Drawing yourself can be easy and fun

Even if you’re not a cartoonist, knowing how to draw yourself as a cartoon character can be a unique addition to your journals, putting your face on little notes or cards you give as gifts to friends, family, and even your kids.

You can add personality to anything you’re writing by hand and make people smile if you can draw yourself quickly and cutely.

Step One: Pick a shape for your head

Choose a shape for your head. Even a square one could be cute!

Look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and be honest about your head shape. Do you have a long face? Round? Maybe you’re not sure, so you ask someone. If you have kids, ask them how they see you. Be prepared for hilarious honesty!

Truthfully, the shape of the head doesn’t really matter.

You can use any of the three. I draw myself with each one of these head shapes depending on how I feel. If you look back on some of my older posts, the cartoony version changes depending on the joke, how stubborn I want to come across (square heads are good for that), or how innocent I must look to clarify the message.

Step Two: Draw your eyes and nose along the same line

Drawing your eyes and nose on the same line helps you look cute.

I like to use simple dots for my eyes, but you can use circles with pupils inside if you like. The main tip is to keep the eyes level with the nose. For some reason, this helps your drawing of the face look young and cute.

If you move the nose down further, it will make the face look older. If you have a pencil or pen in hand, try it. Draw several head shapes and add a simple letter C-shaped nose, then place eyes higher or lower and see what happens.

The key to making it look like you can also be adding eyebrows. Are yours thick, thin, or bushy? Dark or light color?

Be honest!

I have thick dark eyebrows, so I draw them large and color them black. They’re so big that they rise above my head most of the time. Don’t be afraid to push the size of your facial features. Making your eyes and nose super tiny in the center of a large circle might look better than features that take up more space. Use variety until you get something that looks right.

Even an expression can convey your unique personality.

If you’re a smiley person, really push the toothy grin. Are you usually serious? Try out different versions of expressions that represent you until something clicks.

Step Three: Add ears and hair

Hair can make all the difference. Being bald is undoubtedly a part of making the cartoon version of me look accurate.

What shapes are created with your hair? How do you wear it most of the time?

Is it up, down, curly on top? If you always wear a baseball cap or some other cool hat, like a fedora, put it on you. See if you can figure out a style that looks like the every day you and simplify it into a few curving lines.

You don’t need to look exactly like you—only resemble you.

Step Four: Add a midsection, then arms and legs

Are you tall or short? Maybe your midsection should be broad or box-like. Once you get it more like you, add in legs and feet. Don’t be afraid to use the animation method of Squash and Stretch to pull yourself long if you’re tall and smoosh yourself shorter or wider if needed.

Keep your feet simple ovals or half circles to make drawing easier.

Add arms with two parallel straight or curved lines and place a circle at the end for the palm of your hand.

Later, you can add a thumb and little sausages for your fingers.

From here, try adding details to your clothes that look like what you would typically wear. If you’re using a pen, coloring something in black, like pants, a collar, or a shirt, adds visual interest to your drawing.

Check out these examples.

I like the pointy-haired guy. He looks like a muppet!

Will you look like a kid? Yes. Most likely. But you’ll be cute and easy to draw.

For practice, try drawing your friends simply or family members and see if you can capture them with dots, circles, and different body types. You’ve seen me draw my daughter several times in comics here, and I focus on her curly hair to make her distinct.

Make sure to try various versions of yourself and have fun. If you make something you like, let me know in the comments.

Happy drawing!

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How color and variety can pull you back into your sketchbook.

Do you have fun practicing the art you love consistently?

Scheduling time daily to sit down and write, draw, or even paint helps you turn it into a regular habit. Doing what you love whenever you feel like it doesn’t.

Even though I know to make it into a routine first, so my mind and body expect to create every day, I don’t always follow that advice. I’m fully aware if your goal is to improve at playing the piano, you know regular blocks of time tickling the ivory is how to grow as a musician.

If you’re trying to draw more, let this article be the reminder you need to get back on the horse.

How can you get excited about getting started, though? If you’re an artist, growing your drawing skills takes work. You know, focusing on the fundamentals, like figure drawing, anatomy, and portraiture, is essential, but maybe not all that fun.

I hear you. As a cartoonist myself, drawing funny faces and cute characters was what I was all about.

Who has time for drawing a bunch of realistic faces?

I had to accept; I most certainly should make time for it if I wanted my art to grow. The dream of filling up sketchbooks with beautiful examples of my artistic explorations has always been a dream, one I never thought I’d reach.

Taking an online class for portrait drawing via Domestika helped jolt me into committing to growing through sketchbook drawing, and I’d like to share some of what I learned with you.

1. Hardback sketchbooks help you feel like an artist

You can choose all kinds of sketchbooks—large-sized ones, small enough to fit in your pocket. The ring-bound ones drive me nuts because rings on the side get in the way of my hand while drawing. Even turning the book to the side doesn’t feel right.

Everything got better when I discovered hardback, book-like sketchbooks. You can open them and lay them flat to draw across two pages or focus on one. I always feel more like a true artist when I pick it up because it looks like an actual book.

Staying on top of contributing drawings to your sketchbook is easier if you set a straightforward goal. Commit to filling every page.

Only show others what you choose or want to share, just because you feel it worked. You don’t have to take photos of your drawings or even show your work to anyone. Try and fail privately, then move to the next page.

Hardback sketchbooks are easier to collect and put on a bookshelf when you’ve completed them. They look handsome. Write a title on the spine with the year and date for your collection if you want. You can look back to see how you’ve grown over the years.

I like how you feel accomplished with a hard sketchbook instead of a soft or ringed one. You get the feeling you’re making something that will last. It’s sturdy and heavy. Like your dedication to art, it’s not easily bent or manipulated.

2. Variety spices up your pages and sparks joy

Picking a few areas to focus on improving, like facial expressions or body poses, can help you know how to begin. Saying you will fill one page up with different people you find from photos on Pinterest will help keep you motivated.

The next page in your book may revolve around drawing ten different hands or making a point to get away from humans and go outside to draw a landscape or urban setting.

It can be fun to get back to basics, then throw it all together. Maybe you decide to combine a mix of everything you’re studying on one page to see how you can compose it all within a small space.

Look honestly at your art. One thing I had to accept is drawing portraits from photos, especially of women, is difficult for me. I need to improve and overcome my fear of drawing attractive women, especially. I can make cute cartoony women just fine, but not beautiful realistic-looking women. Could I do it by using photo references?

Challenge accepted!

Having a hill to get over or a goal to strive for in your sketchbook will help motivate you just enough to start drawing and want to draw more. The joy of seeing what you’ve completed on each page will keep you excited about moving forward.

3. Adding color brings your pages to life

Why only use pencils and the occasional black pen? Drawing with colored pencils gives life to the page and catches the eye. Painting in the sketchbook with mini watercolors also helps add energy and interest.

You can use a gray brush pen for shadows and Gelly Roll pens for white highlights where needed. When I thumb through my sketchbook, I smile at the color variety and pay more attention to what I created.

Asking questions like, “Did this drawing work well?” “What can I do to draw a nose better?” The color is hard to miss, and my growth areas stand out more.

The softness of colored pencils feels nice while drawing, and it surprised me. I like to use a non-photo blue pencil first when sketching heads to rough out the head shape and eye lines, then add in features starting with the eyes and nose.

Suppose you want the easiest way to begin drawing a face. Starting with the left eye, then the nose, and over to the right eye works well. Down to the mouth or up to the eyebrows next is a good order. Try this out and find what direction works best for you.

The smoothness of colored pencil lines makes for a buttery drawing experience. Of course, the rich color will create a pleasant feeling on the page you’ll enjoy taking in as you look back on your growth.

Draw when you can, where you can

In conclusion, I want you to know I understand it can be challenging to find time to draw. Let go of needing hours to work on the pages in your sketchbook. Even fifteen minutes at a time will do fine.

Opening up your sketchbook first thing in the morning, looking at a reference photo online, and drawing one portrait, will send a feeling of satisfaction that will last all day.

You drew something. Even one thing is better than nothing.

When you have a day with more time, by all means, draw more. Don’t get hung up on how long. Focus on your accomplishment. You added to your sketchbook, and you’re one step closer to filling it up.

Your art skills are improving.

Take a small sketchbook with you in your bag or back pocket. Sketch on the train, at the park, or in a cafe, even if it’s only for five minutes. You did it.

When you set the intention to draw regularly, use a sketchbook that feels comfortable, and add color and variety, watch how your drawings explode off the page.

Then, make sure to come back and let me know how it’s going.

Happy drawing!

Want more? If you’re struggling with doing original work, click here to join my (free) email list, and through comics, articles about culture, and living your truth, you can upgrade your mindset and share your art with the world.

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Want to Look Cute? Draw Yourself!