What do Mickey Mouse, Homer Simpson and SpongeBob Squarepants have in common? Not much except for the fact that they are all loved, easily recognizable cartoon characters. But they also share one aspect of the design: all of these characters play four fingers instead of five. Once you notice, you will never be able to look at it. This four -finger cartoon design is not limited to the above mentioned examples, as you will notice this miracle of most of your favorite animated characters, by All In the "Laboratory of Dexter" To all people in Futurama. In most cases, less fingers are usually attributed to anthropomorphic creatures or those considered alien to putting a fictional story.

Why did this choice of design become a semi-standard animation practice? Is it simply a by -product of the miracle that these cartoons accept, where is everything excessive to suit its unlimited essence? Let's take a look at Mickey Mouse as an example that sports a circular, circular design that is traditionally associated with characters that need to appear warm and friendly. Since the original Mickey animators had to maintain consistency with its circular design, drawing three fingers with white sleeves and thumb It turned out much easier. Adding an extra finger made Mickey's hands look congested, attracting too much attention to an aspect that should feel flawless with the rest of the animation. In addition, the extra space provided by the missing finger also helped to animate clearer gestures of the hands, especially during the rush and heavy scenes.

Let's look at other possible reasons behind this widespread choice of animation.

In the cartoon "Finnes and Fairb", the boundaries of disbelief are often imposed in extremes. Here, a pet Platip named Perry is a secret agent wearing a cap that wears a hat, on a mission to shoot down a crazy scientist. The titular brothers accidentally have fun, the scientific inventions they look at in their backyard while enjoying the summer vacation. The fact that each character in this show has four fingers is its least surprising aspect, because the head of Finnes is literally shaped like A. Trianglewhile It's Fair, good ... Fair.

This element of fantasy transmitted with shows such as "Fines and Fairb" is mostly established through characters designs, informing the entire world building. Classic animated film like "Snow White and Seven Dwarfs" by Disney " It features people with anatomically accurate designs (five fingers on each hand), but a series of cartoons turn around stupid or Donald Duck relying on the four -finger design rule. This is simple because stories like "Snow White" are based on traditional morality despite being fantasy, while anthropomorphic creatures like Gufi suspend our disbelief just a little further.

And practically, four fingers instead of five save considerable time and money for a study. This was especially true for purely manually drawn animation, which was formerly the norm before computer graphics became something. Even during these semi -automatic processes, the absence of a finger can make the whole difference, especially when it works in favor of contrasting fantastic creatures with human characters.

Interestingly, Japanese cartoons or animated works often have five finger characters because of social norms, beliefs and negative connotations. One example is to traditionally cut the pink member as a punishment, making the four -finger design mainly avoiding Japanese animators. Plus, the four -role sign with hand has offensive caste -based associations, and the number four is often considered unhappy (denoting death) in Japanese society, so you will usually see foreign or anthropomorphic characters with only three fingers instead of four.