Complete Idiot's Guide to Cartooning

This book looks at everything from a history of cartoons to marketing your own work in modern media. The book discusses composition, perspective, styles, techniques... of course it does not go into any of these in any depth. That would be for other works or classes. But this will give anyone a good overview of the business and I consider it a valuable resource.

Leave the word "Idiot's" out of the title, and you'll have a clearer idea of what this book is about. Let me make one thing clear... this is NOT a beginner's "how to draw" book. This book assumes that you already know how to draw, and offers you guidelines on how to apply that skill to cartooning. The authors give a much too brief overview of the origins and history of cartooning (with a few minor errors), and discuss the basics of cartoon construction: expression, perspective, composition, and gag writing. They also briefly review the various forms of cartooning, and what special talents and knowledge each one requires: gag panels, comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons, greeting cards, animation, and computer graphics. There's an entire chapter devoted to manga, the Japanese style of cartooning that's currently popular in the US. Plus, a helpful bibliography, glossary, and lots of tips on how to get your work published.My one complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I was distracted by the authors' repeated use of the word "media" as a singular noun rather than plural... but that's the proofreader in me.For an art book, it's surprisingly heavy on text and light on illustrations... but that's not a drawback in this case. This is not a book for beginners, but if you're an aspiring cartoonist in need of direction and encouragement, then I can't think of a better book for you.