, “Row! tall is Whouse compared +o Bart? Is Fang Shorter Ran Homer” Here isa handy SIZE-RELATIONSHIP CHART 40 hel you ansuer these auestions For Yorsalf!COSTUME CHANGESAlthough the Simpsons characters usually wear the same clothes, they eceasionally change into other duds og the situation dictates. Here are several +ypical costume changes for various characters.(Oo Keb) dl . aS 1)BACKGROUNDS AND PY Xe) |Le @ GS & Yas il Ms Au Leth Si eit mapa haf SaadNon meses 1 Se ences ny ner oe art Sg ‘cornech cartons, bt lets Face i, without baclgronds he characters Wold Flownder ih oh ehehy dod = a | Chservational detals are Vey elements oF elery Simpsons Sackeround draving. In these Kitchen ews, notice that even *hovdh ‘he Ines are smabfied to vor wll uth the shyla of ‘he characters, WS oll based on real objects and realbackgrounds tell you ‘tangs about *Ne characters. The draving taped to the Fridge ‘els You that Norge ard Homer are prod paren’. The stool n the ‘corner reminds You that Bart needs to take a time-out every once ma vile. The crack in the vill s evidence that Homer spends nore tine vatching TV than doing hone repairs. “These things nay Sean nsignifcant but they hele create the thsion that the Simpsons ore real daractersee GIMPEONe’ Notice *Ne baht perspective ines in Rese Mews of the TN room, ll going +2 Single arishing oF 4Can You tell vhat parspactite vas used to create Nis draving? IF yoo sad “one-pot” evar’ yourself wth. a tall, cool DUFF (or a pictled eg9 Youre underage!) ‘The wanihing point is ist to the laft oF the door Notice tow the lines oF the Floor, cel peal tbl, ar ete, al go to at pom Now check out the TV. You con Yell that i hanging (OFF the wall tan odd angle because *he Ines dont rlate at all to the vonshing pent “he pencil shading Vere Farther hel to dbstrate that the elenents in AN craving are based on ‘bsering real cbjects. Cuerything inthe room has comincing Fern, shane, Meth and deta\~ spesting of det, is state takes ‘he cate! Simpsons Lance Wider \as ebvowshy been Yo a conte book. Sore of to Wn Ns day. The observational detals ere Se conineing Yoo can ne woldy paper ond g7208j onion rings | Yo cllow vs 0 better ew.«These evs oF Reis ret establshnent ore drain in a ‘nio-pant perspectole’ In the case of the First wav, we the ieters are at a vantage paint lolang down on the room. We can ell “hast our eye Ine is above the top of “he Saithes machine beenwse ‘a can it ah Ss ons ohn ho the na of “he Floor, magazines, counter tons, ete, all go Yo points on the ee Ine Cor harem Ine) evtide the drain ton both the right and the let ses. 4 yi wlat an old onde Nove nat m the center oF the toro we were in the Simpsons TV room. Now! Weta off to the side cd ue cn see io et of noptof he elements he om, Tonia, ve vere standing directly Facing sa the Satcher = machine, our perspective Would change to one-pomt and we old sae only the nachna bak face,BART'S Here's 0 rare eumple of “three-point perspective’ We're cntousl looting dovn on the room Fron sich a height that he \orzon Ine sl of ‘he page. Tus brds-eye ie what ale crests, “he rd part m vhat youd erase be tworpomt perspectie BY Joo can Fellow the Norzonl ines oF the clasicoon door, the boatthchles, Whe Sides of the desis, and the vindon's to the First vanishing powmt oFF ill “he top of ‘he page, The Ines of the Fronts and backs of the dests | 0 to the second tnching pow OFF to the right oF ‘he page The ‘Ned “ishing pont s off the betton of tha page Notice ben the clssroom door 6 der at Ne to than it at Ne atten? Normally he verheal lines of the door vod ke pall Yo eachother bt becasse ow vantage Ponti $0 Ugh ‘hse nes lto recede wo partoacie Al he vereal = has in Ais drning go fo the AS vnihng pointHEN RU evan HESe OWN CONT an P TES ei “Ths drasng & a tricky ona. Because oF the exclar center rng area and bleacher placement there are lots oF perspectives going on here. The caneres,lak's, props, and Replaise signs are all at odd anales t0 each other and to the general perspectine of *he room. Honever, sa very organized chacs. “The Foor Ines, celing Ines, ond preseanim areh are actully a one-pot perspactile Many oF “Ne ther elements hale a No-pomt perspective because they are not at right angles Wh the rest oF “he room. fet, ederytung vorls Together to make one belewble and Fartastic draving)nest of odo be what the nie of wn actil nclar peer slant esl, bt these vs of toners work station ae pretty comineing We don’t Know! what most oF these dal, Urobs and Sutches do, but neither does Homerdeta oF Ais conse only neronses oF ‘Ne den that Homer actualy \eris there. —SWhen it comes to “The Simpsons,” idle hands are the cartoonist’s playground. ere are a couple oF pages oF props Yo ge those hands something to do, Like the backgrounds, the props in the Simpsons onilerse are Very observational. They have a very hand-dran, organic look, yet, as you can see by the shading on these preliminary sketches, their design comes From abserving real objects For comparison, a feu oF the preliminary stetches are shoun with their Final animation line counterparts.PMc Melero Re co RRR eT) are essential to building a scene with characters interacting in a setting. Whether your goal is creating an animated cartoon, a comic book, Cer Nice oer medal om Col ON oUt RT) elements together. So why wait? Let's do it now! BU Mele cos Mle RMR) Mee RU Rolo Ce ae on meet casi cut followed by a tight pencil drawing, and ending with the final ink line CMe cel oS A oo RR ea} guide to build your own cartoon masterpieces!