Customer Reviews

Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain : How to Come Up With Jokes for Cartoons and Comic Strips

5 star:		(11)
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2 star:		(1)
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I found this book to be an excellent resource for aspiring cartoonists. Most other cartooning books I've looked at seem to say "Cartooning is a terrible career! You'll never make money!" or "Give up hope now! If you can't draw like me, you'll never succeed!" But Chris Hart's book is the exact opposite -- very informative, easy-to-follow, and overall very helpful. He also tells you where to put emphasis when designing a strip and developing characters. And most importantly, he gives tips on how to come up with ideas (funny ones), not just how to draw. Hart doesn't make you feel like his way is the only way, as other cartooning books do -- this book leaves aspiring cartoonists with a lot of hope!

Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain is a great resource for aspiring cartoonists, one, because as one reviewer said, it doesn't insult you about your ability. The book helps you learn about creating your own characters, laying out panel strips, making single-panel strips, tricks of the trade, what poses and looks are funnier for characters, help with joke writing, learning more about dialouge, text balloons, shading, techniques, how to get your work noticed and sold, how to protect your ideas, and a ton bit more. He even discusses hard and soft punch lines, good and bad setups, dimensions to draw the copy, what tools to use, different kinds of panels, drama vs. comedy, wide and close views, shadows, connected and double balloons, tips on submitting to publishers and syndicators, rating your own gags, meeting deadlines, handling writer's block, building character name recognition, and cartooning resources to both submit to and get more information on. An all-around great book for the beginner cartoonist and the serious cartoonist with a career in mind.

Christopher Hart's name appears on a number of beginner's how-to books, but he's not just a beginner's author, as this book demonstrates. This is one of the better, and more advanced, cartooning books out there. While it does go over yer usual "stick-man" first steps briefly, most of it is devoted to addressing stuff like panel layout, strip breakdowns, consistency of character design, timing in humor writing, marketing your work, etc. In every case, Hart speaks from experience: apparently he has written stand-up and TV comedy professionally, as well as doing animation, comic books, strips, and piloting the space shuttle. [I'm just guessing at that last one, but don't be surprised... ]

Anyhoo, if you've advanced in your cartoons to the point where you're considering getting into the pool of publication, this book is a good resource for polishing and fine-tuning what you can do.

Most cartooning books are, quite frankly, crap. There are a very few exceptions, This book is one of them! Hart covers many aspects of cartooning, from coming up with jokes, to character design, to design tips. If you are learning to cartoon, or just want a few pointers from an expert, this is the book to read! Another excellent one is How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way. These two books should be on every cartoonist's shelf

If you're confident in your drawing abilities, but have little knowledge about the specifics of putting together a comic strip, this is the best book I've seen. When I decided to dabble in comic strips, I didn't care about how to draw them; I was more curious about character views, composition, what makes a scene funny, ballon placement, and timing. This book covers all that and more.

If your interested in the mechanics of what makes a comic funny, this book is a must-get. Those who know how to draw will get great advice on what makes a character look funny. If you don't know how to draw comics then get a different book that covers that topic...then buy this book.

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

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!

Well this book has it all. How to draw and come up with characters, how to layout out for comic panals. What and What not to do writing strips and doing the comic layout, etc. I'de say you have it all here. I was just hoping it would give more on writing scripts, but I guess there realy is no help guid it's just skill.

i just bought this book about an hour ago (offline). i really really wanted to buy it coz it looked very nice and informative. plus, it looked like i could get a lot of nice referrences for my drawings. it was expensive though, and being an ordinary high school student who receives a measly allowance every week, it seemed like a waste to spend all of my week's allowance on this book. i still bought it though, compulsive buyer that i am (hehe). as soon as i did, i started to regret it coz i thought that i might've spent too much.

as soon as i got home though, i started reading it and now i think that buying the book was the right thing to do-- i love it! now i don't regret that i bought it.

This has some great tips and points you in the right direction. Lots of examples and great advice.