Why do so many cartoon characters only have four fingers

easier to draw

it's cute

Easier to animate?

Because drawing hands is a bitch.

>>87644238
>>87644265
>>87644266
This.

>>87644229
Ring and middle finger are too near together. It would not scale if you draw small figures because of the line width.

>>87644296

It is really is just this. Most of the time, drawing a hand with five fingers seems a bit strained/congested, it's too much fit into such a tiny drawing.

>>87644592
>>87644296
When i first heard this as a young kid i thought "Oh, that makes sense", but when i actually learned how to draw myself, i just can't believe it. It has become impossible for me to draw a hand with only 3 fingers(plus thumb) without making it look like some kind of alien hand, the whole shape suddenly falls apart

>>87644592

How do the Japanese manage then?

There is no reason. It's a visual meme that everyone adopted without knowing why and nobody probably gives it any thought at all. Annoying. I rather hate it.

>>87644637

In other words you can't draw.

>>87644229
>>87644541
In Gravity Falls characters had four or five fingers proportional to their size, so I assume that's why.

>>87644640
Japan has other reasons for not drawing four fingered hands actually.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/720419.stm

>>87644672
How do you define "draw"?
If by "draw" you mean "everything and anything that is imaginable" then no, i guess i don't.

>>87644640

>How do the Japanese manage then?

Are you fucking retarded? Japs use limited animation. Less frames, but more the frames are more detailed.

>>87644637
Making lifelike drawings and making quick/efficient cartoon drawings are not the same skill tree. They only have some perks in common.

>>87644229
I always thought it was so characters couldn't stick up their middle finger.

>>87644640
Because un japland is taboo to draw humans with less then 5.

>>87644765
i do mostly draw cartoonish and mangaish drawings, even though i obviously started with lifelike portraits.
I mean, there were one or two times where i drew simpsons character with their original design, and i got used to their head shape really fast, but the fingers still bug me.

>>87644761
>Japs use limited animation.
Except in action scenes, show intros, show outros, commercials and movies.

>>87644821
What are you trying to say?

>>87644874
i think he is a bit confused

for example he doesn't realize that many action oriented cartoons like kimpossible and avatar also use the proper 5finger anatomy

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>>87644785
So more than 5 is okay?

>>87644753

>How do you define "draw"?

Ask yourself that. If you can't draw a hand with five fingers it means you can't draw.

>>87644732

Kinda unrelated but amusing.

>>87644761

I'd trade a lot of things for that "limited animation."

>>87644640
>>87644238
>>87644265
These are all correct. It started out because it was easier to draw, and the hands would look too busy with five fingers on such small cartoony characters, but a lot of cartoons follow that trend because its how cartoons work now. Some cartoons break that mold, but four fingers is the typical way

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>>87644637
git gud

>>87644761
It's not as limited as people commonly think, and conversely the animation in American shows is not as lively as people commonly think.

If you for example conserve animation in several places so you can make a really big demanding scene somewhere else you are still drawing a lot of animation... it's just distributed unevenly. In keeping with the theme of fingers, here is an example. The whole thing is almost as long as an entire episode of, say, Steven Universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP9dFPNuh9A

The drawings in most American shows are also simple to the point that there's no need to remove fingers just to make keep the animation on schedule. So there is some other reason for the finger thing.

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>>87645110

Wait, hold on. Could this be the real reason? Talking animal bullshit. Dogs, cats and so on have either very small/unnoticeable "thumbs" or on the back of the foot. Given that an incredible amount of cartoons is about talking animals it could be just that in addition to my visual meme thing most artists just draw four fingers by default since they usually drew talking bears and so on.

Fucking furfags ruin everything.

>>87645273
Yeah, but SU and American animation isn't nearly as fetishized as Japanese animation is, so of course Japan is going to put more effort into making boners.

>>87645365
/co/ is always babbling about their weird fetishes, discussing childhood boners and begging people for porn, but what does this have to do with what we're talking about? That scene is a musical performance.

>>87645336
What about shows that don't use anthropomorphic animal characters?

>>87645406
>but what does this have to do with what we're talking about? That scene is a musical performance.

you have a lot to learn about fetishes child

>>87645426
I'm not a child, and your fetishes are irrelevant.

finally, somebody on /co/ argues about western animation vs anime

>>87645057
>Ask yourself that. If you can't draw a hand with five fingers it means you can't draw.
It's like a literal retard trying to sound smart, did you even read what he wrote? Go through the replies again

>>87644640
Westerners draw four fingers.

Easterners hate drawing eyes.

>>87645273
While I mostly agree with you the quality of animation that Kyoani achieves regularly is not standard across the board so I think your post misrepresents japanese animation in favour of your point.

>>87644753
Don't ever take Tripfags seriously.

>>87644761
Not every studio is Gainax.

>>87645559
gainax used limited AND less detailed frames

good tactic imo

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>>87645506
Anime eyes are so detailed that recently an animator complained that they're becoming too much work.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/06/11-1/anime-eyes-have-become-burdensome-to-productions-according-to-staffer

>>87645536
My point was that animation is unevenly distributed in anime. They aren't trying to go for a consistent level of animation but with less frames.

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It's visual shorthand from the Steamboat Willie days. Round, pudgy, exaggerated cartoon characters had their own distinct visual language: just like how the earliest Westerns established the black hat = bad guy, white hat = good guy motif.

Of course these days animation is nothing like Steamboat Willie; so having four fingers is just a way of pointing out that the doin's a-transpirin' in the cartoon show exist in their own, fictional universe, and may not necessarily reflect our own reality.

>>87645410
set in alternate universes where humans evolved from dogs rather than apes, that's also the in universe explination for why "the power of freindship" is such a common thing in cartoons, it's a remnant of the pack instinct.

>>87645685
>Carpet
Oh thank God someone pointed that one out.

>>87645780
I think it's more to emphasise the pinched corners indicating 'hands', as opposed to the flatter 'feet' corners

>>87644229
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>>87645780
These threads pop up too often and nobody ever mentions Three Fingers.

>>87645878
>all those quotes

Now that's what I call autism.

>>87645878
I was thinking the same thing. That book fucked me up man. I love it.

>>87645406
Yeah, but we're 4chan. Not exactly 'target audience', but a ton of anime is dedicated towards fanservice.
>tiles