We start at the very beginning with the simplest of principles, and then gradually develop your knowledge, understanding and skill. Cartooning is about a great deal more than mere drawing. It’s about you and your outlook on life, your sense of humour, and your observation of other people’s foibles, their attitude and how they hold themselves… in essence, their character. We will introduce you to the basic principles and teach you some of the tricks of comic drawing, which you will be able to apply to whichever type of cartooning your intend to do.

We can learn a great deal from the artists of the past. Prehistoric cave-dwellers carved and painted on their walls scenes from their daily lives, showing simplified figures hunting beautifully-observed animals. Perhaps they are not funny, as we expect cartoons to be, but they do show the human desire to comment on life, depicting basic figures and actions. The Egyptians, Japanese and the original occupants of North and South America have among others, all left us examples of images that can be related to modern cartoons.We show you examples of some of these to help you develop a sense of the backdrop to cartooning.

Gradually you will create your own style as you find your own ways to make drawing easier and more effective. We do not present you with any formulas for drawing cartoons – we aim to lead it out of you rather than load it onto you!