Product Description

Teaching cartoonists how to evoke laughs is the latest great idea to come from a best-selling author who always knows just what readers want. Aspiring cartoonists and seasoned professionals all face the same problem: coming up with a steady stream of jokes for their drawings. But there's a science to funny art, and this book's complete course shows just how to create comic panels and strips that get laughs, setup right through to punch lines. The essential tools of joke writing are outlined: visual stereotypes of comic teaming (fat/skinny, short/tall): setting up a character's agenda, then putting up obstacles to create conflict; action that brings the surprise. Other valuable guidance includes whether to find resource materials for jokes, plus tips for drawing comic lettering styles and dialogue balloons.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #457639 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-01
• Released on: 1998-04-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 11.00" h x .44" w x 8.30" l, 1.44 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Library Journal
Hart, a regular contributor to Mad Magazine and a comedy screenwriter, has produced a manual with equal emphasis on the art of cartooning and the art of comedy. He has the requisite chapters on how to draw funny characters, but he comes into his own when he analyses pacing and rhythm, set-up and punch lines, and the differences between dramatic and comedic scenes. Certain words, he maintains, are ordinary and certain ones funny (e.g., fat is ordinary, bloated is funny, four is ordinary, five is funny?as are all odd numbers). This and Robin Hall's The Cartoonist's Workbook: Drawing, Writing Gags, Selling (LJ 11/15/97) are the two best such books available.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. Several recent books have dealt with cartooning, among them Al Bohl's overview Guide to Cartooning , which explores the art form's history as well as its practice. Hart, who keeps his eye on commercial potential, narrows his focus to one aspect of cartooning--creating single and multipanel comic strips. He begins with some helpful cartoon-art how-tos, but it's the subtleties about joke writing, pacing, framing, and dialogue he includes that make his book stand out. The graphics, many in color, are teamed closely with small blocks of text and captions to get the message across. Hart's swaggering wit occasionally gets in the way, but usually not long enough to stop the flow of information. To be sure, Hart makes it seem easier than it is, but teenage art students who would like to see their work in the Sunday funnies would do well to start here. Tips on becoming a professional cartoonist and some helpful resources round out the text. Point interested teens to Scott McCloud's excellent adult book Understanding Comics (1993) for an even deeper view. Stephanie Zvirin

Ingram
There's a science to coming up with a fresh stream of ideas for cartoons, and this book's complete course shows just how to create comic panels and strips that get laughs, from set-ups right through to the punch lines. 275 illustrations, 75 in color.