Suggestions for books on Cartooning?

[battlemaiden]

My 13yo is into cartooning lately. He has witty ideas, but needs some help in the drawing and lay out of a cartoon.

 

I saw a few on Amazon, but I thought I'd ask the hive first. :-)

 

Thanks.

 

Jo

[WishboneDawn]

If by cartoon you mean comic books then the best one I've seen is one I picked up this summer called Working Methods by John Lowe. In it eight different artists are given short scripts and they develop a short comic. The author interviews them about their methods, styles, tools and the process they go through. There are also lots of illustrations and examples of how they work it through from thumbnail sketches to the finished products.

 

There are tons of How to Draw Comics books out there but this one was heads and shoulders above most of those.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud is another excellent book that breaks down what goes into creating comic books.

[Denise in Florida]

Scott McCloud has two books that I would consider basic foundations for kids interested in exploring comic books. Understanding Comics gives a lot of information on how the human brain absorbs visual story telling; plus a wealth of plot, story movement, character information that applies to non-visual writing as well. Making Comics provides a ton of information for want to be comic book creators. He has a new one out that I have not read, I think it is titled something like Redifining Comics and talks about the impact of current technology.

 

I used the first two books while teaching a Graphic Novels as Literature class in my local co-op.

 

Quick word of warning, there are a few pages with border-line illustrations (pg-13). Only you can define your standards. They do not have a major impact on the book but do relate to the topic he is addressing.

 

They are fascinating books even for non-comic book fans. Good luck.

[Ritsumei]

On my last trip to the comic shop we picked up a magazine called Sketch, which was relatively reasonable - $6.95. It sounds like something he'd be interested in, and would also be something that he could likely get a subscription to at your local comic shop. You may also be able to find back issues on eBay. The art is typical comic art - not conservative at all, lots of skin - but not extreme or pornographic. I've also had good luck at finding comic/cartooning books at our Barnes & Nobel. They've got a whole section on art at our store, and it covers everything from anime to perspective, monsters, more classical type art/anatomy instruction, how to draw dinosaurs, cats, automobiles, etc etc.