Four fingers instead of five...

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Four fingers instead of five...

Post by Wonderlicious » January 6th, 2006, 2:35 pm

This is a really odd question, but how come so many cartoon characters only have four fingers (including thumbs) instead of five? I've often wondered this and really want to know. I know, I'm silly... :P
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Post by PatrickvD » January 6th, 2006, 2:42 pm

Easier to draw, and most people don't even notice. If I'm not mistaken that was the main reason.

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Post by SingingDuckGirl » January 6th, 2006, 6:51 pm

I heard that displaying cartoon characters with 4 fingers instead of 5 is *bad* in Japan (like, there's some bad historical figure/group that's characterized by having only 4 fingers or something of that nature, like a gang symbol). And I've heard that Disney must pay a lot of money each year to not have to give Mickey 5 fingers in Japan.
But this could all be an urban legend.
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Post by James » January 6th, 2006, 7:50 pm


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Post by Dacey » January 24th, 2006, 4:51 pm

What doesn't make sense is when stuff like this happens:

Snow White has five fingers. All of the dwarfs, however, have four.

That makes no sense.
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Post by Ben » January 24th, 2006, 5:13 pm

Snow White is a human, which have traditionally been drawn with the appropriate amount of fingers.

The Dwarfs, in this case, are caricatures, hence the fingers...

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Post by Dacey » January 24th, 2006, 5:18 pm

Good point.

However, I wonder how midgets feel about it.

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Post by Macaluso » January 24th, 2006, 5:53 pm

I also think it's easier to fit four fingers on a hand than five. And seems more natural, oddly.

I've always drawn my characters with four fingers. It just looks weird with five. Sometimes they work, like Kim Possible. But I think they look neater with four :D

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Post by Meg » January 24th, 2006, 5:55 pm

Yeah, whenever I draw people with five fingers it jut looks...wrong.

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Post by Dacey » January 24th, 2006, 6:01 pm

The only character I've drawn over and over again is Garfield.

And he has four fingers.
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Post by Ben » January 24th, 2006, 9:31 pm

Wendy's Jane wrote:I wonder how midgets feel about it.
If you actually look closely, they only have four fingers. ;)

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Post by Dacey » January 24th, 2006, 10:30 pm

Uh...

Right.
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