Andertoons Cartoon Blog – Page 53 – The cartoon blog of Andertoons cartoonist Mark Anderson. He discusses his cartoons, cartooning, comics and, oddly enough, LEGO.

New Cartoons Up!

February 25, 2012January 10, 2017 andertoons

Hey everyone, new cartoons! Check ’em all out here!

LEGO Charlie Brown Line Art

February 21, 2012January 10, 2017 andertoons4 Comments

A while back I created a LEGO Catwoman line art piece that garnered not only some attention, but won me all of the 2012 Batman sets too!

I’ve since been looking for another opportunity to test the technique further, so I dug into my cartoon books, found an image I liked and, voilà, LEGO Line Art Charlie Brown:

Click the above image to see it really really big!

Here’s the panel I used as inspiration:

Charlie Brown cartoon

And here are a few closeups of Chuck:

LEGO Charlie Brown face closeup

LEGO Charlie Brown hands closeup

When I did the Catwoman MOC I got a lot of comments that it didn’t look like LEGO. Which is very flattering, of course, but it also worried me just a bit that people thought I might be simply laying pieces on top of tiles, or using some other sort of cheat. So I wanted to share a little bit of the construction to show how the technique is achieved with standard plates, tiles, and hinges.

I start with a bin full of all kinds of black and white LEGO:

black and white LEGO pieces

But mostly what I use are these:

LEGO Charlie Brown line art pieces

What you’re looking at above:

The basic idea is that you create your lines using tiles and hinges…

LEGO Charlie Brown art hinged line

Then anchor them to the baseplate using plates and jumpers. For example, here are the anchoring studs for Charlie Brown’s head:

LEGO Charlie Brown line art studs

Jumpers offer another advantage in that the stud top is hollow allowing for placing connecting pieces either traditionally between the edges and the tube, or using the tube underneath as an anchor point:

LEGO Charlie Brown jumpers and hinge

In the tightest curves (Charlie Brown’s hands for example), I use a 1×2 tile both for its small size, and its lack of a tube underneath:

LEGO Charlie Brown tiles 1x2

Without the tube you’re free to slide the 1×2 tile on a stud to get even more flexibility in placement.

Then you fill in the rest of the baseplate with tiles the same color as the hinges to help hide them.

I tried counting pieces as I went, but I sort of lost track as I got deeper into the build. But if you’re looking for an estimate, it’s probably right around the 2000 mark.

So there’s how I got my Charlie Brown LEGO Line Art MOC to work. I took some liberties with the original art, but I think he turned out pretty well. I’m especially happy with the expression on the face, which, for me, is the most important element.

Hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for more upcoming LEGO projects!

Cupid Cartoons For Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2012January 10, 2017 andertoons1 Comment

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s love’s big day, so to celebrate I thought I’d share some of my favorite cupid cartoons!

I don’t exactly remember how this cartoon came about, but it’s fun to think of another cupid-ish being that flies around shooting more or less a strong like at you.

So instead of falling deeply in love, you maybe think “hey, that Stacy is a genuinely nice person.” Or perhaps “boy, that Frank is just fine as far as I’m concerned.”

OK, it’s not real exciting, but it can’t be all love all the time either. And the little glasses make me laugh.

This is another take on the alternative cherub. but this time it’s definitely not platonic.

As you can probably tell by the art, this is a cartoon from quite early on in my career. I’m fairly sure it’s never been published, and for the most part it lives quietly in my inventory, but I did get an uppercase filled email from a woman about this cartoon years ago.

She was very offended by the idea that this seemingly nice woman was going to have a one night stand and told me in angry paragraph after angry paragraph what a terrible person I was for suggesting it.

It’s a good thing she never saw this one.

You just know that flying around shooting arrows into peoples’ hearts gets boring after the first hour or two. Some friendly wagering seem inevitable.

This is a twofer. It’s a Christmas cartoon and a Valentine’s Day cartoon. (And kind of a legal cartoon to boot.)

I imagine it would be hard to prove who starting using “Cupid” first, but I’m betting on the flying babies.

OK, so hearts floating around a person would of course signify love, but what about clubs? And why would they have club arrows? Do they have diamonds and spades too, or just clubs? Should a club arrow be shot into another body part instead?

These are just some of the questions raised by looking at cartoons for far too long.

Why would a dating service write “Dating Service” on the front of the desk?! Dang! I’m doing it again!

OK, this one is a but subtle, and it took a good while to get the angle just right. In case you can’t tell that’s a heart on the far right. Apparently our little love angel is getting some target practice.

cupid cartoon 6343

This is my most recent addition which was inspired by that whole iBooks Author EULA misunderstanding. The biggest challenge here was getting the tablet to read quickly as a tablet and not just a pad of paper or a notebook or something. I hope the techie nature of the caption helps that, but you never know. In any case, this is a serious nerdy valentine.

Well that’s it for my little collection of cupid themed cartoons. Now get out there and get down to some romancing! (And throw in a little amour while you’re at it.)

And to my loyal readers…. XOXOXOXO!