Lately, I’ve been getting the same question from a number of my readers: Do professional cartoonists use the step-by-step method to draw? The answer is that many use it, and the ones that don’t incorporate it into their work. Think of a professionally trained, classical pianist. She does hours of rudimentary scales to build her skills. When she’s ready to perform at a high level, those basics are built into her technique.
So, if you were to look at some “model sheets” of famous, animated movie characters, you would see that the underlying construction is spelled out with basic shapes. The purpose of the model sheets is to guide the professional animator. So yes, the steps are super important. Can you draw without them? Yes. But why would you want to?
Until next time!
Your How-to-Draw Sherpa,
Christopher Hart