As you may know, Digital Image Magazine is a one-man outfit. It’s just me, Bob Nolin, here behind the curtain. Cartooning is not something I do, and so there’s definitely been a big hole in the tutorial content. I recently stumbled across Chad Baldwin’s website, and was very impressed. If you are into cartooning, character design, lighting, or getting started with Painter, I recommend that you take a look at his site.

Chad Baldwin is a successful graphic designer, photographer, and cartoonist. To create his bright, humorous cartoons, Chad uses Corel Painter. Like many cartoonists, Chad begins with a black and white sketch. Then, he takes a picture of the sketch with his iPhone, and uploads it to his computer. He prefers Painter, saying that Photoshop feels “clunky” to him for this sort of work.

He has recently produced several excellent videos showing how he uses Painter to create his cartoons. The videos are professional quality, easy to follow, easy to see (nice, big, clear screen shots), and fun to watch. The videos are produced in high definition to run on your computer (Mac or PC) using Quicktime, after download. Chad has a nice, pleasant and professional-sounding speaking voice, and he guides you confidently along step by step. Artwork is included so you can follow along. Here are the available videos.

How to Draw Cartoons with Chad –– The Basics is a one-hour video to introduce you to the techniques Chad uses to draw cartoons. You can use Painter or Photoshop, but a pencil and paper will do, too.

Exploring Character Design is an hour-long video all about using layers to help you work through variations as you develop a unique character. The included file is for Photoshop, not Painter.

Creating 3D Cartoons Using Layers consists of three videos totaling over 2 hours. The first part is an introduction to Corel Painter’s interface: the brush, the color picker, etc. This is the place to start if you’re new to Painter. Part Two introduces you to Layers, which are key to Chad’s working method. The third part ties it all together with a hands-on project, using what you’ve learned. At the end of two hours and twenty minutes, you are using Corel Painter and creating 3D cartoons. Not too shabby! Files included are brushes for both Photoshop and Painter, plus a Quick Key Command Guide.

Lighting the Cartoon Creatures shows how to bring your pencil sketch to life in full color. Chad explains how to achieve the 3D effect using lighting techniques. The videos total 2 hours. It begins with the Basic Painting Kit, which consists of one 18 minute video where Chad walks you thru the basics of loading brushes and getting yourself familiar with the interface of Corel Painter. Brushes for Painter as well as a blender brush for Photoshop are included. The remainder is all about how to model form in color, without resorting to dead black and white for your shadows and highlights. As Chad says, you’ll soon be creating cartoons that seem to pop off the page.

Vector Toons Using Adobe Illustrator CS4 shows how to convert a sketch into a vector image, instead of a bitmap or raster image, as in Painter. Since I’m just beginning to learn vector art myself, I was glad to see that Chad has this one covered.

In the interests of full disclosure, I do receive an affiliate payment for sales originating from this article. I would not, of course, promote any product or service that I didn’t think was worth your time and hard-earned money. With that said, I do hope you’ll stop by www.CartoonPaint.com and check out these videos. I think you’ll like them.

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