Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199547 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Library Journal
Hart, a regular contributor to Mad Magazine and a comedy screenwriter, has produced a manual with equal emphasis on the art of cartooning and the art of comedy. He has the requisite chapters on how to draw funny characters, but he comes into his own when he analyses pacing and rhythm, set-up and punch lines, and the differences between dramatic and comedic scenes. Certain words, he maintains, are ordinary and certain ones funny (e.g., fat is ordinary, bloated is funny, four is ordinary, five is funny?as are all odd numbers). This and Robin Hall's The Cartoonist's Workbook: Drawing, Writing Gags, Selling (LJ 11/15/97) are the two best such books available.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. Several recent books have dealt with cartooning, among them Al Bohl's overview Guide to Cartooning , which explores the art form's history as well as its practice. Hart, who keeps his eye on commercial potential, narrows his focus to one aspect of cartooning--creating single and multipanel comic strips. He begins with some helpful cartoon-art how-tos, but it's the subtleties about joke writing, pacing, framing, and dialogue he includes that make his book stand out. The graphics, many in color, are teamed closely with small blocks of text and captions to get the message across. Hart's swaggering wit occasionally gets in the way, but usually not long enough to stop the flow of information. To be sure, Hart makes it seem easier than it is, but teenage art students who would like to see their work in the Sunday funnies would do well to start here. Tips on becoming a professional cartoonist and some helpful resources round out the text. Point interested teens to Scott McCloud's excellent adult book Understanding Comics (1993) for an even deeper view. Stephanie Zvirin

Customer Reviews

The Book is Fun and Educational!
Before I finished my third book I decided it needed cartoons to visually explain some ideas (a picture is worth 1000 words) and provide humor to a tough subject. I started checking with hiring a professional artist (or student artist) to do the work. It quickly became clear the task would be time consuming, expensive and I may not get what I wanted in the end.

First, it would be difficult to find someone who would be able to take what was in my mind and transfer it to a cartoon

Second, it became painfully clear it would be expensive (even with a student artist). I wanted around twenty five cartoons drawn.

Third, some individuals wanted to discuss contracts and usage.

My best option was to learn how to draw cartoons myself. I figured it would be less expensive (only the cost of books and art supplies), and frustrating and I would get exactly what was in my brain. It would take some time to become proficient, but it sounded like a fun project. I was fortunately right.

Drawing on the Funny side of the Brain by Christopher Hart and a couple other books helped me learn how to draw cartoons good enough to put in my latest book.

Christopher Hart has done several books on drawing comics. He provides excellent common sense content, and teaches the skill very well though his words and cartoons.

There were many excellent sections in the book that helped me draw faces, bodies hands and feet. There were also some drawings that gave me ideas for my own cartoons.

Some the sections that I found especially helpful were: Humorous Head Construction, Funny Expressions, How to Draw the Cartoon Hand, and the Characters Sheet.

After finishing my sketches, I used Adobe Elements software to polish up the work. I was very pleased with the final cartoons that went into my book...and there have been many positive comments about the cartoons from people who have the book!

Overall, this is a great resource for learning to draw cartoons!


The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Cartooning but Were Afraid to Draw (Christopher Hart Titles)

The Cartoonist's Workbook Drawing, Writing Gags, Selling

Excellent book!
Very helpful book on the basics of creating comics. I needed a book that would take me from square one and show me the ropes. This did all that and more. I would definitely recommend this book!

Bleh
I wanted this book to be good. I really did. It had what I was looking for, info on the most important aspect of cartooning: the writing.But, unless you intend to create cliche, unoriginal cartoons, this book is not for you. Because that's all it does. It explains in detail the most common cartoon character stereotypes and how you should use them. it tells you what is normally done and tells you to do the same. cartooning is not about following paths that have already been followed. i enjoyed The Naked Cartoonist by Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor for the New Yorker. It explains the creative process in general.
Here's my advice: don't listen to advice from cartoonists who aren't even successful themselves. they clearly don't know what they're talking about.