An off-stage art item for senior school pupils in which each entrant draws a humorous cartoon and colours it within a 60-minute sitting, marked out of 100 on neatness, even colouring, staying inside the outline, suitable colours and light and shade.
Cartoon Drawing and Colouring is an individual off-stage art item in the Tamil Nadu school arts festival. Unlike most art items in that festival it is offered only to the two senior bands, classes 9 to 10 and 11 to 12. Boys and girls compete together, no language is required, and each band is its own competition with its own ranking.
The round is a sitting rather than a performance. Pupils work together in a hall under invigilation, each with one sheet, and have 60 minutes with no warning bell. The entrant draws a cartoon, meaning a simplified, exaggerated or humorous picture of a person, situation or idea, and then colours it, so line work and colour are tested in one piece. The panel collects the finished sheets and marks them afterwards.
The panel marks out of 100 as five criteria of twenty marks each: neatness of the drawing, even colouring, colouring within the outline, colours suited to the subject, and light and shade. The template does not print a separate mark for the joke or the idea, so what earns marks is clean, confident drawing and careful colour; a sharp idea still helps because it gives the pupil a clear picture to draw and shade well.
Organisers run it because it gives older pupils who enjoy drawing a place in the festival, and because it sits beside plain Drawing and Colouring and Colouring items: a pupil who likes caricature and humour can enter the item that suits their strength. It is a different item from the generic Cartoon listing used by other events, which asks for a cartoon on a set theme and has no fixed criteria table.
Where Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) is run
In eTalenter's data this exact item appears on one template: the Tamil Nadu government and government-aided school arts festival, where it is an off-stage individual item for classes 9 to 12. Cartoon and caricature competitions are run by schools, newspapers and arts events in many places, but each sets its own theme, materials and marking, so this page only asserts what the template records.
- India - Tamil Nadu (government and government-aided school arts festival, classes 9-12)
Key facts
- Individual entry; boys and girls compete together within each class band.
- Two bands only in the Tamil Nadu school template: classes 9-10 and 11-12.
- One 60-minute sitting with no warning bell; the drawing and the colouring both happen inside it.
- Marked out of 100: neatness of the drawing, even colouring, colouring within the outline, colours suited to the subject and light and shade, 20 marks each.
- Not the same item as plain Drawing and Colouring (a general picture) or the generic Cartoon item used by other events.
- Idea starters, not rules: a crowded bus stop, a pupil and a heavy school bag, a tree wearing a face mask, a cricket match in the rain.
On eTalenter, Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) is filed under Off Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 60 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்)
What a Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Neatness of the drawing (20): clean, confident outlines with clear proportions and no overworked, smudged or rubbed-out lines; a crowded sketch with unclear shapes loses marks.
- Even colouring (20): flat, consistent colour without patches, streaks or gaps of bare paper; pressing hard in one place and lightly in another shows.
- Colouring within the outline (20): colour that stops at the line; spill-over beyond edges is the most common way a good drawing loses marks.
- Colours suited to the subject (20): colours that fit the character and mood, such as warm tones for a lively scene; clashing or random colour weakens the cartoon.
- Light and shade (20): a clear light direction with darker and lighter tones to give shape; a flat picture with no shading cannot earn these marks.
- Time: a finished sheet inside 60 minutes beats an ambitious, half-coloured one.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) under Scoring Setup, or start from the full drawing & painting judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்)
How entrants and their teachers usually get Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) right on the day:
- Practise drawing three or four simple cartoon characters until you can draw them from memory in under ten minutes, so the sitting is not spent inventing a face.
- Plan the sitting: roughly 20 minutes for the pencil drawing and outline, 30 for colour, and the last 10 to tidy edges and add shade.
- Use a light pencil sketch first, then firm the outline; erase stray marks before colouring, because colour fixes them in place.
- Practise colouring a shape right up to its edge with the side of the pencil or brush, and fill in one direction to keep the colour even.
- Choose a small palette of three to five colours for the picture and test how a light and a dark version of one colour look side by side to build shading.
- Keep an idea simple: one character and one clear joke are easier to draw well than a busy scene.
- After a district-level loss, ask which of the five rows cost the most marks and drill that skill, for example edge control, on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
How long is the Cartoon Drawing and Colouring item?
The Tamil Nadu school template sets 60 minutes for both bands, with no warning bell. Other events set their own limits, so read the rules of the event you enter.
What are the five criteria worth?
Neatness of the drawing, even colouring, colouring within the outline, colours suited to the subject and light and shade are each marked out of 20, giving a total of 100.
Is it the same as Drawing and Colouring or the Cartoon item?
No. Drawing and Colouring is a general picture offered to more class bands, and the generic Cartoon item is a cartoon on a set theme in other events. eTalenter keeps them as separate catalogue items.
Is the item judged individually or as a team?
Individually. Each pupil produces their own sheet and is ranked within their own class band.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full drawing & painting judging criteria guide, or browse every off stage competition item.
Try Cartoon Drawing and Colouring (கேலி சித்திரம் வரைதல் & வண்ணம் தீட்டுதல்) in eTalenter
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