Tutorial: Cartoon heart


Hi everyone, welcome to my cartoon heart tutorial! After several tape method tutorials, I thought it would be fun to make one with a freehand design. It's a girly and simple design that only takes little time to make. And using it on a few accent nails is a nice way to add something cute to your mani. So go get your brushes and let's do some nail art ;)

First apply your base color (if necessary with a basecoat underneath) and let it dry. Here I used a polish with a creme finish (China Glaze Sea Spray), but you could also use a shimmer or subtle glitter polish, to give the design more depth.
Then use a nail art brush to draw the shape of a heart with black nail polish or acrylic paint and fill it in. The advantage of acrylic paint is that it's usually quite pigmented, has a short drying time and it's easier to work with, because it has a smoother formula. And also it's relatively much cheaper than nail polish.
I drew my heart at the tips, with a part of the shape cut off. This is to make it seem like it's 'floating'. But of course you can draw the heart anywhere you like, in the middle, at the top, big or small, it's all up to you.
After the black heart has dried, paint another heart on top with an opaque color of your choice. Most people would take a red or a pink for hearts, but because the heart is such an iconic shape, you really could use any color for it. Just pick anything that goes well with your base color.
As a finishing touch, add a typical cartoon shine to the heart, by making one big and one small dot with a dotting tool.
Apply your topcoat, clean up if necessary and you're done! Pretty simple, right? :)
Tip: To clean your nail art brush(es), pour a little bit of nail polish remover in a small dish or the cap of the bottle. Let your brush soak in it for a few seconds and dab it a few times on a cotton pad. Repeat this until your brush is clean.

Check out the tutorial page for more useful tips. Also I would love to see your attempt on my design, so feel free to leave a link to your creation in the comment section!

Products I used in this post are China Glaze Sea Spray, black acrylic paint and OPI Dim Sum Plum.

67 comments

  1. how cute is that? :D thanks for sharing

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  2. That is so cute! The only problem is drawing with my left hand on my right hand nails.... lol

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  3. I love this! I need to invest in some acrylic paints xx

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  4. Cute and simple. Great tutorial! :)

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  5. that is beyond adorable. i can't wait til my brushes arrive so i can try this!

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  6. OMG! I absolutely LOVE your tutorials! This is super cute! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  7. ohhhh sooo pretty!!! big love! :)

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  8. So cute! I'm definitely gonna try this :)

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  9. How adorable! I love this.. so simple but it looks great!

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  10. This is so so cute, I'm definitely going to give this one a go, lovely idea :) xx

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  11. great tutorial and super cute heart design, definitely going to do this soon!

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  12. I absolutely love this one!

    Btw, I've tried one of your nail art tutorials! I've posted this week on my blog, if you want to check it out: http://goo.gl/HYuVW

    ;***

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  13. very adorable! i'll definitely be trying this! thanks as always for the tutorial :)

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  14. This is adorable. Your tutorials are so easy to follow, thanks for taking the time to do them. (Even though my end results always look like a mess. My own fault! Too much coffee!)

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  15. So cute!! Might have to try this one.

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  16. Soooo adorable and looks perhaps easy enough for me to attempt! haha, I posted my attempt at your explosion mani it was cute but mostly a fail =) You do the most adorable nail art I've seen!

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  17. Wow you're awesome at nail art! I love this design. I think it's so cool and I love your color choices. Where can you buy a nail art brush? and what dotting tool did you use? Thanks for sharing!

    sherri from SHERRI AMOUR

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  18. ps. you can email me at tini_bubbles@hotmail.com

    Thanks!

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  19. thanks! I really love this design and it looks easy enough for me to attempt! I will definitely try it out!

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  20. love!!! you always have the best nail art tutorials!

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  21. It's lovely but I can't do that! My designs aren't good!
    Miss Starshiny

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  22. I gave you an award! Check this:
    http://misstarshiny.blogspot.com/2011/09/another-blog-award.html

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  23. such great idea I must try it:)

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  24. Love this, love all your nails!

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  25. Great manicure with great tutorial! So cute heart!:)
    I'm going to do some manicures with tutorials in the near future!
    Have a nice day!
    Kisses<3

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  26. Amazing free hand! This settles it - I did not get Sea Spray when it came out - I must have it now...and I know where it's on sale cheap to boot!

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  27. this is so cute! I need to buy some acrylic paint...it's been weeks and weeks that I'm saying that but here you convinced me! ;D

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  28. I love it! Very girlie. I think I'll try this one day.

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  29. Excellent! Love this idea so much. You did a great job!!

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  30. Thanks everybody for leaving your comments!

    @Sherri: I sent you an e-mail :)

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  31. So cute and fun!!! I'm wondering the same thing as Sherri. Where can you buy a nail art brush and dotting tools?

    You can email me at love_muffin888@hotmail.com

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  32. Uaaaaaau :D This is amazing, I mean, your whole blog is :) Great job!

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  33. so cute! I did it on my own and my stepmom's nails:

    http://thisishowwenailit.tumblr.com/post/10160265111/fresh-matte-mixup

    and:
    http://thisishowwenailit.tumblr.com/post/10231564703/tarot-nails-my-stepmom-is-kind-if-sypersticious

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  34. Hy. I tried to do this design :P It`s not perfect but i love it :X

    http://laurasconer.blogspot.com/2011/09/notd-cartooned-heart.html

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  35. Thank you for sharing this! I used your tutorial in doing my own version of cartoon hearts.

    http://iyanailsit.blogspot.com/2011/10/hearts-ala-nailside.html

    I really love your blog!!

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  36. Hiii,
    I used this tutorial to create my own version too!!

    http://charlies-wonderland.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-heart-nail-art.html

    thanks for this!
    xxx

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  37. I love heart and this is soo Freaking Preetyy :)

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  38. Oh cute tutorial! Love it :)

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  39. I looove this, so I tried it and posted it on my blog, and linked back to you giving you credit for it : )

    http://negle-lakk.blogspot.com/2012/01/h-love.html

    I'd love to hear what you think about it!

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  40. This is a fabulous design and a perfect tutorial, I shared it with my readers on my blog today ♥

    xoxo Julieta
    www.vjuliet.com

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  41. So cute! You are so talented and your tutorials are very well done. I used them to do clouds and recently did a heart accent nail for Valentine's Day. If you have time, check out my blog where I have pics and links to your tutorial :) wickednails.wordpress.com
    ~rylee

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  42. I have tried it too! Not as good looking as yours but I gave it a try :)

    http://handsincandy.blogspot.com/2012/02/kalpcikler.html

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  43. omg i love this like 15 people said oh i LOVE ur nails! :)

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  44. Where do you get the acrylic nail paint?

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    1. The acrylic paint I use isn't specially made for nails but for all crafty things in general, so I'm sure they'll have it at your local craft store. Mine came in a set with 12 colors for only a few euros. You can also find many different sets on Ebay, just search for 'acrylic paint'.

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  45. Never thought to use acrylic paint, I have a TON, since I paint ceramics...cannot wait to try load of ideas that have failed with regular nail art polish! Thanks for all the awesome tips and tutorials!

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  46. so cute.. :) i will try to do that sometimes..

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  47. i am in love with these. your designs are amazing. I wish i were as good as you!

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  48. Which type of tape do you use?.. because i've tried with "normal" one... and when i remove it... the tape also remove the "base coat"... :(

    Thanks in advance. Rachel.

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  49. i love this tutorial so much :) and i tried it :)

    on my blog; http://www.kontesce.com/2013/03/cartoon-heart-nail-art.html

    thank you

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  50. Absolutely adorable, luv t <3

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