animation, or a style of drawing that uses more simple shapes than realism normally would, specifically exaggerated shapes and reduced shapes. Rounded shapes are common in cartoons, like in the Simpsons. But there are many other styles. Thats my definition

Colorful exaggerations, if I’m gonna be short and blunt. I can’t say I have a clear definition of what a cartoon actually is. From the top of my head I come to think of the worlds of let’s say, Looney Tunes, Ren & Stimpy, Johnny Bravo, Goof Troop. Mostly non-sequential shorts, often with a lot of slapstick comedy. Humor is key for me when I think of cartoons. Now I’m curious to find out why you’re asking? :)

Cartoons are the most dangerous form of art. You can express a whole lot of things in a single cartoon piece and every other person will take that in a different way. someone thinks that's funny, someone will look with a deep meaning and someone will see what you meant to see them. And cartoons for me also means lively. You can draw a few lines on the page and they'll pop up to life. I guess You cannot do that with another art style.

Simplicity and fun

For me a cartoon is an exaggerated truth for comedic effect, and serious story both told with dynamic and/or funny shapes that make distinct characters and worlds.

I think movement and color(guess cause I hardly see black and white ones). Also I associate cartoons as silly but satiric

How long is a piece of string, my dude?

This is an interesting question! Cartoons, in my opinion, are those that aim to be as separate from real life as possible, where as the goal of the traditional realist and naturalist are to make work that capture the beauty of reality, cartoons try to capture the beauty that are in our mind, the exaggaration of how a body moves in looney tunes, the overly cutesyness of a ghibli film. how they make the eyes of their character resemble that of a small animal than of a human, the way winsor mccay eliminate most of the information on our faces and leave only dots, so our mind can focus on the impossible architecture and scenery of his world, to show things that can not be found in our mundane lifes. To make it more closer to our bias mind's eye than those of the objective natures. Cartoons, itself is hard to define because ( in my opinion) they are a subgroup of a language. Like how english, german, spanish, are subgroup of our literary language. Cartoons are subgroup of our visual language, that is why we have such trouble defining them, for what language does not take from others? Only those that cannot be comprehend by human mind, so, as far as we are concern, nothing. (Also sweet to see you post some discussion on this stuff, @liandro, very fascinating stuff!)

Cartoon at it core is simply a series of drawing portraying a theme or an idea. for example the Simpsons portray modern family through hi jinx adult swim primal is about the idea of being in situations where we would go primal to survive cowboy bebop is considered an anime due it locations it was made and content but it is series of drawings portraying idea

A cartoon expresses thoughts, ideas, and identities that we cannot or would not otherwise express in real life.

I think of TV cartoons. I think of pictures that rely heavily on simplicity and or linework. I think of mostly flat colors, if any. The more I think about it though, the more I think of TV shows that are more visually complex, yet my mind still says "cartoon=simple". My mind tells me SpongeBob is a cartoon. Teen Titans is a cartoon. The Mona Lisa is not a cartoon. Starry night is not a cartoon. And weirdly, I don't think of Zelda (which can be simple, visually) as a cartoon.. as I type my mind just thinks and I believe my definition for cartoon doesn't just come from the way the art looks, but also how it's consumed. I tend to think, it's more for entertainment. Possibly indirect education, but still entertainment. But not just entertainment. Entertainment where you can sit back and enjoy the ride. Zelda fits most of the criteria, but it's a game. It's entertainment, but it's immersive. You're in it. I believe the word cartoon comes from the final line drawing artists used when creating a painting. After the preliminary work they'd have a complete line drawing. No color or anything, but it was the final drawing of the painting to be made.

There are Da Vinci drawings that are somewhat simple and that describe an image in a simple line drawing that are called cartoons. I think originally the term cartoon was meant to signify a facsimile of something real, or a simplified representation of something real. I think that definition has expanded greatly over time, but at it's core, I think it still fits.

Hello, The fact that this question stumped me the first time I read it made me really want to try and answer it. It’s funny how sometimes common terms like this one are actually quite tricky to define. When I hear “cartoon,” I think – heavily stylized, exaggerated proportions. I also find that cartoons are usually a bit more lighthearted in tone and include comedy to varying degrees. But I think that’s not always the case. Not all cartoons are made for kids. For me, animated shows like Kid Cosmic, Spongebob Squarepants, and even Rick and Morty fall under the umbrella of “cartoons.” But a show like “Primal” for example… I’m not sure if I would consider that a cartoon. But then again – why not? Maybe it's because of the fact that as kids we get exposed to a lot more "cute/silly" cartoon styles. And we might take that perception with us into adulthood.  It's quite an interesting topic. I’m curious to know other opinions on this. :D

cartoons to me are an expression where lay out and caracters have a distinghuished look and feel. translated by the artist's lines and emotion .