How to Draw Like a Boy
I was recently assigned the task of creating characters and scenes to be animated for a YouTube video. The video would be based on a 2 minute exert from one of comedian Kevin Bridges stand-up comedy routines. The challenge: to make it look like it was drawn by a teenaged boy who is a major fan of Bridges. The other challenge: to understand Bridges’ thick Scottish accent (no easy feat!).
I have to admit, at first I was a little worried my inner girl would take over and fool no one into thinking this was teenage boy art (is that a legitimate term?). I started to brainstorm what made drawings look boyish and settled on these three musts:
1) Make the characters look kind of ugly. Boys don’t want to draw good-looking characters! That would be soooo gay (idiots!).
2) The characters should be dressed cool. Have you ever noticed that teenage boys always draw dudes with large sneakers? What’s that all about?
3) Make sure the proportions are off! Everyone should be either too tall or too short and/or too skinny or too fat.
So after a few rough sketches my first draft of the main characters looked like this…
Very appropriately, the client requested they be a little less Frankenstein-esque and a lot more like… well… Neds (a derogatory term describing Scottish hooligans). Guess I took the ugly sentiment, a tad too far!
So after a little more time, and a few more revisions, the result was this:
The characters definitely turned out cuter which suited me jjjjust fine! And in the end, the client was so pleased they asked for another video to be made. I don’t know if I succeeded at making the viral seem boyish… but it was super fun to draw! What do you think?
See videos below. If the links aren’t working click the titles of the film.
© 2011 Universal Studios, Kevin Bridges and MarketMe
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