Cartooning for the Beginner (Christopher Hart Titles) [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Christopher Hart Titles | Publication Date: June 1, 2000

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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823005860
• ISBN-13: 978-0823005864
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.4 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #364,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thanks for taking a look at my books, and this "Author Bio." I'm a competent tennis player, who also enjoys playing computer chess while I'm watching TV at night (Hey, it prevents me from channel-surfing). I'm keenly interested in M-theory, although i have become skeptical of it of late, despite Brian's Green's full-body gushing... I love being with my family, and even my extremely evil dog, a Welsh Springer Spaniel named "Rusty." Oh, yes, he truly is that evil.

As for my work, I'm the author of many How-To-Draw books, published by Watson-Guptill,the art imprint of Random House. Thanks to a lot of the wonderful readers (and you know who you are!), I have sold over 3 million copies domestically, which have been translated into 20 languages worldwide.

I'm fortunate to also have had 26 of the Best-Selling art books in the country, according to Bookscan.(Bookscan is the publishing industry's rating system for books, which is owned by same company that does the Neislen TV ratings.)

I also have my own drawing show on the Comcast Network, called, "How To Draw Action Heroes With Chris Hart." It's on Comcast's "Activity TV." I hope you like my books, and find them a valuable adjunct to your own imagination.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a beginner's book, September 4, 2004

By 

Incandesia "The Great One" (San Antonio, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cartooning for the Beginner (Christopher Hart Titles) (Paperback)

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" :)

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent reference, beginner or not, May 16, 2003

By 

Shari Morehead "tekchic" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cartooning for the Beginner (Christopher Hart Titles) (Paperback)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book isn't really for beginners., November 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cartooning for the Beginner (Christopher Hart Titles) (Paperback)

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.