One of the challenges many artists face as they develop their style is avoiding that cartoonish look in their paintings, especially when their goal is to create realistic, lifelike artwork.
This challenge is common, but with the right guidance and techniques, you can avoid painting like you're a beginner and transform your work into something that resonates with depth, complexity, and realism.
In this article, we’ll explore how to make your paintings look less cartoonish by delving into key aspects of painting—color, edges, contour, value, perspective, and form.
8 Tips to Avoid a Cartoonish Look in Your Paintings
Tip 1. Color: Dive Deeper into the Palette
Color is one of the most powerful tools at an artist’s disposal, and understanding how to use it effectively can make a significant difference in the realism of your paintings.
If your work is veering towards a cartoonish appearance, one reason might be an overly simplistic approach to color. Cartoons often rely on bright, primary colors with minimal shading or variation. To create a more realistic effect, explore a richer and more nuanced color palette.
Begin by incorporating more complex colors like oranges, reds, and earthy tones into your work. These colors can add warmth and dimension to your subjects, making them appear more lifelike.
But don’t stop there—look deeper into the color story that’s happening beneath the surface. Observe how colors interact with each other in the real world. Notice the subtle shifts in hue, the interplay between warm and cool tones, and how light influences color.
For example, skin tones are rarely just one shade; they contain a mix of reds, yellows, and even blues that shift depending on the lighting and the environment. Avoid having too much local color (or the obvious color of an object).
An example is a red rose. A red rose should not just be red; it should have yellow, pink, orange, blue, violet, and even a green complement (basically all the colors).
In addition, consider using analogous colors—colors that are next to each other on the color wheel—to create harmonious and more natural transitions. By moving away from stark contrasts and embracing a more complex interplay of colors, your paintings will naturally take on a more realistic and less cartoonish appearance.
*Notice how many colors were used in the skin in painting below: blue, pink, peach, orange, teal, purple, yellow, cream, white, tan, and brown.
Tip 2. Edges: Embrace a Variety of Edges
One of the defining characteristics of cartoon art is the use of clean, bold outlines that sharply separate different areas of the image.
While this technique works well for animation, it can make paintings appear flat and two-dimensional. In contrast, realistic paintings use a variety of edges to create depth and suggest form.
To avoid the cartoon look, focus on incorporating a range of edges in your work—from soft, blurry transitions to sharp, crisp lines.
Soft edges are particularly effective in suggesting depth and volume. For instance, when painting a portrait, you might soften the edges around the jawline or cheekbones to create a more natural transition between the face and the background. This technique mimics the way our eyes perceive objects in the real world, where not every boundary is sharply defined.
On the other hand, crisp edges should be reserved for areas of focus where you want to draw the viewer’s attention or highlight specific details. For example, the edges of the eyes or the contours of a hand might be rendered more sharply to stand out against softer, less defined areas.
By varying the sharpness of your edges, you can add a three-dimensional quality to your painting that makes it feel more lifelike and less graphic.
Tip 3. Contour: Avoid Oversimplification
In cartoons, the exterior lines of forms are often oversimplified, with smooth, exaggerated curves that lack the complexity of real-life contours. While this simplification works well for stylized animation, it can detract from the realism in a painting.
Pay close attention to the natural variations and subtleties in the lines that define the shape of objects. For example, a tree branch isn’t just a smooth curve—it has twists, bends, and irregularities that give it character.
Similarly, the human body is full of complex contours that change with the angle of light, the position of muscles, and the texture of skin. Avoid oversimplification on contours, experiment with this technique by adding straight and angled edges.
When working on a painting, take the time to study these details and incorporate them into your work. This doesn’t mean you need to include every tiny detail, but rather that you should aim to represent the natural variations that occur in the real world.
Tip 4. Understanding Value: Adding Depth and Dimension
Value—the lightness or darkness of a color—is a fundamental element of realistic painting. A common reason for a painting to look cartoonish is a lack of understanding of value.
In cartoons, there’s often a limited range of values, which can make the artwork appear flat and lacking in depth. To create more realistic paintings, it’s crucial to pay attention to the full range of values, from deep shadows to bright highlights.
Experiment with chiaroscuro techniques, which involve using strong contrasts between light and dark to create a more dramatic and realistic effect. Chiaroscuro, which means "light-dark" in Italian, is a technique used by many of the great masters of painting, such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt, to add depth and form to their work.
By emphasizing the contrast between light and shadow, you can create a sense of volume that makes your subjects appear more solid and three-dimensional.
In addition to chiaroscuro, consider the overall value structure of your painting. Are the darkest darks and lightest lights placed in areas that guide the viewer’s eye and create a sense of depth? Are there enough mid-tones to create smooth transitions between the extremes?
By carefully considering value in your work, you can avoid the flatness that often characterizes cartoonish art and create a more dynamic and realistic painting.
Tip 5. Incorporate Atmospheric Perspective
Atmospheric perspective is another powerful tool that can help you move away from the flatness often seen in cartoonish work. This technique involves subtly altering the color and clarity of objects as they recede into the distance, mimicking the way our eyes perceive depth in the real world.
By incorporating atmospheric perspective into your paintings, you can create a sense of space and depth that makes your work feel more expansive and realistic.
To achieve atmospheric perspective, soften edges, mute colors, and reduce detail on distant objects. For example, when painting a landscape, the mountains or trees in the background should appear lighter and less detailed than those in the foreground.
This technique creates the illusion of depth and helps to draw the viewer into the painting, making it feel more immersive.
Tip 6. Gesture and Form: Bringing Life to Your Subjects
Consider the role of gesture drawing and understanding form in your artwork. Gesture drawing is a technique that helps you capture the movement and energy of a subject.
It’s a quick and fluid way of sketching that focuses on the overall action or feeling of a pose rather than getting caught up in the details. By practicing gesture drawing, you can infuse your paintings with a sense of life and dynamism that moves beyond the static, often stiff appearance of cartoon characters.
Consider using a proportion tool to lay down accurate measurements of your subjects (see this tutorial to learn how to use a proportional tool)
In addition to gesture, understanding form—how light interacts with three-dimensional objects—is crucial for creating realistic art. Form in art refers to the way shapes are structured and how they occupy space.
By studying form, you can learn how to represent the volume and mass of your subjects accurately, making them appear more lifelike. This understanding of form is closely related to your use of value and shading, as these elements work together to create the illusion of three-dimensionality.
Tip 7. Focal Point Art: Directing the Viewer’s Eye
Another crucial element in avoiding a cartoonish appearance in your paintings is the effective use of a focal point. In art, the focal point is the area of the composition that draws the viewer’s eye and holds their attention.
In cartoon art, compositions are often simple, with little variation in focus, leading to a flat and uniform appearance. By strategically placing a focal point in your painting, you can create a sense of depth and importance, guiding the viewer through the narrative of your work.
To establish a strong focal point, consider using contrast in color, value, or detail to make a particular area stand out. For instance, you might use brighter colors or sharper edges in the focal area while keeping the surrounding elements softer and more subdued.
This technique not only adds depth but also emphasizes the key elements of your composition, making the overall piece more dynamic and engaging. A well-placed focal point ensures that your painting has a clear visual hierarchy, which is essential in avoiding the flat, uniform look often associated with cartoons.
By mastering the art of creating and maintaining a focal point, you bring sophistication and realism to your work, elevating it beyond the realm of simple, cartoonish imagery.
To further your drawing techniques, take our Drawing Essentials course to Master the Essentials of Drawing Brilliant Art. This online drawing course will teach you how to draw what you see from the very basics of a straight line to the advanced skills of rendering form through value.
Tip 8. Dappled Light: Adding Complexity and Realism
Dappled light is a beautiful and effective technique that can significantly enhance the realism of your paintings, helping to move them away from a cartoonish look. This technique involves depicting light that is filtered through an object, such as tree leaves, creating a pattern of light and shadow across a surface.
In cartoons, lighting is often flat and uniform, contributing to a simplified and less realistic appearance. By incorporating dappled light into your work, you introduce a layer of complexity that mimics the way light interacts with the world around us.
For example, in a landscape painting, dappled light can be used to highlight the way sunlight filters through the foliage, casting irregular patches of light onto the ground or a figure. This not only adds visual interest but also suggests a more natural and believable environment.
By mastering the depiction of dappled light, you can avoid the flatness often associated with cartoonish art and instead bring a rich, textured quality to your paintings that resonate with realism and vitality.
From Realism to Making Your Dreams Real
As you incorporate these techniques into your practice, remember that developing a realistic style is an ongoing process!
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches and refine your skills over time. Sometimes, it’s the combination of small adjustments—adding a bit more warmth to your color palette, softening a few edges, or paying closer attention to contour lines—that can lead to significant improvements in your work.
At the Milan Art Institute, we encourage artists to embrace the journey of artistic growth. Moving away from a cartoonish style and achieving greater realism in your paintings is a rewarding process that involves continuous learning and exploration.
By focusing on the subtleties of color, edges, contour, value, perspective, and form, you can transform your work into something that not only captures the eye but also resonates with a deeper sense of life and reality.
Keep pushing the boundaries of your creativity, and watch as your paintings evolve from the flat and cartoonish to the rich and realistic. For more tips and art career guidance, join the Milan Art Community App.
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