Book Review : Cartooning: Character Design :

Cartooning: Character Design: Walter Foster Books: Sherm Cohen

Outstanding !

This is an outstanding piece of work in teaching character design/cartooning. Only a person with tremendous experience can produce all the essentials in just 32 pages !!

Format: The book is Large! 13.7 x 10.1, the drawings are so clear in this format, which is very important, for us to study and draw. We can just keep it open and start drawing. Drawings are all either in pencil or in black india ink using a brush, which is simply lovely.

Concise: The book is small! :) only 30 pages. so it is very easy to work it through, refer, study and learn. no page is wasted. each page is packed with plenty of drawings with detailed notes, that are so refined and upto the point!

Clear: The large format, clear lines and step by step approach, makes this book so clear and easy to follow.

Workbook: The approach of the book is to take us in a workbook manner, as you study, draw, redraw, practice each of the pages progressively you will get to learn about various aspects of character design (and cartooning) is systematic manner. learning and mastering basic shapes, the Head, the features of the head, variations, body shapes, "Types", body language etc.. and if one sincerly works this book through, one would have become a character designer !.

This would form perfect platform to launch into cartooning, animation and more advanced character design through books such as ,
Cartoon Animation (The Collector's Series),
The Animator's Survival Kit--Revised Edition: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators,
Creating Characters with Personality: For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games, and Graphic Novels

Sherm Cohen and Walter Foster.. Thank you!

This is an extract from my review at Amazon.com, You can find more of my reviews here.

Lawrence Lariar Cartooning for Everybody

Lawrence Lariar was a cartoonist,educator and editor of the long running series Best Cartoons of the Year.

Lawrence Lariar wrote a nice little book titled Cartooning for Everybody in 1941.



After learning about this book in walt Stanchfield's recently published work, I started scouting for a copy and I was lucky enough to procure one in great condition.

Here are my impressions..



One quick scan of the book tells us so much about the depth of understanding of Lariar.

No wonder Walt speaks highly of Lariar. each page is packed with absolutely useful information. There is a great deal of emphasis on doodling, and carrying a sketch book.

I think this book defined doodling.

For great many of us learning to draw, the first steps are the most intimidating. How do you begin a drawing?, where do you start? whether you are drawing from life, photograph, or from imagination, this most important first step is often unclear.

Lariar, like other master teachers, who know what was happening in the head while one draws, tells you to always begin with a doodle. Unlike the conventional meaning of doodle, which is more like scribbling, Lariar means the doodle to be some kind of a template for all our drawings. A simplified pattern language that needs to evolve for each individual, to be used over and over, to produce remarkable consistency with ease.

There are some very significant teachings in these pages, on how one evolves a style, what one should focus while learning, what one can pass etc.




There are plenty of demonstrations on various aspects of cartooning, and he also covers quite a bit of how to go about making a profession out of this skill. This of course is 70 year old book. but much of the tips still seem to hold, in spite of fact that the world has slowly migrated into the Net.

True Gem of a book!

Eugene ZIM Zimmerman Complete Cartooning Course Reprint

ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive's Reprint of close to a hundered years old Zim's Complete cartooning Course debuts at the San Diego Comic-Con 2009.

The famed, and extensive course on cartooning, comic arts and caricature from the early 20th century, have been beautifully digitized and reprinted by ASIFA.

This is available in two large hardback volumes containing 20 lessons in total.

Read about Zim, his works and his course at..

http://www.animationarchive.org/2008/05/education-zim-course-in-cartooning.html

Details on how to obtain these books and more at...

http://www.animationarchive.org/2009/07/comic-con-zim-cartooning-course-debuts.html

A downloadable preview is here. (14 MB PDF)

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Willard Mullin

The essence of any drawing is the gesture. This we see emphasised over and over again. A recent printing of Walt Stanchfield's notes focuses a lot on this aspect.

Nobody could have absorbed this better and applied them in their work than sports illustrator Willard Mullin (1902-1978). His drawings are an study in gesture, action, force, energy and expression. All that goes into Animation drawing.

A nice little bio can be found here.

Mullin contributed to the Famous Artists School course. His lessons on drawing animals can be found here.

Here is a picture set on Flicr.

Book List

This will contain a list of books that I have used and have had real impact in my pursuit of learning the art, and which I fairly feel should do the same more or less to others as well..

Drawing / Illustration
Vilppu Drawing Manual
Natural Way to Draw
Dynamic Figure Drawing
Drawing the Human Head
Famous Artists Commercial Art and Illustration Course
Famous Artists Cartooning Course


Animation
The Animator's Workbook
Cartoon Animation
Timing For Animation
The Animator's Survival Toolkit
The Illusion Of Life