Pay attention to various proportions: To draw a realistic human body you must have clear understanding about the sizes and proportions of various body parts. Things like: a man is around 7 head high, width of human body at the waist is little more than one and half times of his face and things like that. A good anatomy book meant for figure artists can be very useful for this purpose.
When drawing cartoon characters you can override many of these guidelines, but to break rules in style you first have to be aware of them.
Draw eyes to express the state of mind: Eyes express the state of mind so be careful while you are drawing eyes. Eyebrows and lips are equally important. Make a habit of observing people and how they express their emotion through their facial expression. This practice is very useful and will enrich your character-creation-toolkit.
Hands are not too difficult; you just need to practice more: When drawing your character do not avoid drawing hands. Properly drawn hands separate a good figure artist from mediocre ones so practice drawing hands diligently. Use your own hand as a model and draw from various angles, this will give you a very good practice.
While drawing cartoons you can reduce the complexities by drawing four fingered --three plus thumb -- hands. Or you can make your character wear gloves that will make your work even easier.
Why shadows are important: Shadows can add depth to your scene. But drawing elaborate and accurate shadow takes time; instead add some shadowy patch near the feet of your character. If you do not add shadow at all your character may appear to be floating in mid air.
Practice drawing from real life: Initially when you start drawing it is easier and natural that you will be drawing from other’s sketches or photos, but as you start becoming good at your job you must start drawing from real life. Real life gives you the freedom of choice and rich variety.
Negative space drawing will make your work easier: Negative space drawing is drawing space that is not part of your intended drawing subject. Or in other terms it is basically nothing but drawing the out line of your subject. You may find this approach useful because it lets you concentrate on the overall form without getting bogged down into the details of the subject.
