I love teaching my Cartoon Club online art classes for kids each week. I really feel so lucky to spend time exploring new topics in such a fun and creative way.
This week in cartoon class we designed “The Happenin’ Hive”. I didn’t even realise that it was Earth Day this week. A happy coincidence! The children had super imaginative ideas in our class including a larva nursery, a master chef-bee, cranky guards and of course a triple layer honey cake for the Queen. I think I’d live there!
In this YouTube video tutorial I show you how I doodle just one of the worker bees that I drew in my hive during this online art class for the kids.
I found it fun to learn about bees. My friend Chula from Colouring Club for adults is a bee researcher (I didn’t know there was such a thing but now it makes sense!) and she gave us all a bit of an education on Sunday evening as we coloured.
There’s always a new topic to doodle on – something that will not only improve our drawing abilities, challenge us to come up with new and creative ways of solving problems. The bees were particularly fun to draw because they are simple approachable shapes to doodle, but have just enough artistic elements to play around with.
The children and I brainstormed some great features to add to our bee hives and here’s one of my favourite cartoon characters who emerged…
Here’s what you will need:
- Pencil (I use my friend the 4B Faber-Castell Jumbo here)
- Paper
- Black marker or fine-liner (I’m using a Uni Super Ink fine marker here)
- Eraser or rubber (it just for erasing AFTER you have inked)
- 4 Colours (My favourite are Faber-Castell polychromes or Prismacolor but whatever you have will do just fine)
How do I draw a cartoon Buzzing Bee?
Good question! Head on over to my YouTube channel and you can watch the tutorial where I step you through How to Draw a Cartoon Buzzing Bee from the online art classes with the kids. But before you begin….get your creative thinking cap on…
How can I think more Creatively? Let’s focus on VARIETY
Before you start the video, I recommend you keep in mind the following: there are all kinds of creative ways to add variety to a drawing.
What do I mean by that? Well in this example, a cartoon bee can be a pretty basic character to draw and it’s easy to fall into a pattern and just repeat the same character throughout the drawing.
I try to look at ways of adding variety on multiple levels from the individual cartoon character to the fun elements in my work to the overall composition of the drawing.
This video shows you how I draw this one buzzing bee cartoon. What I want you to experience is the process I go through and how I add variety, even in this simple example. I use variety of shape, size, detail, colour, line type… get creative with it!
You will wind up with a different character than me and make different decisions along the way. That’s great. It will be your unique character. Ready… Let’s get creative!
Step 1 – Start by drawing lightly
I begin with my biggest shape that is going to create my bee. This one is a simple oval. But I don’t just draw one circle and leave it at that; I draw lots. This is both thinking time and time for me to see what is going to feel the most like the orientation for my cartoon bee.
Next I lightly sketch in the other features, in this case lots more circles, and note the variety of size and placement. This is my chance to play around and see how I can make this bee interesting.
Step 2 – Capture your cartoon’s expression
Now I grab my pen. I start with the eyes. This is going to give my bee her character. I make them extra big and add more detail and emphasis like eyelashes. I love the way she’s looking already in this class.
Step 3 – Inking your cartoon Bee
With my pen, I continue to outline the rest of my character. The head, the body, the stinger etc. I exaggerate the feeling that she is a happy buzzing worker bee. Note how I use variety of size in particular.
Step 4 – Let’s Colour your Cartoon Buzzing Bee
Here I used four colours; often I only use three. I do this to give myself a bit more variety for her. She’s a simple shape in her body so I think she can handle the added colour and notice I’m not colouring her realistically.
Top Cartoon Colouring Tip! – VARIETY
This is why I use pencil crayons to colour; because I can add variety. I can make my pencial softer, I can use harder lines, I can make a gradient, I can blend, I can outline, I can colour a solid area. Play around with variety with your pencils!
Please share your cartoons
Please share your doodles when you are done. I LOVE seeing everyone’s work. It’s so inspiring! If you are on Instagram please tag @sjvickery and hashtag #cartoonclubforkids or find me on Facebook @sarahjanevickeryart
Grab a FREE PDF or watch another art class tutorial
I also have lots of Free Worksheets and Colouring Pages for anyone who wants to get creative. To see all my videos and tutorials head on over to my YouTube channel.
Join Cartoon Club – Online art classes for Kids who love to doodle
Is your child always doodling? Do they love to create cartoons? This is for them! At Cartoon Club we are a small, friendly group that works together in our online platform offering art classes for kids who love to doodle and think creatively. We’re open to children who like to sit, doodle and dream up cartoons. Cartoon Club was set up by me, artist and Creativity Coach Sarah Jane Vickery, with the aim of building art classes for kids to share their love of cartoons – and ultimately, have fun while building creative confidence.