Animator Preston Blair (wiki), who at various times did work for Disney, Tex Avery, MGM, and Hannah Barbera, published several instructional books on the subject. This page on the elements of cuteness is from one of his books:
Here's another page, on how to draw hands:
More:
So, why the four fingers? The explanation I always heard was that 5 fingers makes a cartoon hand look busy and harder to draw without really adding anything. Any other ideas?
ReplyDeleteMiddle and ring fingers tend to move together as a unit anyway, plus simpler to animate.
ReplyDeleteremember you have to draw the additional finger in animated films one cell at a time. Think of this like a macro you saved a thousand additional lines to draw.
ReplyDeleteMost folks never miss the detail