Customer Reviews

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cartooning But Were Afraid to Draw (Christopher Hart Titles)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a fifth grade teacher and I bought this book for my class. The students just love it! This book is crammed full of really high-energy cartoon images with instructions on how to draw them. Every day, students ask to borrow this book. I have other art and cartoon books in my classroom, but this one is their all-time favorite.

Everything this man draws is worth gold to beginning and intermediate (and probably advanced; I'm not that far yet) cartoonists! I bought this book for the cats, lions, and bears and discovered apes, skunk, mice, pigs and more, plus many human figures with hats,mustaches, etc. More imporantly, it discusses the principles of layout, how to create distance, depth, the use of props, backgrounds, angles and silhouettes. Wheh! A lot to learn, but so much fun. One of Hart's best books!!

This book is great! There are a ton of helpful tips and techniques that range from how to draw facial expressions and body types to how to draw ice cubes and water... and even how to convey wind or rain. The author, Christopher Hart, even explains why cartoon characters have only three fingers.

This book is very clear, very informative and very funny! I highly recommend this book!

Reading all the praise here, I was pretty anxious to receive this book, EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CARTOONING BUT WERE AFRAID TO DRAW. I expected to get inspired and learn techniques in writing and drawing I had not perhaps even considered before. In this respect, I can't hide my disappointment. I had not read for long before I realized that what this book had to offer would not be of much use to me. I am a self-taught cartoonist, I've been doing comic strips my entire life and all the advice this book provided I found to be completely obvious; not without relevance, certainly, but I didn't purchase this book to be told that "monsters get more effective if colorized green," or to study the contrast between a happy face and a sad face. Also, the drawings used to represent the points in the text are just about as stereotypical as they can get; I'm not saying I expected it to do the process of creating original characters and ideas for me, but in a book of this kind I find it of invaluable importance that the author is able to really inspire the reader to go ahead and make something good. After all, we've got HI AND LOIS and U.S. ACRES already, or what?

However, if you have just discovered that you got a knack for drawing and want to try it out as a cartoonist, but need guidance in the (very) main rules, this is a good book. If you have been part of this medium for a while and seek new opportunities to get inspired or learn new tricks, try elsewhere. Your own mind for instance.

I have had this book for a few years now and I love it. Hart gives lots of examples of a character in different situations. He also shows how to lay out your comic and gives advice on colors and such. This book /would/ have gotten the full 5 stars, but I felt that the section on animals could have either been expanded to include a basic rundown on construction for beginners, or left out entirely. The section is mainly about the relative height of animals to others and, above that, an intermediate construction of the animal itself, plus a brief written guideline. I should be getting Hart's book on cartooning animals today, so hopefully that will be more of a help to me in the animal area. All in all, this book is great for those who are just starting out or need a refresher.

Without a doubt, Christopher Hart is one of the most prolific and talented cartoonist around. Having worked with companies such as Disney, his cartoon style is entertaining and stylic as well. It's got personality and it will make you want to engross yourself in the book. If you've not read any book by Chris Hart, this is one of his best. However, it is a wonderful book with lots of helpful ideas on becoming a cartoonist yourself.

It covers everything from how to place the features to costumes to animals. It would definitely be a useful starting (and ending) ground for anyone interested in this art.

This book will help you transit from doodling to drawing cartoons. It is great for distracting your collegues during long meetings, delighting younger children who should be concentrating on other things, and annoying your spouse who is trying to pay attention.
Get it.

Christopher Hart has brought many hours of both fun drawing and thoughtful learning in my atristic journey. Not only does he explain everything you need to know for beginners, but some fresh stuff for the experienced artist as well. I'm sure anyone of all ages will enjoy learning form this and all of his great books.

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.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cartooning but Were Afraid to Ask 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.

Some the sections that I found especially helpful were: Expressions, How to Draw Hands, The Art of Character Design, Body Types, Principles of Layout, Layouts from a Distance, The Special Effects Lab, Explosions and more.

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 them 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

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

The Cartoonist's Workbook Drawing, Writing Gags, Selling

I have never done any kind of drawing other than when I was 8yrs old for fun. I wanted to learn how to draw cartoons and this book was my first purchase on my road to drawing.

I thought the instruction was simplified for the beginning artist like me. I am very visual and so I was pleased with the tremendous amount of examples included. I also thought that the lay-out of instruction was helpful, step by step.

Over all this book was very helpful, to the point, and interesting to read. Christopher Hart kept my attention while teaching me the basics of cartooning.

thanks