Drawing the New Adventure Cartoons: Cool Spies, Evil Guys and Action Heroes

From School Library Journal
Grade 4 Up—This fun guide works best for those with some previous figure-drawing experience (or as a source of entertainment for fans of the style). Sections on "Drawing the Head," "Drawing the Teen Action Body," and "Using Body Language to Convey Emotion" offer detailed and, for the most part, step-by-step instructions. Subsequent sections are less detailed, but provide examples of unique and zany aspects of adventure-style characters. In fact, what makes the book so entertaining is the thin line between technique and flourish. 

From the beginning, Hart includes written side comments with the most basic of instructions. For example, in his instruction for drawing the head of a teen boy hero, he notes, "Heroes DO NOT have skinny necks." For the teen girl hero, he writes, "An overbite is an attractive look for characters with full lips." Throughout the book, Hart also includes useful tip boxes, often demonstrating how not to draw a character. These suggestions are invaluable, providing insight into creating kinetic and expressive cartoons. Even if readers walk away without having mastered new adventure cartoon illustration, they will at least gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the style.—Kim T. Ha, Elkridge Branch Library, MD
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Product Description
One of today’s most popular trends in cartooning is the eye-catching teen adventure style—the type found in such major animated TV shows as Kim Possible. It’s fresh and new, decidedly humorous, and even relatively easy to draw. With this fun collection, bestselling author Chris Hart gives kids a chance to create their own. These cool stories feature ordinary teens thrust into thrilling situations—teens with dual identities, who live as regular students by day and become secret spies on weekends. The art straddles the line between comic book and cartoony; offers strong male and female heroes; and showcases a colorful cast of sinister villains and entertaining sidekicks. These exuberant characters will encourage readers to replicate every drawing in the book—as will Chris’s trademark friendly, personal, and thorough coverage of art principles.