Brenda Hoddinott

S-02 INTERMEDIATE:
CARTOONS IN COLOR
With only five colored pencils, you draw
this silly cartoon face centered inside long
wild blue fur. The three dimensional nose
and realistic eyes are rendered with a
technique called burnishing, and the fur is
created with hatching.
This lesson is divided into the following five parts:
INTRODUCTION: Colors of pencils and type of paper needed is discussed.
OUTLINING WOOLY BOO BLUE: You outline a cartoon face in preparation for adding
shading.
SHADING FUNNY CARTOON EYES: Eyes are shaded with three colored pencils, and a
bold, colorful approach.
SHADING THE FORM OF A SPHERICAL NOSE: Two colored pencils are used for
shading Woolys nose.
USING HATCHING TO SHADE LONG BLUE FUR: You need two colored pencils to
shade Wooly Boo Blues fuzzy fluffy fur.
Suggested drawing supplies include Good quality white drawing paper and the five colors of
pencils illustrated in the Introduction.
Recommended for artists, aged ten to ninety-nine, who have limited drawing skills, as well as
home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators

8 PAGES 16 ILLUSTRATIONS
Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada, 2004 (Revised 2006)

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INTRODUCTION
Okay! I confess! Yes! I spend a lot more time drawing, than dusting. Wooly Boo Blue is one of
a big family of dust bunnies who lives in my home!
Use white paper with some texture, as opposed to being smooth, so the colored pencils will
easily adhere to your drawing surface. Texture is the surface detail of an object, as identified by
your senses of touch and sight. I suggest the following five colors (or as close as possible).

DARK BLUE

LIGHT BLUE

BLACK

ORANGE

RED-BROWN

OUTLINING WOOLY BOO BLUE

In this section you outline a cartoon face in preparation for adding shading. Pat your head, rub
your tummy, and draw along with me as I take you step-by-step through this lesson.
1)

Use a dark blue pencil, to draw two ovals (the

eyes) in the center of your paper.
Dont draw them too big, or you wont have enough
space on your paper for the fur!

Dont press too hard with your colored

pencils keep your lines VERY light. Colored pencils
are really difficult to erase, and you may not be able
to cover your mistakes if you press too hard.

2)

Lightly sketch a circle below the eyes as a nose.

The top edge of his nose touches the bottom edges of
both ovals. Make sure you have a little triangularshape in the center of your three rounded shapes.
UPPER EYELID: is a fold of skin that covers
the upper section of an eye.
WHITE OF THE EYE: (also called an eyeball) is the large
sphere mostly hidden inside the orbital sockets of the
skull.
IRIS: is the colored circular shape surrounding the pupil
of the eye.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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3)

Draw a curved line through each eye to separate the upper eyelids from the whites.
These curved lines begin at the same point in between his eyes. From this point, they curve
upward, outward, around and down until they touch the outer edges of each eye.

4)

Draw two large partial circles under his eyelids, to represent the irises.
The irises of these eyes will be shaded with two different colors of blue.

HIGHLIGHT: a
bright spot that
defines where
light bounces off
the surface of the
eye.
PUPIL: the dark
circle inside the
iris, which adjusts
its size to
different lighting
conditions.

5)

Add a tiny circle to the upper right of each iris to represent the highlights.
The highlights are off to the right and close to the lower edges of his eyelids. The
highlights in his eyes will be left white.

6)

Draw a smaller circle inside the iris to represent the pupils of the eyes.
Make sure you dont accidentally draw a line through the highlights.

The light source

is from the right
in this drawing,
which is why the
highlights are
closer to the
right than the
left.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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SHADING FUNNY CARTOON EYES

Cartoons usually need a bolder, more colorful approach than traditional drawing subjects. You
need three colored pencils for this section, dark blue, light blue, and black.
7)

Use your dark blue to shade in the upper section of the irises.
Apply more pressure to the pencil to create a nice deep blue in the upper section. Press less
toward the lower section to make a lighter blue.

8)

With your light blue, fill in the lower section of the iris.
Press fairly hard with the light blue pencil and go over some of the dark blue sections until
the two blues seem to blend into one another. This technique is called burnishing.

BURNISHING: is
the application of
one layer(s) of
color (or white)
over another, by
applying pressure
to your pencil to
blend colors
together.
Burnishing
colored pencils
can also be done
with a tortillon or
a firm plastic
eraser.

9)

Use your black pencil to completely fill in the

pupil of each eye.
Remember to keep the highlights white.

10) Outline the little triangular shape (in the

center of the eyes and nose) with a nice sharp
black pencil.
11) Add shading with your light blue pencil to
both the right and left ends of both eyelids.
12) Use this same pencil to add a tiny bit of
shading to the right and left sections of the
white of the eye.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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13) Outline the lower edge of the eyelid with a

freshly sharpened black pencil.
14) With the dark blue, fill in the triangular shape
in the center of the eyes and nose.
This little triangle identifies the center of your
drawing space.
15) Outline all the outside edges of the eyes and
nose a little darker with your dark blue.
Keep the lines really crisp and fine, rather than
fuzzy and wide by keeping your pencil very sharp
as you draw. You may need to re-sharpen your
pencils several times as you add these outlines.

SHADING THE FORM OF A SPHERICAL NOSE

You need two colored pencils, orange and red-brown for shading Woolys nose.
16) Use a sharp black pencil to draw a line between
the eyes.
17) With your orange pencil shade in the nose,
leaving a small circular section white.
The small white circular shape in the upper right
section of the nose (called the highlight), helps
make the nose look shiny and three dimensional.
Also note that the outer edges of the nose (close to
its blue perimeter) are a lighter orange.

18) Use your red-brown pencil to add a crescentshaped section of shading in the lower left
section of the nose.
This is an area in shadow and helps make the circle
look three-dimensional and realistic.
Darker values are usually used in those areas of
your drawing subject that receive less light than
sections closer to the light source.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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USING HATCHING TO SHADE LONG BLUE FUR

Now the face is finished, and you can finish the rest of your dust bunny. On to the fun part! You
need your dark blue and light blue colored pencils to shade Wooly Boo Blues fuzzy fluffy fur
(say that quickly ten times!).
19) Draw a few straight lines
extending outward from the
triangular shaped center.
Small children often draw rays of
light coming from the sun with
lines.
Imagine for a moment that the
dark triangle in the center of
Woolys face is a large circle.
Think of this circle as the sun
with lines indicating the rays of
light.
These lines serve as guidelines,
to help you draw the fur in the
final steps of this project.

20) With your light blue

pencil, draw a whole
bunch of straight
hatching lines to
represent his fur.
Hatching is a series of
lines (called a set) drawn
closely together to give
the illusion of values.
Use the guidelines to
keep the fur growing
outward from the center.
Try and make the fur a
little thicker closer to his
eyes and nose by drawing
a few extra shorter lines.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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21) Use your dark blue pencil to draw lots of shorter hatching lines.
These lines are darker and closer together near the center.

Use your vinyl eraser to clean up any smudges or fingerprints on your

drawing paper. Put todays date on the back of your drawing, sign
your name and pat yourself on the back!

CHALLENGE
Use the techniques of outlining, burnishing and hatching, to draw another cartoon character. You
may choose to draw Wooly Boo Blues crazy cousin Silly Willy Woo, or his little pet cow Mini
Millie Moo, or you can even invent your very own dust bunny.
Use your imagination and any colors you like, and make any creative changes you wish! The
nose can be big or really tiny, and can even be an oval or kidney shape. I have given my dust
bunny thick fur. You may choose to give yours thinner fur (or even curly fur). Remember, the
only goal is to have fun!
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY

As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda utilizes
diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, cont
crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on

the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the
technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion
for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also
becomes enjoyable.
>Brenda Hoddinott<

Born in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She
developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning,
and the aid of assorted Learn to Draw books. During Brendas twenty-five year career as a
self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have
employed Brendas skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police
departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from Forensic
Artists International.
Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and
painting classes. As supervisor of her communitys recreational art department, Brenda hired and
trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several childrens art programs. In 1998, Brenda
chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing,
drawing, painting, and developing her websites.
Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to
curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for
students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and
abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a
resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout
the world.

LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT

Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is
available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.
The Complete Idiots Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the
Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page
book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com