Click the video above for a special message from Workshop Coordinator Michael Alvarez. Inspired by a portrait that his cousin made 15 years ago based on the figurine characters called Precious Moments, Michael invites you to make a cartoon self-portrait in the same style. But first, let’s practice on a sample image. Scroll down if following text and images is easier than video for your learning style.

The demo will be based on these characters, because they are simple and pretty fun. Feel free to draw one or both!

Before we begin…

Try warming up by just making doodles, creating circles over and over, and then repeatedly making lines. Next, I practice making lines darker and lighter. If starting to sketch is hard for you, you can also check out our other post, Sketching from Scratch. If you can only make stick figures, that’s a great thing, because we will be using them for this activity to indicate the gesture or movement of a character.