Trying to emulate a 'child like' drawing style....

[DanClarke]

I'm doing an TV ident for a project, and i'm trying to emulate a child like style of drawing, whilst at the same time retaining some manga-tamagotchi style cuteness to it. I've done a few doodles and this is what i've come to so far:



Drawn it onto a paper texture and used some pastel shades underneath to make it look kinda hand drawn. I appreciate the stammer in this early version is a little too harsh but that'll be fixed. Any thoughts or crits?

[Helm]

yes, everything with more contrast, lighter, more distinction, thicker outlines. Children don't do earthy subdued tones, they break out the red crayon and go insane.

[DanClarke]

yes, everything with more contrast, lighter, more distinction, thicker outlines. Children don't do earthy subdued tones, they break out the red crayon and go insane.

Cheers, i've mad e afew PS brushes which emulate crayons so ill probably haul them out for the final piece. I know what you mean about the colours, but i think i'll stick with the hues i've used because i think they suit it. I know it's not strictly accurate (as you've said) but i think it carries the cutsiness a little better.

[A�rendyll (formerly Yurina)]

I think the drawing could be, ehm... sharper. Now it looks like you used spray out of a can instead of hard crayons.

[biothlebop]

The red thing is quite imaginative and three dimansional for a kid, it would probably be drawn from the front or side or something. Also some odd parts of kids drawings are often entirely covered with color, while other (large areas?) are left less finished out of boredom. You could probably try to hold the pen/mouse in your bad hand, using it like a knife when you carve your name in a tree.

[LilBlueSmurf]

It is defenitely too hard to make out objects, people will be too busy trying to see one particular thing and miss the whole image.  The blur is also too much imo, when using crayons colors have harder edges, though not nessesarily totally hard.  Also, colors tend to have small gaps instead of being totally solid fills.  Right now it looks to me just like a bad pastel drawing, which even if kids did use pastels, there would likely be odd color bloches all over the image from the chalk rubbing on the kids hands then onto the page.  And last, what are those scratch marks on the side of cloud?  They seem out of place as well.

[Afflict]

Definately make it sharper brighter, and colouring to be not completefill with some single lines
outside the borders... Some parts of the lines darker than others.

[Nikolas]

You know, when I was 5 I used to draw like that. I don't know at what age, Dan is reffering to but honestly children can draw like that... Of course the red thing, does look a little 3d (with the back leg, showing), and I do believe that a child would not have such a fimr control of his hand to make the lines, perfect meeting each other...

But generally I get the feeling that the child who drew this, had water spilled on it, which is a good idea...

It works for me, Dan...

[EldKatt]

I can't claim to have any expertise in how kids draw, but to me this looks a bit too effortless. Look, for instance, at the fingers of the vending machine (or whatever it is). The curls are swiftly and effortlessly drawn, like decorative figures in an 18th century manuscript. I would expect a child's drawing to look as if he had been trying really hard to make it look like he wanted (not necessarily better, but more laborious). This might of course be because I was an obsessively perfectionist child, so I might be entirely wrong.

Apart from that minor pedantry (and the technical stuff others mentioned) it looks good, though. You could try drawing it on real paper with real crayons. Nothing beats the real thing.

[DanClarke]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I think i've worded it wrong to be honest, i'm going to replace 'child-like' with 'intentionally crap' because it's not really to emphasize or suggest that a child has created this, more that it's been inspired or been created with this in mind.

P.S: With regards to the darkness, the GIF format has brightened it more than usual levels.

I'll keep you posted with progress

[Corey]

why is it animated then?? it gives me headaches

[Bartimaeus]

Corey don't you know about that style?
It's always in those little animations you see of children's drawings, they flicker back and forth almost - it looks great. 

I think its very good - Its actually pretty damn hard to say exactly how a kids gonna draw. e.g. Drawing the fingers carefully, etc.
I think that just depends on the kid.

[Tuomas]

Well, my brother's 6 and my sister's 4, and the draw pretty much like other children, so I'll just tell you out of experience how I feel.

As said, little children tend to hold the pen in their fist because it's easier to hold that way. And, their grip tends to be further away from the tip of the pen than necessary. So that their hand won't lean against the paper, and they'll see well what they are drawing.

Then when one learns the correct grip, the drawing begin to gain some true expression. My brother draws figers very well nowadays. (though for some reason he keeps drawing pictures of heavymen with guitars and dying drunkards, probably because of my other brother who keeps teaching him these things). Yet whet he draws lines and colours, he moves the pen with his wrist, so colouring a large area is much more painful. I mean that he rests his wrist on the paper and moves the palm part with the pen.

Then those hmmm, fuzzies on the ground that indicate it's grass. I tyhink there are too many of them. Sometimes kids settle with only one. I remember seeing lots of water with only one wave init to tell it's water. The 3D thing doesn't happen, just as Nikolas said, at least that well, that the behing leg ot the machine would show.
      And kids spend an enormous amount of time and effort in drawing parts that aren't so necessary. I bet there are differences too, but my brother keeps drawing the fingers one by one, not like you did, that's more like the style I used at about 14, when I was lazy enough to not make real fingers and yet knew the basic form of how fingers should be drawn.
    Last, I don't think a child would draw crooked trees or what ever they are, unless hi/she was told or asked to do so. They tend to draw things just as they see them and not use their imaginetion to create something new from them. Some unwanted crookedness may occur, but very rarely that much.

I'm not sure what aged child are you feeling like, but I hope this helps. I think best way is to google for some kids drawings, but I guess you've already done that

[DanClarke]

why is it animated then?? it gives me headaches

It's going to be a TV ident as i said, and atm the 'stammer' is a bit extreme so ill change that when i do the final.

[Mr Flibble]

Go play Yoshi's Island, or google image it.

I think you'll find what you're looking for.

[DanClarke]

Go play Yoshi's Island, or google image it.

I think you'll find what you're looking for.

That's a great idea, i'd totally forgotten about that game! Cheers.

[DanClarke]

Well i've been working on this quite a bit today, and this is what i've come to, a sort of pink panher/sam n max/ren and stimpy style:



Happy enough with it now so i'm getting on with anaimating tomorrow. Strange how its changed completely from the original

[Chicky]

Looks ace Dan 

[Bartimaeus]

Oh man, I really love your style.

[Mr Flibble]

Have my babies.

Honestly, just take them.