You’ve seen the show. It’s that bright, chaotic, wonderfully earnest energy of Big City Greens. If you’re sitting there with a stylus or a pencil wondering how to draw Cricket Green without him looking like a weird yellow blob, you aren’t alone. He’s deceptively simple. On the surface, he’s a kid in overalls with a cowlick. But if you miss the specific geometry of his head or the way his limbs hinge, the whole thing falls apart.
Drawing animation characters isn't just about copying lines. It’s about understanding the "why" behind the design. Created by Chris and Shane Houghton, Cricket is built on a foundation of organic, slightly imperfect shapes. He isn't a perfect circle. He’s more like a thumb. Or a potato. Honestly, a potato is the best reference point you’ve got for his torso.
Starting With the Bean and the Bulb
Forget everything you know about standard human proportions. Cricket Green doesn't have a neck. If you draw a neck, you’ve already lost the battle. Start with his head. It’s a rounded, slightly squashed oval. Think of a lightbulb that’s been flattened a bit. His head is actually quite large compared to his body, which gives him that energetic, youthful look.
The body follows a "bean" shape. It’s a classic squash-and-stretch technique used by Disney and CalArts alumni. When he’s jumping, that bean stretches. When he’s landing, it squashes. To get the base right, sketch a small bean tucked right under that bulbous head. Don't worry about the overalls yet. Just get the mass down.
The eyes are huge. They’re basically two giant white circles that take up a solid 40% of his face. Notice how they touch in the middle? That’s a key stylistic choice in the show's character design. If you space them out, he stops looking like Cricket and starts looking like a generic background character.
Nailing the "Green" Aesthetic
You can’t talk about how to draw Cricket Green without mentioning the hair. It’s his most defining feature besides the skin tone. It’s not "hair" in the traditional sense; it’s more like a singular, curved spike. It looks like a shark fin or a wave.
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The curve needs to be fluid. If you make it too jagged, it looks like he’s in a different show. The Houghtons often talk about "line weight" in their interviews. The lines in Big City Greens are bold. They have a consistent thickness that feels hand-drawn but clean. If you're drawing digitally, use a brush with a bit of "stabilization" so your lines don't jitter, but keep that thickness high.
- The Skin Tone: It’s a specific shade of yellow-chartreuse. Don't go full lemon. It needs a hint of green in it.
- The Overalls: These are iconic. They sit low on his frame. The straps are thick.
- The Teeth: Cricket almost always has that one snaggletooth poking out. It adds to his "country kid" charm.
The Secret is in the Limbs
Cricket’s arms and legs are "noodle limbs." There are no elbows. There are no knees. Well, there are, but they don't have sharp angles. They bend like rubber hoses. This is a callback to 1930s animation styles, specifically the "rubber hose" era of Fleischer Studios.
When you're learning how to draw Cricket Green, pay attention to his feet. They are massive. He wears these simple, rounded brown shoes that act as anchors for his design. If the feet are too small, he looks top-heavy and unstable. If they're big, he looks like he's ready to run into a pile of trouble.
His hands are four-fingered. This is a standard animation shortcut, but it serves a purpose here. It keeps the silhouette clean. If you try to cram five fingers onto those small noodle arms, it gets cluttered. Keep it simple. Circular palms, sausage fingers.
Action Poses and Expression
Cricket is never still. Even when he’s standing, he’s usually leaning or gesturing. To capture his essence, you need to practice his "smear" frames. In the show, when Cricket moves fast, the animators draw multiple arms or a blurred trail.
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His expressions are extreme. When he’s happy, his mouth takes up the entire bottom half of his face. When he’s suspicious, his eyes turn into tiny slits. You really have to push the boundaries of the "bulb" head. Don't be afraid to let the mouth go outside the lines of the jaw. That’s the beauty of this art style—it’s expressive over being anatomically correct.
Why This Character Design Works
There’s a reason Big City Greens became a staple on Disney Channel. The design of Cricket is a masterclass in "readability." You can tell it’s him just by his silhouette. That’s the "Silhouette Test" used by professional character designers like Stephen Silver. If you blacked out the entire drawing, would you still know who it is? With that cowlick and those big shoes, the answer is always yes.
When you're practicing how to draw Cricket Green, don't get frustrated if the first few attempts look "off." It’s usually because the eyes are too small or the head is too round. Remember the potato. Remember the shark fin hair.
Technical Details for Digital Artists
If you’re working in Procreate or Photoshop, use a bold, non-tapered brush. You want the ends of your lines to be rounded, not pointy. The color palette is surprisingly limited, which is great for beginners. Use a reference image to eye-drop the exact yellow of his skin. It’s actually closer to a #E2D442 hex code if you want to be precise, though it varies slightly depending on the lighting of the scene.
The background characters in the show often have more muted tones, which makes Cricket "pop." When you draw him, keep his colors saturated. He is the energy of the show, and his visual design reflects that 100%.
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Common Mistakes to Avoid
Most people make his torso too long. Cricket is short. His legs are short. His torso is short. It’s almost all head. If you make him too tall, he starts to look like a teenager, and the character's "scrappy kid" vibe vanishes instantly.
Another mistake? Making the overalls too complex. They aren't denim with a million wrinkles. They are two flat blue shapes with two gold circles for buttons. That’s it. Over-detailing is the enemy of this specific art style.
Putting It All Together
Start with the bulb head. Add the bean body. Stick on the noodle limbs and the giant shoes. Pop the shark-fin hair on top and don't forget the snaggletooth. Once you have the sketch, go over it with a thick, confident line.
Practice drawing him from a side profile. This is where most people struggle because the "nose" area (which is really just a slight bump) can be tricky to align with the massive eyes. In profile, one eye will slightly overlap the other. It gives the drawing depth without needing complex shading.
Drawing is a muscle. You’ve got to do it a lot to get the "feel" of a specific creator's style. Shane Houghton’s style is very much about joy and movement. If your drawing feels stiff, erase it and start over with faster, looser strokes.
Your Next Steps for Mastering the Style
Take a screenshot of a high-energy scene from the show—something where Cricket is mid-air or screaming.
- Trace the basic shapes first (the circles and ovals) to see how the animators built the frame.
- Turn off the reference and try to recreate those shapes from memory.
- Focus on the "Line of Action." Draw a single curved line from his head to his feet and build the body around that curve to ensure he looks like he’s moving.
- Experiment with the "Squash." Draw Cricket as if he’s just fallen from a great height, making his head wider and his body flatter.
By focusing on these structural elements rather than just the "skin" of the drawing, you’ll find that your fan art starts to look significantly more professional and true to the source material. Stick to the bold lines and the potato shapes, and you'll be nailing the Big City Greens look in no time. For more inspiration, check out the official Big City Greens shorts on Disney's YouTube channel to see how his body moves in three-dimensional space despite being a 2D character.