Lisa Chui

What are Cartoons? A form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. Refers to a typically non-realistic or semi- realistic drawing or painting intended for caricature, humor, or to the artistic style of such works. An artist who creates cartoons is called a cartoonist.

Cartoon History Cartoons originated in the Middle Ages from the Italian "cartone" and Dutch word "karton", meaning strong, heavy paper or pasteboard. It is a full-size drawing made on sturdy paper used as a preparatory drawing for a piece of art (painting, fresco, tapestry, or stained glass window). In the past, cartoons were typically used in the production of frescoes, to accurately link the component parts of the composition when painted on damp plaster over a series of days. In the 19th century, it came to refer to humorous illustrations in magazines and newspapers, and in the early 20th century to present it referred to comic strips and animated films.

Books Books with cartoons are usually reprints of newspaper cartoons. On some occasions, new gag cartoons have been created for book publication. Cartoonists back then drew cartoons showing what was popular such as Volkswagens, and these were published along with humorous automotive essays by humorists writers. The book's design juxtaposed each cartoon alongside a photograph of the cartoon's creator.

Animation Because of the stylistic similarities between comic strips and early animated movies, "cartoon" came to refer to animation, and the word "cartoon" is currently used to refer to both animated cartoons and gag cartoons. While "animation" designates any style of illustrated images seen in rapid succession to give the impression of movement, the word "cartoon" is most often used in reference to TV programs and short films for children. At the end of the 1980s, the word "cartoon" was shortened, and the word "toon" came into usage with the live action/animated feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit(1988), followed two years later by the TV series Tiny Toon Adventures (1990).

Famous Cartoonists & Their Characters Bill Amend: Amend is the creator of the famous “Foxtrot.” Foxtrot first began running in papers on April 10, 1988 when Bill Amend was 25. Bill Amend was born in Bill always wanted to make movies, not cartoons, when he was a kid. He says that he never really took drawing lessons besides what required for school. To get his ideas, Bill has to think and plan very hard. For him it takes 3 to 4 hours to pencil and ink his daily strip, while it takes 8 to 10 hours for the Sunday strips.

Chuck Jones: Creator of many "Looney Tunes" characters Chuck Jones created the famous "Looney Tunes" characters "Bugs Bunny", "Daffy Duck", "Elmer Fudd", and "Porky Pig". He also created "Road Runner", "Wile E. Coyote", "Marvin the Martian", "PePe Le Pew", "Michigan J. Frog", and "Gossamer.” When Chuck Jones was 25 he directed his first film, "The Night Watchman." In WWII he made Army training films. Then, in 1962 he had a short contract with Disney Studios. His most memorable holiday special was Dr. Suess' "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." It first aired in December of 1966, it was a half hour special. Chuck Jones did cartooning for over 60 years. He made over 300 animation films. He has 2 Academy Awards and also a Honorary Oscar in Chuck Jones was working until his 80’s and has inspired and influenced film makers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who are both his fans. Chuck Jones died in 2002.

Charles Schulz: Schulz was the creator of the Peanuts Gang. He created Charlie Brown, Sally, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Shroder, Woodstock, Rerun, Pig Pen, Franklin, Marcie and Peppermint Patty. Peanuts was one of the first comics with more than three characters. The gang has been around for more than fifty years. In the 1940's Schulz went to war. He excelled as an infantryman, as a staff sergeant, and the leader of a machine-gun squad. When he was in the war his artistic ability was put on hold. His death was in He died a great man. Everyone loved him. His comics are still in news papers but they are only reruns.

Walt Disney: Walt Disney Walt Disney was born December 5, 1901 in Chicago, but he grew up on a farm in Missouri. His first job as an artist was drawing horses, cows & bags of feed for farm equipment catalogs. He learned about animation at the Kansas City Film Ad Co., then moved to Hollywood, California to start his own studio. He is most famous for the Mickey Mouse character he created in For many years he did the voice of Mickey himself. Although he gave up drawing early in his career, his studio won many awards. His career spanned 43 years, and he won 26 Oscar awards and 7 Emmys. He also got many awards from colleges like Harvard, Yale, and the University of Southern California, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and France's Legion of Honor medal. Walt Disney is considered a visionary cartoonist.

Cartoon Facts The earliest cartoon strip, named "The Yellow Kid," was shown in the New York Journal in The longest running newspaper comic strip is "The Katzenjammer Kids," which was first published in It is still in publication. The most filmed cartoon character - Zorro has been shown in 69 films. Created by Johnston McCully, he was the first comic strip character to be the subject shown in a major film, The Mark of Zorro (USA 1920). The most valuable cartoon movie poster was a poster for the Walt Disney short, Alice's Day at Sea (USA 1924), was sold in London England at $ in 1994.

The most syndicated comic strip was Peanuts by Charles Schulz (USA) appears in 2,620 different news papers in 75 different countries. Schulz published his last Peanuts strip on January 3rd,2000 before he died on February 12th Most valuable cartoon cell: In 1989, a black-and-white drawing from Walt Disney's "Orphan's Benefit" (USA 1934), depicting Donald Duck being punched by an orphan, raised $280,000 at Christie's London, England. One of the 150,000 color cells from Disney's Snow White (USA 1937) was sold in 1991 for $203,000. The longest running primetime animated series is the Simpsons, which began in The first animated TV cartoon series was called "Crusader Rabbit," which ran from 1949 to The most expensive animated film was The Prince of Egypt (USA, 1998), which cost 60 million to make!

Learn Some Classic Cartoon Characteristics Tip #1: An important part of the cartoon is the smile. You want to make the smile very open and big if your character is happy or laughing. Tip #2: The feet are usually larger on a cartoon than on a real person. You might want to make the feet oversized and the shoelaces big. Tip #3: Hands that are on a cartoon character are bigger, rounder and fatter. You may want to draw them bigger than in real life. Tip #4: To make your character appear moving, you could add movement lines on the sides. These are just simple, small lines around the area on the cartoon that you want to move.

Different Facial Expressions:

Procedure: Part 1: Comic Strip: 1.In your sketchbook, divide your page into 4 boxes and design your own cartoon character. Make sure that it looks original and your own creation. Give it a name. You should have a front view, back view, side view and top view of your character (one view per box). 1.On another page in your sketchbook, divide your page into 6 boxes and create a different facial expression for each box using the same face of your new invented character. (Refer to slides for examples or ideas).

3. You will now plan your storyline for your cartoon strip by first creating a storyboard in your sketchbook (rough draft). Your story theme should be related to the environment such as global warming, pollution, etc or have a social message behind it. Have a lesson/moral at the end. Make sure to have 8 frames for your story to flow smoothly. The first frame will be the title page and the last frame will be “The End.” Therefore, in reality you will only have 6 frames to formulate your storyline so plan accordingly. 4. You will now start your final copy on the good paper provided by the teacher. Make sure to take your time and color your work.

Part 2: Clay Sculpture Instructions coming soon……