Four fingers instead of five...

[Wonderlicious]

This is a really odd question, but how come so many cartoon characters only have four fingers (including thumbs) instead of five? I've often wondered this and really want to know. I know, I'm silly...

[PatrickvD]

Easier to draw, and most people don't even notice. If I'm not mistaken that was the main reason.

[SingingDuckGirl]

I heard that displaying cartoon characters with 4 fingers instead of 5 is *bad* in Japan (like, there's some bad historical figure/group that's characterized by having only 4 fingers or something of that nature, like a gang symbol). And I've heard that Disney must pay a lot of money each year to not have to give Mickey 5 fingers in Japan.
But this could all be an urban legend.

[James]

http://ask.yahoo.com/20050124.html

[Dacey]

What doesn't make sense is when stuff like this happens:

Snow White has five fingers. All of the dwarfs, however, have four.

That makes no sense.

[Ben]

Snow White is a human, which have traditionally been drawn with the appropriate amount of fingers.

The Dwarfs, in this case, are caricatures, hence the fingers...

[Dacey]

Good point.

However, I wonder how midgets feel about it.

[Macaluso]

I also think it's easier to fit four fingers on a hand than five. And seems more natural, oddly.

I've always drawn my characters with four fingers. It just looks weird with five. Sometimes they work, like Kim Possible. But I think they look neater with four

[Meg]

Yeah, whenever I draw people with five fingers it jut looks...wrong.

[Dacey]

The only character I've drawn over and over again is Garfield.

And he has four fingers.

[Ben]

I wonder how midgets feel about it.

If you actually look closely, they only have four fingers.

[Dacey]

Uh...

Right.