How To Draw A Cartoon Elephant – Tutorial

I remember as a kid I used to love those Ed Emberly‘s how-to-draw books. I’m sure I still use some of the ideas I learned from those.

And it’s in that spirit that I’m starting another new feature here at the cartoon blog, How To Draw tutorial infographics!

First up is how to draw a cartoon elephant! (Click on the image below to enlarge it.)

how to draw cartoon elephant 480

Not bad, huh? It’s amazing what you can accomplish with basic shapes and letter forms! Feel free to grab it, use it, and pass it around. (If you post it I’d of course appreciate a link back.)

For testing purposes, and a bit of fun, I asked my kids to take a crack at the elephant to see how it worked. Here are their drawings:

cartoon elephant 1

My 5-year-old girl’s

cartoon elephant 2

My 8-year-old boy’s

Pretty good if I do say so myself!!

So there you go! Now you can draw your very own cartoon elephant! Go forth and trumpet all about your new talent!

(BTW, I’ve also got some elephant cartoons if you’re interested.)

MetLife Cartoon Superbowl Commercial – Behind the Scenes Extras

I loved MetLife’s cartoon-filled Superbowl commercial yesterday! (So much so, in fact that I dissected it here by identifying each character, pointing out some errors, and revealing where Waldo was.)

But some additional kudos are due thanks to some awesome additional content. Enjoy:

Director can’t find Waldo

Snagglepuss has issues

Yosemite Sam hates fur

Voltron dances

Kudos again, MetLife!

MetLife Cartoon Superbowl Commercial – Characters, Errors & Where Waldo Is

MetLife’s Superbowl ad this year is pretty tremendous if you’re a cartoon fan. Not only do you get the Peanuts gang, you get a whole host of cartoon awesomeness not seen since Roger Rabbit or that 2005 MasterCard commercial.

Here, take a look:

Isn’t that fun? Wanna know who’s all in it? Here’s the list as far as I can tell in order of appearance more or less:

  • Charlie Brown
  • Sally Brown
  • Linus van Pelt
  • Lucy van Pelt
  • Franklin
  • Marcie
  • Schroeder
  • Woodstock
  • He-Man
  • Battle Cat
  • Pepe Le Pew
  • Penelope Pussycat
  • Waldo
  • Atom Ant
  • Speedy Gonzalez
  • Fred Jones
  • Velma Dinkley
  • Mr. Magoo
  • Shaggy Rogers
  • Scooby-Doo
  • Casper the Friendly Ghost
  • Quick Draw McGraw
  • Yosemite Sam
  • Fat Albert
  • Mushmouth
  • Dumb Donald
  • Bill Cosby
  • Russell Cosby
  • Weird Harold
  • Rudy Davis
  • Bucky
  • George Jetson
  • Jane Jetson
  • Judy Jetson
  • Elroy Jetson
  • Marvin the Martian
  • Mister Peabody
  • Sherman
  • Grape Ape
  • Richie Rich
  • Jabberjaw
  • Top Cat
  • Wally Gator
  • Voltron
  • Gossamer
  • Underdog
  • Rosie the Robot
  • Baba Louie
  • Cindy Bear
  • Ranger Smith
  • Witch Hazel
  • Hong Kong Phooey
  • Snaggle Puss
  • Magilla Gorilla
  • Squiddly Diddly
  • Rock Slag
  • Gravel Slag
  • Doggie Daddy
  • Fleegle
  • Bingo
  • Drooper
  • Snorky
  • Avery’s Wolf
  • Droopy
  • Daphne Blake
  • Cosmo Spacely
  • Big Gruesome
  • Little Gruesome
  • Astro
  • Penelope Pitstop
  • Auggie Doggie
  • Huckleberry Hound
  • Creeper
  • Ghost Clown
  • Witch Doctor
  • Beegle Beagle
  • Snoopy

I looked at MetLife’s Facebook page to double check myself, and found that they did make a few errors:

They list Captain Caveman as being in the ad, when in fact it’s Rock & Gravel Slag:

captain caveman

They also fail to list Witch Hazel, Ranger Smith, and Tex Avery’s wolf.

And, this isn’t an error per se, but did you notice Charlie Brown and friends only appear in the very beginning of the ad? And they’re not in the cast list on Facebook. (I’m thinking legal issues or something.)

I do need some help, though. Can anyone tell me who this is?

who

Is it a Scooby-Doo villain? They only appears in a few frames, but I just cannot figure it out. And did I miss anyone else?

Also, wanna know where Waldo is in the commercial? Actually, he’s all over the place:

waldo1

waldo2

waldo3

waldo4

waldo5

Now you can impress your friends when it airs!

Anyway, it’s always a hoot to see so many cartoons in one place. Nice job, MetLife! (And don’t miss the extra videos here!)

What did you think? Anyone you’d have liked to see included?

Hat tip to Bleeding Cool!

(BTW, if you need some more MetLife cartoons, check out my Peanuts All-Star cards at Flickr.)