Why are many cartoon characters drawn with only four fingers?

Arpeggionist

As one of the Simpsons cast put it, it's because it simply costs extra time, effort and money for an artist to draw the fifth finger. (On the show, only God is regularly shown with five fingers.) Sep 28 06, 6:28 AM

skysmom65

The best cartooning advice is basically to "keep it simple." If you want to create a character that is fast to work with, as in short comic strips, you need to consider a few things. The more details you create in your character, the harder it will be to get them right every time and it will take a lot of time each time you draw a new one--even if you know how to duplicate layers. There is a reason why many famous cartoon characters consist of few lines and not so many details. Look at Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, Dilbert, or other famous characters and try to imagine what it would be like to draw them repeatedly if they had big, curly hair with lots of details, a jacket with fringe, glasses, and beards. Unless you have unlimited time and/or want to create artwork such as that seen in the Sandman comic books, keep your character simple. The fewer lines the better. Moreover, that is where the challenge lies--to create a distinctive character with just a few lines drawn on your tablet. Pay extra attention to details as well, if you use them: Three strands of hair are not the same as two or four, and five fingers are not the same as four. The number of holes in the lacing of a shoe and so on are also important. http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/drawings/Silhouettes/CartoonCharacters.htm Sep 28 06, 7:29 AM

Baloo55th

Most people only have four fingers on each hand - I know I do. The other sticking-out bit is a thumb. Sep 28 06, 11:37 AM

What-A-Mess

Yes Baloo, Yes! Only four fingers and one thumb per hand. fin·ger (fnggr) 1. One of the five digits of the hand, especially one other than the thumb. Sep 28 06, 2:35 PM

kaylofgorons

My art teacher told us that it is actually really hard to get the five digits in right, so it's as Argeggionist said. It's hard to manage it right without one of the fingers looking disjointed, so artists of rapidly produced cartoons often use only four when creating their characters. There have been a few cartoons with higher animation quality that do bother to spend the "extra time, effort and money for an artist to draw the fifth finger." Some cartoons only have three fingers and that looks really odd if you pay too much attention! Sep 28 06, 4:14 PM

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