Cutout Web Cartoon
- construction paper cartoon
- flat cutout animation
- web cartoon
Flat paper shapes with hard drop shadows, moved as pieces rather than redrawn.
Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.
What it is for
Building a show from flat paper pieces made it possible to produce an episode in days, and the crudeness was defended as a style rather than apologised for. The audience read it as honest, and it has been imitated ever since.
How it works
The figure is assembled from flat pieces of construction paper in a small, slightly dull palette. Each piece casts a small hard drop shadow onto the layer below, which is what gives the flat picture any depth at all. Edges are rough. There is no outline and no perspective, and everything faces the camera.
When to use it
Use it for comedy, satire and anything that benefits from looking cheap on purpose. Avoid it for beauty, because every decision in it refuses that.
Told apart from its neighbours
Cut-Out Animation is the older craft with jointed pivots and a warmer feel. Broadcast Flat Cartoon uses a thick outline and has no paper in it. School Cutout Collage in the print catalogue is the same material used for a poster rather than a character.
- Cut-Out Animation
- Broadcast Flat Cartoon
- School Cutout Collage
Where it is used
It suits a satirical illustration, an explainer, a music video and any picture that should look made in an afternoon.
- Adult animated series and early web cartoons
- Explainer video and music videos
The prompt
Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.
<character>, cutout web cartoon style, the figure assembled from flat construction paper shapes in a few dull colours with visible paper grain, each piece casting a small hard drop shadow onto the layer beneath it, deliberately crude simple shapes with rough torn or scissor cut edges, a plain flat background, no outline anywhere, everything drawn face on with no perspective and no foreshortening
What goes wrong
A clean vector illustration comes back. Ask for paper grain, rough cut edges, and a hard drop shadow under every separate piece.
Leave out
an outline, perspective, smooth vector edges, fine detail, gradients, a three quarter view
Watch for
This reads as a specific era of adult web and cable animation. The crudeness is deliberate and it is the point, so tidying the shapes removes both the association and the appeal at once.
Questions
Draw it
Pay for the one run. No subscription, and the price is on the model page before you sign in.
