Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice

Front Cover
Yale University Press, Mar 29, 2011 - Art - 88 pages
The best cartooning is efficient visual storytelling--it is as much a matter of writing as it is of drawing. In this book, noted cartoonist and illustrator Ivan Brunetti presents fifteen distinct lessons on the art of cartooning, guiding his readers through wittily written passages on cartooning terminology, techniques, tools, and theory. Supplemented by Brunetti's own illustrations, prepared specially for this book, these lessons move the reader from spontaneous drawings to single-panel strips and complicated multipage stories.Through simple, creative exercises and assignments, Brunetti offers an unintimidating approach to a complex art form. He looks at the rhythms of storytelling, the challenges of character design, and the formal elements of comics while composing pages in his own iconic style and experimenting with a variety of tools, media, and approaches. By following the author's sophisticated and engaging perspective on the art of cartooning, aspiring cartoonists of all ages will hone their craft, create their personal style, and discover their own visual language.
 

Contents

ABOUT THIS BOOK
1
INTRODUCTION
3
SYLLABUS
11
SPONTANEOUS DRAWING
25
SINGLEPANEL CARTOONS
29
FOURPANEL STRIPS
37
A SIMPLE PAGE
41
THE DEMOCRATIC GRID
45
THE HIERARCHICAL GRID
49
TOOLS
53
STYLE
57
A FULLCOLOR SUNDAY PAGE
61
A FOURPAGE STORY
65
CONCLUSION
73
FURTHER READING BIBLIOGRAPHY
75
Copyright

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About the author (2011)

Ivan Brunetti has published several graphic novels and taught courses on editorial illustration and comics at the University of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago. His drawings have appeared in the "New Yorker," the "New York Times Magazine," and "McSweeney's," among other publications, and he served as editor for Yale University Press's two-volume "Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories."

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