Cartooning for Kids »

For children who love comics and want to create their own, this high-spirited activity book teaches budding cartoonists the basics of sketching animals, people, superheroes, and scenery in easy-to-follow steps. The instruction begins with a few basics — including the importance of putting wild imaginations to use — and culminates with multiframe comic strips and even ideas for further projects like greeting cards and flip books. Guiding readers toward making the invisible not only visible, but full of movement, color, texture, and emotion as well, the book conveys subtle skills such as showing emotion using body positions. Colorfully illustrated by the author, it contains plenty of inspiration to motivate young artists to tell stories, develop a sense of artistic expression, and have lots of fun along the way.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-A useful addition to art collections. Although the format is somewhat cluttered and frenetic in presentation, the information is not duplicated in the popular books on the subject by Ed Emberly and Lee Ames. Children are given suggestions on how to break down human and animal figures into geometric forms, and how to show movement and gesture. Other chapters discuss adding texture and color, placing characters in a setting; sequencing frames; doing simple lettering; using differing perspective; and creating cards, books, and stories. What sets this book apart from many of the other how-to guides is that it does more than just provide drawings to copy. It also encourages readers to observe their surroundings and to use their own creativity to express their humorous ideas.-Alexandra Marris, Rochester Public Library, NY