How To "Cheat" at Cartoon Portraits
By Alan Taylor
()
About this ebook
You'll be making beautiful personalized gifts for all your friends after reading this book.
Don't worry if you "can't draw a straight line."
Your computer does all the hard work for you.
All you need to do is follow instructions and trace the results.
You will need a computer, printer and scanner to use the free software that makes this work.
And a window for tracing.
Step by step you'll be shown how to make an accurate drawing of whatever face you want (by clicking a few mouse buttons and tracing the results.)
The template you'll make lets you see what objects look best in your cartoon, at what size and in what position.
Think it might look better somewhere else?
Try it and see.
If you're wrong, just move it back again.
You can create your own clip art to use over and over again as well as download a starter pack for free.
As well as detailed training, advice is given on what pens and paper to use, finishing touches to make your picture look brilliant and tips on framing.
What better way to learn to draw than by accident while producing beautiful personalized pictures?
Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor has been a journalist for over 30 years. He was deputy editor and managing editor of The Scotsman, and for 15 years was Writer-at-Large for the Sunday Herald. He has contributed to numerous publications, including The Times Literary Supplement, TheNew Yorker and The Melbourne Age and was co-founder and editor of The Scottish Review of Books. He was editor of the centenary editions of the collected novels of Muriel Spark and has edited several acclaimed anthologies, including The Assassin’s Cloak (2000). He also wrote the bestselling Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark (2017). He also edited Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries (2022).
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Book preview
How To "Cheat" at Cartoon Portraits - Alan Taylor
How To Cheat
At Cartoon Portraits
(impress your friends with personalized gifts)
by
Alan Taylor
Copyright Alan Taylor 2011
Smashwords Edition
Welcome
Welcome to "How to Cheat at Cartoon Portraits". I hope you enjoy it.
A cartoon portrait makes a wonderful personalized gift for anybody’s birthday, wedding anniversary or other occasion. And the fact you drew it yourself makes it even more special to the person receiving it.
I use the word cheat in the title because if you’re one of those people who "can’t draw faces" you may feel that’s just what you’re doing. I’m going to show you how to use your computer to do the hard work for you. You’ll just trace the results. Making it very difficult to get a face wrong
.
You’ll still need to decide what to put in your picture and where to put it. But the computer programs I recommend (both free) make the process much easier than it would be on your own.
This book walks you through the process of creating your cartoon portrait from choosing a photograph right up to framing the end product.
If you visit http://www.draw4profit.com/resources you can download some basic templates and clip art files which should help you get started. You’ll also find links to online suppliers of paper, pens and so forth.
Let’s begin with what you’ll need.
What You’ll Need
You will need some basic equipment to create your cartoon portraits.
Computer
Most of the design process will be done using a computer program called Inkscape I’ll tell you where you can get that from later but you will definitely need:
· A PC running Windows 2000 or later
· A Printer·
A Scanner
It doesn’t matter whether your Printer and Scanner are separate machines or built into a single Printer/Scanner/Copier machine.
Paper
Once your cartoon is designed you’ll need to change it from a file on your computer into a finished drawing on a sheet of good quality paper. We’re going to use two different types of paper to achieve this.
Remember that your cartoon is meant as a personalized gift. You don’t want to ruin that effect by using cheap and nasty paper for it. So the paper they receive their Cartoon Portrait on should be good quality Heavy Cartridge Paper (220 grams per square metre).
Since a finished Cartoon Portrait measures 14 x 11
(a standard frame size) you’ll need paper at least this big. A4 sheets will be too small so you’ll want to buy A3 size 220gsm Cartridge Paper.
You should be able to get pads of Cartridge Paper from any art supplies store. If you have any trouble you can find a link at: http://www.draw4profit.com/resources
You’ll print out your design initially onto two sheets of A4 paper to stick together. Since nobody else will ever actually see these sheets of paper, quality doesn’t matter. Use the cheapest A4 copier paper you can find or whatever paper you use in your printer all the time.
Pens
To give your cartoons as gifts you will need to trace your designs by hand. You’ll need some pens. The manufacturer and exact thickness of each pen is up to you but we use: