How to Draw Great-Looking Comic Book Women (Christopher Hart Titles) [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

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

Curvaceous Women, a top subject sought by comic book publishers, are the focus of this eye-popping instructional that shows aspiring cartoonists exactly how to master drawing a bevy of fabulous females.

From basic anatomy, musculature, body positions, and action poses to facial expressions, hairstyles, and costumes, this truly invaluable and unique resource covers in great detail every aspect of depicting great-looking women for comic books. The book also shows how to handle perspective and compose art specifically for comic book panels. In addition to chapters offering effective drawing lessons are sections on tricks of the trade, lists of comic book publishers and their submissions addresses, and interviews with industry professionals Bobby Chase of Marvel Comics and Renae Geerlings of Top Cow, who provide insiders’ views of the business and give tips on how newcomers can land their first jobs in the field. Contributing illustrators have penciled and inked such famous characters as the X-Men, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Catwoman, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Captain America, and many others.

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 half-million copies. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082302394X
• ISBN-13: 978-0823023943
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.4 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,680 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

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars All frosting, no cake., March 13, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Draw Great-Looking Comic Book Women (Christopher Hart Titles) (Paperback)

Let's see. The title is 'How to Draw Great-Looking Comic Book Women'. The first chapter is titled 'The Basics', and about two pages are devoted to "the basics". The rest of the book seems to be Mr. Hart showing off his artwork. The title is very misleading; I have since found one or two other books that are much more helpful and accurate.

Now don't get me wrong. Christopher Hart is a good artist and probably very successful in his field; but not much can be learned from a book that stays too much on the surface and never venturing down to the "why?" and "how?".

I suggest this; find the book in your local bookstore. Flip through it. Flip through it again. Now put it back on the shelf. Congratulations, you have learned about all you probably will from this book.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Oh my! The anatomy is HORRIBLE!, December 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Draw Great-Looking Comic Book Women (Christopher Hart Titles) (Paperback)

This book "takes art to a whole new level?" What?! The artist's understanding of human anatomy and correct proportion is ghastly. Torsos are weirdly lengthened or turned out-of-porportion to the rest of the body, chests are almost humorous, arms spout from upper bodies like mismatched attachments, and buttocks hang like onions in underpants. Faces are so generic they're interchangeable, except with variations on hairstyle. Apparently "great looking comic book women" are stereotypes that vary only in their decorative objectification: change the costume and the hair, and everything else is assembly-line rendered. Even the bare basics of human life drawing are absent in the book. The step-by-step processes aren't innovative, and are shown with MUCH better results in "real" art books. This is for guys who want to scratch out semi-bizarre "babes" and not realize how goofy the creations actually look. Sorry to be harsh, but MAN, this anatomy is poor.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, August 1, 2000

By 

Travis S. Casey (Tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Draw Great-Looking Comic Book Women (Christopher Hart Titles) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to draw superhero-comic style women. It starts with the basics of drawing -- how to draw a three-dimensional form. Sections cover the major muscle groups, the face and facial expressions, how to show lighting, and other details of drawing.

However, the book goes beyond just "How to Draw" into other related topics -- how to make dynamic action poses, tips on creating costumes, and bits on layout, perspective, and other things needed to go beyond just drawing to actually creating an entire comic.

The book has a short section on getting started in the comic book industry, with tips on how to make your submissions look professional, where to submit them, artists' groups, and more.

It ends with a pair of interviews with people from the comics industry; one from Marvel Comics and one from Top Cow.

All in all, I'd say the book is well worth the money.