How to Draw Retro Cartoon Characters | Hanna-Barbera Art Style Tutorial

Inevitably, one of the earliest questions an artist asks themselves is, "How do I find my style?" It's an interesting question, and you might look at other artists with envy, thinking it's an impenetrable secret. Not so! We're going to unlock how to break down the styles of famous artists throughout history. This will help you apply these styles to your own work and develop your own style.

In this tutorial, we're going over the Hanna-Barbera style, including:

• How Hanna-Barbera characters are constructed.
• How Hanna-Barbera design elements enhance its look.
• How to apply the Hanna-Barbera style to your own work.

By the end, you'll not only know why this style looks the way it does, but you'll also be able to make artwork just like the pros did.

So, let's get into it!

Watch Our tutorial Video

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In this tutorial we'll be using the following products to make our character.

• Standard Pens
• DupliTone

You'll be able to follow along even if you don't have these brush packs. Look over the tutorial and see what tools you have that are closest to what is used.

Here's a quick overview of what to keep in mind:

• Line Weight: Choose a variable-width brush that is easy to control.
• Color: Animated Hanna-Barbera cartoons were colored with flat painted cells.

Let's get to the details with that all out of the way.

What defines Style?

Style is comprised of the decisions you make and the limitations you face.

New artists seem to ask more than anything else how to find their style. But what does that mean exactly? Essentially, style is down to the choices you make.

The artists themselves drive some of these choices, the aesthetic elements that appeal to them.

Hanna-Barbera’s animation style was born from radio, comic strips, and sitcoms. With minimal movement and maximum personality, the charm came from bold silhouettes, sharp dialogue, and clever timing.

You might be inspired by the things around you, too. Ensure they're intentional and something you want to repeat, as these choices will define your work.

Other times, stylistic decisions are dictated by limitations. The style we'll be covering today was informed by the limitations of hand-drawn animation and the quick turnaround of serialized cartoons. These quirks were folded into the artists' intentional choices as they adapted to their tools.

When recreating a particular look of the past, think about the intentional choices the artists might have made and the limitations they faced that would combine to inform its style.

1960s Hanna-Barbera style

The "Hanna-Barbera" style includes many distinct characters with specific similarities.

The 1960s ushered in an era of televisions in every home. This created a robust customer base that cartoons could directly advertise to. While animation was enjoyed by young and old alike, it slowly started being geared directly toward children, which paved the way for toys and other commodities.

The serial nature of television required cartoons to be produced weekly—an absurdly fast pace for a famously laborious art form. We're left with the characteristic quirks of cartoons of this era, brought about by cheap shortcuts and quick turnaround times.

Constructing a Hanna-Barbera Character

Hanna-Barbera cartoons use geometric shapes that are easy to replicate and use flat color.

Now that we know how styles are developed and the history of Hanna-Barbera, let's explore what characterizes it.

What Defines the Hanna-Barbera Style:

• Simple, geometric shapes.
• Flat color fills in desaturated or pastel colors.
• Little to no shading.
• Static bodies with movement focused on facial expressions.

Tube televisions blur and desaturate colors, so avoid the eye-piercing colors available on modern OLED screens. Because these shows were made as quickly and cheaply as possible, there was also a lot of economic decision-making. Keep bodies static, with most of the emotion and movement only in the face. And don't be afraid to re-use assets for maximum authenticity.

Design Elements of A Hanna-Barbera Character

Consistent design elements solidify and enhance a character.

Although Hanna-Barbera cartoons all have distinct looks in the character designs, they have commonalities that allow them to be consistent in style.

Design Aspects of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons:

• Big smiles, dot eyes, strong silhouettes.
• Simple costumes that are easy to draw.
• Charming, recognizable character designs.

Because Hanna-Barbera was an animation studio making cartoons for syndication, artists would need to draw the same character thousands of times. The name of the game was economy. Character design carries most of the weight while minimizing the need for moving parts. Think simple costumes, static poses with more dynamic poses reserved for story climaxes, and instantly recognizable silhouettes.

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Inking a Hanna-Barbera Cartoon

Line art in Hanna-Barbera carttons are made with heavy outlines, with thinner, minimal internal details.

Like other cartoons of the era, Hanna-Barbera's animation was hand-drawn. This means it was extremely important to have tools that could provide consistent line weight. Too much variation would cause the characters' line art to wiggle (think Home Movies), which can be distracting and unattractive.

Hanna-Barbera cartoons utilized consistent tapered lines, with thick outer lines and thinner inner lines for details and facial features. Keep details sparse. Remember, economy is the name of the game. If you don't want to draw something a thousand times, leave it out and stick to the bare minimum.

Coloring a Hanna-Barbera Character

Hanna-Barbera cartoons utilized flat colors painting on cellophane "cells."

Hand-drawn animation was created using cellophane or plastic sheets called "cells." These were inked and then painted in flat blocks of color. This meant that details on the characters themselves did not come from the color, and there were no gradients or blending.

If you're interested in adding a background to your artwork, you'll notice the opposite. Backgrounds were static, so artists were afforded the opportunity for more detail. Often painted in gouache or poster paint in long landscapes, backgrounds could have great detail and texture while the flat characters moved on top of them.

Applying Hanna-Barbera Style to Your ARt

Using the construction and design guidelines we established earlier you can apply them to your character.

We will adapt our mascot for this exercise, but you can start from scratch if you'd like. Depending on your work, it may be easier to have a blank canvas. Regardless, these steps will apply.

Rough Sketch

This is going to build the foundation of your final artwork. Strong character design was so important when they move so little that you'll want to ensure you're solid here. Keep your forms geometric, paying attention to silhouette. Can you tell who you look at when your character is filled with solid black? If not, readjust by exaggerating your shapes.

Facial features should be minimal but expressive. We went with classic oval eyes and a big goofy grin. Look at multiple examples to notice similarities and differences.

Refined Sketch

Once you have your pose and rough shape blocked out, refine your sketch with more details and those elements to enhance the design. These clothes, accessories, and other components will make it into the final illustration.

Inking

Hanna-Barbera utilized clean, consistent inking with a bit of variation to emphasize forms. We used the Ramen Brush available in the Standard Pen pack and our Steal This Brush Pack, which is free (for personal use). Start your lines with a light hand, applying a bit of pressure as you move toward the center of the stroke and rereleasing pressure. This will create an attractive tapered ink line.

Remember to keep your outer lines thicker than your inner lines. This solidifies your form and also creates variation, which makes the character more interesting to look at. That's what you want when your animation is pretty static!

Color and Detail

Early animation used flat blocks of color painted on cellophane or plastic "cells" with shading and detail reserved for the static backgrounds. Color your character in flat, limited palettes.

You could include a background as well. Pick a painterly brush, such as a gouache brush from our Woodland Wonderland pack. Apply as much detail and texture as you'd like, but make sure your background doesn't distract from the characters.

Final Thoughts

Recreating the authentic vintage style of a particular era comes down to paying attention to the decisions and limitations made at the time. You don't have to be a history buff or slog through a back catalog to pick out the similarities that artwork from that era shared with each other.

To recap, we guided you through recreating the Hanna-Barbera style, including:

• Use geometric shapes, strong silhouettes, and static poses.
• Use minimal details emphasizing character design and flat colors.
• Use thick, tapered outer and thin interior lines for more information and facial features.

Keeping all this in mind will make adopting a Hanna-Barbera style in your artwork easy and intuitive. You'll have fun and make great art!

Try out the Hanna-Barbera style to practice what you learned. You can share what you make by tagging us on Instagram. We might even post what you created!

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