Modern Cartooning: Essential
Techniques for Drawing Today’s Popular Cartoons. By Christopher Hart.
Watson-Guptill. $21.99.
A Pet Named Sneaker. By Joan
Heilbroner. Illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre. Random House. $8.99.
You have to love an
instructional manual that begins, “First, let’s examine the various theories of
cartooning from a contextual standpoint. Just kidding! Let’s just start drawing
instead!” One thing that makes Christopher Hart such an enjoyable guide to the
fine and not-so-fine points of drawing is that he takes the work itself
seriously – and is very good at showing budding artists how to do it – but does
not take himself seriously, at least
in his teaching role. The drawing of
cartoons is actually an art that has changed very little over the centuries –
it is possible to deconstruct the works of, say, Thomas Nast (the famous 19th-century
editorial cartoonist best known for bringing down the corrupt Tweed Ring in New
York City), and discover the same basic components as in, say, South Park. Yes, those components are used very
differently, and the underlying cultural sensibilities have changed
dramatically, but the figures themselves – the things that make these drawings
cartoons rather than elegant portraiture – are by and large the same. Thus, Hart can start with a simple circle and
call it “the mother of all cartoon head shapes” that “has been around since the
dawn of cartooning and even before.” And
he can then show today’s would-be cartoonists how the circle is used in
cartoons with contemporary flair and a modern twist. Same basic ingredients; different outcome
from what would have emerged in the past.
Throughout Modern Cartooning,
Hart starts with very simple shapes and then shows how to modify them to
produce different character types and expressions. Some of his revelations are
surprising: for instance, women’s earrings often float instead of being
attached to earlobes. Other comments are reasonable notions that
less-experienced cartoonists may not think of: “You’re allowed to draw the
character in a semi-distorted manner as part of his or her basic character
design,” Hart says in connection with showing how to “use a huge forehead for
smart characters, or for evil characters who like to think of themselves as
smart.” Each drawing decision leads to others, Hart points out: for example, in
the case of giant foreheads, “note how the hair is drawn within the head shape, not on top of it, for a funny look.” And of course Hart does not just say these things – he draws what he is talking about, and so
clearly that readers will easily be able to follow him. Hart also knows where cartoonists often go
wrong, and clearly shows why. For example, he points out that when drawing a
woman wearing a flowing cape, “there is no need to draw the underlying body
shape before starting on the cape. It would waste your time. I, on the other
hand, am forced to waste my time on it, partly because I am teaching the
concept and partly as penance for something I must have done in a past
life.” Yes, that is the way Hart writes
– amusingly and with enough self-deprecation (even if it is only make-believe
self-deprecation) to keep his lessons interesting. Another example among the many here: “Take
the basic construction and compare it to the final image. What do you notice?
That I go through a lot of pencils? Yes, good point, but there’s even
more.” And then, having enticed readers
with his writing style, Hart gets into the serious stuff, both verbally and in
his illustrations. Hart has written a
whole series of books on drawing and cartooning, and has his method of dealing
with the field down pat – but it does not come across as formulaic. He knows cartoons very well indeed: “There is
only one kind of dad in cartoons: the one you don’t have – always good-natured,
with no temper (or brains).” And he
knows how to take less-knowledgeable cartoonists step-by-step through the process
of creating characters that fit the traditions of this form of drawing – which
also means showing them how to break away from those traditions once they
master the basics that have been the foundation of the field for a very long
time indeed.
It is interesting to
look at real-world examples of cartoonists applying Hart’s approach to drawing,
even if they are not knowingly following his precepts but are simply creating
cartoons on their own. Pascal Lemaitre,
for example, is a highly experienced artist whose work has appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker as well as in children’s
books and elsewhere in both the United States and France. He certainly does not
need to follow Hart’s ideas – but a look at his art for A Pet Named Sneaker shows just how pervasive those notions
are. This is a particularly amusing
“Beginner Book,” a new entry in a series dating back more than 50 years and
tracing its origin to Dr. Seuss’ The Cat
in the Hat. Joan Heilbroner’s story
blends amusement and mild adventure in just the right quantities. Sneaker is a
snake who goes home from a pet store with a boy named Pete and soon shows some
remarkable qualities: Sneaker not only learns to be a hat or necktie when
playing with Pete but also goes along to Pete’s school, where he soon disabuses
the other kids of the mistaken notions that snakes are slimy or gross. In fact, Sneaker learns to spell words
(including his name). And when school is over for summer, Sneaker turns out to
be a hero by rescuing a baby who has fallen into a swimming pool. Now, Sneaker does not look at all like a real
snake (except for his generally long, legless body), but what he does look like is an adaptation of some
basic cartooning shapes. For that
matter, so does Pete, whose head and body designs and proportions are right in
line with traditional cartooning, and whose postures and gestures reflect
exactly the ones given by Hart in Modern
Cartooning. The other kids in A Pet
Named Sneaker look different from Pete but are still drawn in accordance
with cartooning norms; so is the teacher, whose elongated shape and
head-to-body proportions are quite different from those of her students. The baby that Sneaker saves, and the
big-nosed lifeguard who thanks Sneaker, are also clear cartoon “types” whose
very different appearances are clearly in accord with the basic designs that
cartoonists have used for many years. A Pet Named Sneaker is a fine book all
on its own, great for beginning readers.
And it is also an interesting object of study for young artists who want
to do their own cartooning – and would like to see how some basics of cartoon
drawing show up, again and again, in a professionally created and very
effective work like this one.
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