This is a simple flash animation tutorial showing the basic construction for the frontal face view of the Walt Disney character, Donald Duck. You start with a square and then divide the square into 4 sections vertically and 3 sections horizontally. You then draw a circle within the original square. Center the oval eyes on the 2nd and 4th vertical lines (counting from the left) and going above the 2nd and just a bit less below the 3rd horizontal lines (counting from the top) for the height of the eyes.
Donald's open beak drops down a whole space below the 4th horizontal line, but closed it would come right up to the bottom of this line. The most difficult part of drawing Donald Duck is his beak. But if you study this drawing you will be able to construct the same on a sheet of paper using the simple divided square as we have shown here.
Many years ago, while I was traveling in Denmark, I met 2 American journalists in a cafe who were involved in a huge project for the Disney publishers in Copenhagen, Gutenberghus Publishing. They were writers and were in bad need of some one to help them relate the story material from text to the artists spread all over Europe. So they offered me a job as a sort of art director. At the time, I was an architect fresh out of a university from California. I had no publishing experience and knew only of Disney characters from TV and comic books back home.
I was soon to learn that comic publishing was a huge industry in Europe, far greater than in the US. In fact, there were more Donald Duck comics sold every week in Denmark (with a population of only 5 million) than there were in the entire USA. Copenhagen was, and is to this day, a center for the Disney publication industry, turning out material that is translated and used in most EU countries as well as the Middle East. It was a challenging job, but I learned a great deal and got to work with many writers, artists, and production technicians throughout Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
Today digital media has brought dramatic changes to the industry, both good and bad. Comic book circulation is not what it was back in the late 70's. But comics and Disney publications, both paper and online, are still thriving industries here in Denmark as well as in many other European capitols.
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