Product Description

Aspiring cartoonists of all ages can begin drawing a repertoire of characters from the moment they follow the wide-ranging yet simplified lessons that fill these instructive pages, written and illustrated by an all-time best-selling artist/teacher.

This complete course, covering both comic strip and animation techniques, begins with lessons on basic cartoon body shapes and facial features. Included are helpful comparisons between the real versus the cartoon head, a smile chart, and various ways to draw the most popular and expressive cartoon eyes and mouths. Next come lots of typical body poses, how to draw action lines, slow/fast movement, cartoon hands, fun hair and clothing styles, backgrounds, and cute cartoon pets. Excellent directions also focus on helping beginners to find and develop their own cartoon style.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #427246 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-15
• Released on: 2000-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780823005864
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Christopher Hart is one of Watson-Guptill's best-selling authors, with a proven track record of phenomenal sales totaling over a half-million copies. He lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Not a beginner's book
I bought this book last year, and it's really one of the great ones. However, I don't think it's appropriate for someone who's looking for a "how to draw" book. If you are a beginner, I'd reccomend a good artist's atlas or an art class...
Mr. Hart is not trying to teach you how to draw his characters, but how to perfect your own. I think most of the beginning is just filler; It's weak on form and the instructions are a little confusing. HOWEVER, it's chock full'o goodness in the form of tiny details that a beginner might be unfamiliar with; The fact that a woman's high heeled shoe sticks out at the heel, How the tilt of a nose can change personality, etc.
I have yet to see a better chapter on perspective. Although he does have the obligatory "This a box, these are the box's disapearing lines, etc", he goes much farther, showing how to place a character in relation to the horizon without having to use three rulers and a protractor. Very concise and easy to understand. If you're past stick figures but not quite happy with what you produce, this may be the book for you.
It should be called "Cartooning for the Intermediate" :)

This is an excellent reference, beginner or not
I found this to be an excellent learning tool and reference for cartooning / animation. He clearly states step by step with many examples, and almost all the art in the book has the rough "circle" sketch going to the full cartoon final (in color). The color illustrations are excellent, the perspective and clothing tutorials are well-done and easy to understand.

A reviewer below stated that he didn't even specify how to erase the guide lines, and was confused and didn't think that this book was for a beginner. I highly disagree. Page 10 "Creating a face from a basic head shape" specifically states at the bottom to erase your guide lines at the end. If you can follow instructions, you can learn from this book.

I use this book to supplement the Flash cartoons I've been working on, and in fact, instead of taking pencil to paper, I have followed all his guidelines drawn directly into Macromedia Flash (with a Wacom Intuos2 graphics tablet). When it says to "stretch" a ball shape, no problem, all done digitally, all quite simple. Even someone who can't draw a straight line can benefit from this book if they use it in conjunction with Macromedia Flash to learn to create cartoons.

Excellent reference and learning tool, I'm going to the store today to purchase three more of his "how-to" books.

This book isn't really for beginners.
Although this book was somewhat helpful, it seemed to be a mere summary of knowledge, and not exactly in the proper order; if you were to follow this book from front to back, you would get lost pretty quick. Hart doesn't go into detail, nor does he explain anything. He just assumes you "get it," so if you truely are a beginner, this book won't help you much as far as drawing cartoon characters.