Cartooning

It's not unusual for any of us to skim the cartoons in a newspaper or magazine and daydream just a little: "Gee, but I wish I could do that!" We all can think of humorous moments or incidents that could spark a funny cartoon or even a cartoon series. This Special Multimedia Collection is designed to help you learn more about cartooning and maybe even give you a gentle nudge toward creating your own cartoons.

The Big Book of Cartooning by Bruce Blitz. If you only read one book on cartooning, let this one be it! Blitz starts with the art supplies you need and moves to drawing faces and people, people in action, people with expression, caricatures, and even backgrounds and props.

Caricatures by Alex Hughes. An introduction to this amusing craft. With these clear, direct instructions, you'll be making caricatures of your family and friends in no time!

Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner. In these pages Eisner sets out to "dismantle complex components" of comic strips. Going beyond the basics, he talks about panels and frames, perspective, story development, timing, and sequence.

Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain by Christopher Hart. Alright, you can draw a cartoon, but can you make it funny? With Hart's help and great examples, you can learn to draw funny characters, write humorous jokes, and learn how to use layout to design amusing cartoons.

How to Create Action, Fantasy, and Adventure Comics by Tom Alvarez. Covers the finer details of more realisitic cartooning. You'll find suggestions about perspective, a discussion of where to place dialogue balloons, and composition of cartoon panels.

Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics by Christopher Hart: In addition to drawing techniques, you'll find descriptions of the different stylistic elements and issues that are specific to manga.

Websites

The cartooning information on the web emphasizes advice on how to get your cartoons out there, rather than giving a lot of drawing tips. Still, you'll find some very important tips here, from some very well-known cartoonists.

So You Want to Be a Cartoonist? Tips from "Beetle Bailey" creator Mort Walker and some advice from King Features, "the world's largest syndicate," on how to submit your comics--including what format, how to mail them, etc.

Balloon Tales: Various resources about the many aspects of cartooning, including lettering.

CD-ROM

How to Draw the Marvel Way. Learn how to draw both heroes and villians from the pros at this famous comic book company.

It's often said, the best way to learn is by example. Let these examples of real, published cartoons teach you.

Books

The Essential Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Just one of several books by Watterson in our library collection.

The Prehistory of the Far Side: A 10th Anniverary Exhibit by Gary Larson. Larson comments throughout this collection on everything from where he got his ideas for certain panels to cartoons that got him in trouble!

It's Obvious You Won't Survive By Your Wits Alone: A Dilbert Book by Scott Adams. Selections from the strip centered around corporate humor.

Peanuts: A Golden Celebration by Charles M. Schulz. Peanuts has been around forever. So, learn to create captions like Charles Schulz did and you're home free.

Websites

Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonist's Index. An alphabetical index to current political cartoonists.

Comics.com. Home of many comics, including For Better or For Worse, Dilbert, B.C., Wizard of Id, and more. For many of the cartoonists you'll find brief biographies. You'll also find editorial cartoons here.

uComics.com. More great comics, such as Cathy, Bizarro, Garfield, and Mr. Boffo.

New Yorker Cartoons. If you're interested in drawing something, you might try searching this database to see how someone else handled a similar subject. Mostly one-panel cartoons.

Video

The World of Comic Books. Rather than comic strips, this video focuses on the cartoonists who have made it big writing comic books. Includes interviews with legends in the comic book field.