Cartooning with 'Gilby' 23rd July 2011

A small but select group got together at Asfordby Village Hall on Saturday 23rd July to learn cartooning techniques with Derby-based artist Andy Gilbert.

One of the lines written in the Kickstart booklet suggests using the lines used in comic strips to denote movement.

On the basis of that we booked Andy as something very different to the usual textile related workshop format.

Andy had provided everything for the day- each participant was given a new sketchbook, pencil and marker pen to work with. It is unsual to attend workshops with little or no requirements list and for this seasons Kickstart we have been very fortunate in the generosity of our tutors.

He introduced us to the world of commercial cartooning, in particular the greetings card market; how he goes about designing and ideas for humerous captions, and all interspersed with guidance on drawing the cartoons.

Tricks were introduced in order to simplify designs for print reduction, giving direction to the eyes of the character, hairstyles, and detail to create individuals.



hairstyle alone can change gender, but add an earing and eyelashes and Hey Presto!

Changing expressions - here we started with the same basic character drawn four times on the page
By changing the placement of the iris, the shape of the mouth and the hair and eyebrows we have four very different characters.

Pam's Pooch

A child is created by making the eyes more circular, the nose smaller and the face more squashed and not elongated - add freckles a smile and his favourite pooch ......If only it were that simple?

After a lunch taken away from the work, and a good chat, we returned to be set a 10 minute challenge - given the suggestion of 'cooking' we each had to draw a characer in a setting with a caption - humerous if possible.   I am sure we all felt a bit daunted but everyone rose to the task and we had men with camping stoves, dogs and lobsters doing the cooking, wonderful kitchen settings with pots and pans and many varied characters.

as the comments on one feedback form suggested: "It was good to have everyone moving together as a group"

We then learnt to add the bodies to our characters and make them move: walking, jogging and running:

Dawn's whistling jogger

Andy provided some wonderful bright, vibrant color markers to complete the sketches:

Joyce's first lady?

and each participant was provided with a good quality A3 Bristol Board to make a final piece of art



Everyone had the opportunity to ask questions throughout the session, Andy very obligingly gave suggestions of ways to draw many characters on request from Lions, to Mice, to a snoring man in his bed  - the antithesis to movement perhaps?

comments from the feedback forms:

"Tutor able to answer all specific questions from individuals - very pleased to help and illustrate what he meant"
"Confidence to attempt some cartoon drawing - a brilliant session!"
"learnt how to draw cartoon characters; very useful for my kickstart project. A lot of showing + doing + practice - very well led session"
" the use of simple lines to create movement, atmosphere and emotion - achieved all my learning objectives"

Thank you Andy for an inspiring and fulfilling workshop.