Fun Cartooning with Frank “Kimo” Mitchell
What a great time we had with “Kimo” Mitchell for our February meeting. He brought some of his delightful artworks with their appealing Hawaiian Menehuna inspired characters. He had an interesting path to develop his artistic career: from drawing during recess, to painting the quarterdecks in the Navy, to creating re-enlistment cartoons—and he made it fun to hear about.
He currently teaches art to 5th and 6th graders at a local elementary school. His technique is great for helping see and build form. Kimo had the members of the association try out the technique during the presentation. He first starts by using basic shapes to get all the pieces in proportion with a strict rule, “No Erasing.” When looking at your subject, look for triangles, circles, cylinders and other various shapes to help simplify the head, ear, eyes and other body parts. The last step is detailing, where you can round out your shapes and add shadow for depth.
Next he had us experiment with how to start a cartoon. First we started with a basic shape and an “action line” to add fluidity. Adding details, such as silly hair, black eyes with white dots for reflection, shadows for weight and toes that bend, would bring the character to life. Our first exercise on cartooning was very fun when Kimo showed us how to draw a mermaid by starting from the shape of a raindrop. This turned very comical when the raindrop became too wide and the mermaid started to look middle aged. We next made an elephant from a basic triangle (adding modifications—including a suit!), then moved to drawing a rat with the raindrop shape again. We added an action line and appendages. Some fun personality details were silly hair, jagged teeth, potbelly, long toes and crooked toenails. The rat was running from a big cat claw so the entire feel of the drawing was very silly and over exaggerated. The smallest of details make a difference on the feeling of the drawing. The rat’s eyes were sticking out of the sockets to emphasize fright and the direction of his toe nails also emphasized panic.
It was one of the most lively, participant-involved meetings we’ve had and everyone seemed to be having a great time and feeling good about their accomplishments (or at least had fun trying!).
He currently teaches art to 5th and 6th graders at a local elementary school. His technique is great for helping see and build form. Kimo had the members of the association try out the technique during the presentation. He first starts by using basic shapes to get all the pieces in proportion with a strict rule, “No Erasing.” When looking at your subject, look for triangles, circles, cylinders and other various shapes to help simplify the head, ear, eyes and other body parts. The last step is detailing, where you can round out your shapes and add shadow for depth.
Next he had us experiment with how to start a cartoon. First we started with a basic shape and an “action line” to add fluidity. Adding details, such as silly hair, black eyes with white dots for reflection, shadows for weight and toes that bend, would bring the character to life. Our first exercise on cartooning was very fun when Kimo showed us how to draw a mermaid by starting from the shape of a raindrop. This turned very comical when the raindrop became too wide and the mermaid started to look middle aged. We next made an elephant from a basic triangle (adding modifications—including a suit!), then moved to drawing a rat with the raindrop shape again. We added an action line and appendages. Some fun personality details were silly hair, jagged teeth, potbelly, long toes and crooked toenails. The rat was running from a big cat claw so the entire feel of the drawing was very silly and over exaggerated. The smallest of details make a difference on the feeling of the drawing. The rat’s eyes were sticking out of the sockets to emphasize fright and the direction of his toe nails also emphasized panic.
It was one of the most lively, participant-involved meetings we’ve had and everyone seemed to be having a great time and feeling good about their accomplishments (or at least had fun trying!).
