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The Art of Cartooning: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Cartoons!
The Art of Cartooning: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Cartoons!
The Art of Cartooning: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Cartoons!
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The Art of Cartooning: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Cartoons!

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If you've always wanted to doodle your way to cartoon greatness, this eye-catching book is the place to start. Professional cartoonist David Mostyn explores the art of creating humorous drawings, from coming up with comical ideas to assembling cartoon strips in several frames. With clear visual examples, step-by-step exercises and inspirational artworks, this enjoyable guide will appeal to cartoonists of all levels of ability.

Learn how to:
• Set up your workspace
• Come up with gags
• Create cartoon characters
• Get political
• Put together a strip cartoon

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 26, 2018
ISBN9781789504415
The Art of Cartooning: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Cartoons!
Author

David Mostyn

DAVID MOSTYN is a widely published cartoonist and illustrator.

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    Book preview

    The Art of Cartooning - David Mostyn

    David Mostyn was born in Yorkshire in 1944. After finishing school in South Africa, he went to art college and then straight into advertising. He spent ten years as an art director in agencies and studios in London. After a short spell in publishing, he set up as a freelance cartoonist in 1978. He has worked for Mad magazine, The Beano, The Dandy and Marvel Comics, and has illustrated many books, magazines and advertising campaigns. He is married with two children, and lives in Oxford.

    Contents

    Introduction

    Basics and Getting Started

    Materials and Equipment

    Basic Techniques

    Comic Situations and Ideas

    Cartoon Characters: People and Animals

    Cartooning the Head and Body

    Drawing Figures in Action

    Cartoon Animals

    The Elements of Your Cartoon

    Cartoon Objects

    Layout

    Backgrounds

    The ‘P’ Word

    Cartoon Lettering

    Special Effects

    Different Types of Cartoon

    Gag Cartoons

    Editorial Cartoons

    Strip Cartoons

    Computer Technology

    Using Technology in Cartoons

    Conclusion

    Introduction

    This is a book about how to put a cartoon together. There are a few very basic rules, and if you spend a bit of time getting them right, it’ll make your trip into the world of cartooning a great deal easier. Cartoons are very diverse – they can be witty, satirical or just downright funny. You can use them to make political points or joke about your friends. As long as you get your message across, it’s just a matter of experimentation. Look at what other cartoonists draw, and how they draw it. Copy their styles and techniques. The more you look and copy and practise, the more you’ll become accustomed to this method of drawing.

    I hope this book will give you a platform on which to perform. As with any of the arts – and I do class cartoons very much as an art form – the more you practise the more you’ll achieve. Practising doesn’t have to mean sweating away in a studio surrounded by expensive equipment. All you need is a sharp eye, a bit of pencil and the back of an envelope. You’ll have to try to be very observant. Watching life go by is hugely entertaining. The cartoon ideas are there in front of you. All you have to do is to be aware of them.

    A simple, everyday scene can, by distorting the action, easily be made into a cartoon. Cartoons are after all, simply a distortion of reality.

    Look through this book. There are plenty of avenues to go down. Have fun with it, agree with it, or disagree with it. Just use it to open the doors into this very weird and eccentric world.

    Basics and Getting Started

    MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

    The range of artists’ materials currently on the market is overwhelming. Over the years I have spent what must amount to a smallish fortune in paints and pens, some of which have been discarded. However, these weren’t a waste of money as they helped me to sort out which materials suit my style of artwork.

    Before you go to an art shop, try to decide on the kind of work you want to do, then concentrate on finding the materials that will be suitable for it. Inevitably you will buy some products that you find don’t work for you, and as you progress, like me, you will discard equipment along the way. The most important point to remember is that there are no hard and fast rules in the cartoon industry on what you may use as your drawing tools.

    My equipment is very simple, and I describe here what I use and why.

    Paper

    There are basically two types of paper surface suitable for drawing cartoons: Hot Pressed (HP) and NOT, sometimes termed Cold Pressed (CP). NOT paper can be quite rough to the touch and has a definite texture, while HP paper has a smooth surface. Some brands of paper are obtainable in both forms.

    Because you may want to draw in different styles and mediums, in black and white and in colour too, it’s useful to find a brand of paper that suits all these things. Fabriano paper is suited to just about everything you can throw at it, both literally and figuratively. Leonardo da Vinci used it, and I feel that what’s good enough for him is good enough for me!

    I favour Fabriano 5, which comes in both HP and

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