Drawing a Cartoon Dad, Retro Style - Video Tutorial

As some of you already know, I've started a series of video tutorials on YouTube, and here is one of my first!

If you enjoy the video, please Like it, and I always love to read your comments too.

The retro cartoon dad is one of the most iconic character types that has stood the test of time. This video shows you how a few small details can turn a drawing of regular guy into a completely clueless, cartoon mainstay. Floating the eyes inside the glasses while raising the eyebrows above the frames gives the character a perplexed and confused expression. While the flat hair and tie help to indicate that earnest appeal that all retro cartoon dads must have.



Subscribe and see many more videos on my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/chrishartbooks

Scary Good Cartoon Expressions

When we think of expressions, we often think of the features: Cranky eyebrows, gritted teeth, a sheepish grin, etc. What we don't always think about is the shape of the head itself. The shape of the head, its form and structure, can literally be stretched and pulled to make different expressions. This is such an effective method of creating expressions that sometimes I'll draw the distorted head shape first, before the features are even completed. To stretch the features, think in terms of specific forces pulling on different parts of the face.

You can use this pupster for practicing your drawings.

 

 And here's the finished product!

  

Let me know how you do!

Chris

A Ruff Tutorial on Quick Sketching

I thought I'd give a few pointers now and then with some quick-sketch tutorials. Let me know if you like them. I enjoy rough quick sketching; but some people may prefer only finished, published art. This one barely missed a coffee stain early this morning, as I drew it while still waking up!

The point of this tutorial is to show the three most important elements in drawing a cartoon puppy: 

1. A tall forehead
2. A tiny snout
3. A massive back of the head

Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.

Here's another one of me, just for fun:

If you like basic sketching, check out my book:

Basic Drawing Made Amazingly Easy

Learn more about this book
Buy this book at Amazon.com
Buy this book at Barnes&Noble.com

The third title in a bestselling series, Basic Drawing Made Amazingly Easy is a complete drawing book for the beginning artist. Based on a series of lessons that begin with the five basic shapes (circle, oval, square, cylinder, and rectangle) combined with the five basic components of drawing (line, mass, perspective, light, and shading), the book progresses from the simplest forms to more complex inanimate objects and organic animate subjects.

Let me know if you found this tip useful.

Your drawing colleague,

Chris

How to Draw Manga Faces - Drawing Manga People

Do you want your Manga faces to be more lifelike?

WE ALL KNOW THAT adding expressions to OUR FACE DRAWINGS is tremendously important, but sometimes, a face can be drawn with a good expression and still lack that certain sparkle. Why? It's because they're attempting to draw a "face," when instead, they should be thinking about drawing a "head."

What's the difference between a head and a face? Plenty. When thinking about a how to draw manga faces, most people picture a flat surface seen from the front. Others might picture it turned to a 3/4 view. But no matter which angle it's drawn, most people envision the face as the "flat" part of the head. And this is exactly where the problem lies.

A human head is round and therefore, the face is ROUND as well. But as long as we "think" of the face as flat, we'll continue to draw it flat. And a flat face also flattens out the liveliness of a character.

Here's what you can do to improve how you draw manga faces:

Start by drawing your face with rounded sketch-guidelines. (Center Line & Eye Line).

1. Draw the features on and along the rounded guidelines. In the popular 3/4 view (which shows perspective), the shape of the features will stretch just slightly, as they appear to wrap around the face.
2. Only in the front view will the Center Line be drawn as a straight line.
3. Remember that the Eye Line needs to be curved to reflect its horizontal orbit around the head.

Okay, here's the recap: A slightly rounded face adds emphasis to the curves of the eyes, eyebrows, bridge of the nose, and stretched lips. A slightly curved face will add life to your characters and make you a better artist. 

Was this tutorial on how to draw manga faces helpful? Check out my book:

Basic Anatomy for the Manga Artist: Everything You Need to Start Drawing Authentic Manga Characters

Learn more about this book
Buy this book at Amazon.com
Buy this book at Barnes&Noble.com

This most basic and complete book on manga anatomy ever written is targeted to beginners, the widest segment of manga fans. Packed with dynamic step-by-step demonstrations detailing how to draw correctly proportioned manga faces and bodies, plus lots of tips and tricks of the trade. 

Let me know if you found this tip useful.

Your drawing colleague,

Chris

How to Draw Manga Hair - Drawing Manga People: Part 1

Some people approach drawing manga hair by drawing each individual strand on the head. But that method is so time consuming that it makes my brain hurt. And usually, it doesn’t look great for all the effort. Here’s why: In a color drawing, all those black hair lines tend to dim the look of the colors, or make them look dirty or smudged. To draw the flowing hair of a ponytail, you would need dozens of flowing lines, all of them parallel to each other, as they curve this way and that. I know – now your brain hurts, too. Usually, such precision is tough to maintain, and the lines of individual hairs, separated by only a 16th of an inch or so, begin to touch, or overlap, and then the look just devolves.

Alternatively, some people draw too little detail, and the hair ends up looking like some freak helmet. So what should you do? See a shrink, and pour your hair-drawing guts out to him? What if the shrink is bald? Then your story will just depress him, and he’ll start spilling his bald headed-guts out to you. And believe me, you don’t want that.

Instead when you think about how to draw manga hair, aim for a middle ground: draw general groupings of strands, but not the actual strands themselves. Here are some hints to remember:

Indicate a part, which breaks up the monotony, and prevents that “I’m wearing an upside-down cereal bowl” look. The exception is female characters with bangs, where no part may be apparent.

Also, give the hair some direction. Choose whether it will predominantly go toward the left, the right, forward or back. Hair that shows gentle motion results in a character with more eye-appeal. This is especially important when drawing dramatic & romantic characters.

The hair often falls just above the eyebrows. If you make it too short, it’ll look as if the barber was directed by the character’s mother to get him ready for his Bar mitzvah.

In a 3/4 pose, sometimes it’s possible to indicate a touch of the hair on the far side of the head. This really adds depth, because it creates the effect of layering: Foreground hair, head, background hair.

These are only suggestions. Use them if you find them helpful.

Was this tutorial on how to draw manga hair helpful? Check out my new book: 

Manga for the Beginner Kawaii: How to Draw the Supercute Characters of Japanese Comics

Learn more about this book

Buy this book at Amazon.com

Buy this book at Barnes&Noble.com

The book is all about “cuteness.” The cuteness so insanely intense, it hurts. You want to look away. But you can’t. Some of my readers have been staring at the adorable characters for days, forgetting to even eat or sleep. What can I do? The power of the cuteness runs deep.

See ya soon.

Your drawing colleague,
Chris

HOW TO DRAW MANGA EYES

Manga eyes are famous for their large size and multiple reflective shines, which give them a super-polished, reflective look. What is not so well known are some of the subtle touches that give them that look of extraordinary luster. Today, we'll talk about the reflective shines, and how to draw them to maximize this effect.

 

What do you need to show a brilliant shine? The answer may surprise you: Darkness. Without a dark area, a shine won't "pop." You need contrast to draw manga eyes. Whenever you draw manga eyes,  try to envision the shines glimmering in a pool of shadow. I just gave a critique of a very good drawing by a young artist on the Deviantart website. The eyes were well drawn, and the colors were appealing. But the shines in the eyes did not have impact, because there was no shading to indicate a shadowed area. I suggested that she darken the top half of the eyes only. She liked the suggestion. I hope I get to see a revision; it was a good image, worth a little extra effort.

Is this a tiny change, which really won't amount to much? Hardly. And you'll be able to see a visual example ox exactly what I mean by following the link at the bottom of this post.

The question is: Why darken just the the top portion of the eye, and not the entire eye, or the bottom? It's due to the direction of the light source. The most common type of lighting is overhead lighting, which is the type that emanates from indoor lighting fixtures, sunlight and moonlight. As the light, shines down, htting the top of the head, and all of the features that protrude cast a small shadow on the face. The nose is one such protrusion, but so are the upper eyelids. The, too catch the light, and as a result, a small cast shadow falls on the top half of the eyeball itself. Because this is the darkest area of the eye, adding as shine stands out particularly well.

Give it a try, and write to me and let me know how it works for you. You can see my free tutorial on drawing manga eyes on Deviantart. Here’s the link:

http://christopher-hart.deviantart.com/art/MANGA-EYE-TUTORIAL-305264965

I hope you'll bookmark this page, and stop by for more tips and hints.

Your Art Colleague,

Chris Hart

HOW TO COMBAT CREATIVE STICKING POINTS

Have you ever had a time when you couldn't come up with a good drawing? You try and try, but - nothing? Everyone has times like that. Many people recommend taking your mind off of your work by taking a break from drawing. They tell us to go for a walk along the beach, or go to a movie, or something along those lines. Sounds right to me.

But unfortunately, it doesn't usually work.  In fact, I've met very few frustrated cartoonists wandering along the shore. Pros don't often approach creative frustration by taking a break.

A brief disclaimer before I go on:  None of what I say is meant to be interpreted as an ironclad "rule." Whichever way that works for you is the best way. That said, if you are experiencing sticking points, and are looking for a way to effectively deal with them, then you might want to consider the following:

Professional artists have deadlines. Those a great motivators. But you may not have a deadline. So what, exactly, can you do to kick start your creative juices?



Start by redefining what your imagination is. It's a tool, to be used, not a sentient being, which must be allowed to wander at its own pace and in any  direction.  Press harder on your imagination to produce results. Turn it into just another element of drawing, like visual memory, reworking, and polishing. Imagining is nothing more than a technique to be applied to a problem.

I have immense respect for the imagination. How it works remains, to me, somewhat magical and mysterious. And yet, it seems to respond better if it's not treated as something unknowable, but something workable instead.

Many people believe that the imagination either flows or it doesn't. Were that true, you could never count on your own talent. It might be there, it might not be, depending on the flow.  No one can afford to work with such a capricious muse. You need to undertake a personal journey to find inroads into your own creative thinking, and devise a familiar and workable approach to taming and manipulating your own creative thought process.

Push if it doesn't flow. If the flow is absent, don't accept this as your imagination taking a vacation. Call it back to work. Think in a new and stimulating direction to reinvigorate it. Yes, by all means, allow your imagination to wander, but continue to remain at the helm, redirecting it when it attempts to veer off course - which it will. Sprinkle in fresh thoughts, which might begin with, "What if I did this..."

Directed daydreaming produces creative results.

Just some pencil shavings for thought.

I hope that was helpful!

Chris

WHAT WOULD YOU RATHER SEE?

I'm thinking about adding new, free tutorials to my website, or doing some Youtube demos on cartooning techniques. I envision them at 5-7 minutes each. My recent Howcast videos, which are on Youtbe,  are only 2-3 minutes, and I think there's room for longer versions with less talk, and more drawing.

The free tutorials would feature more steps. The ones we have are cool, but I believe that some people would also like to see more steps and art instruction.

What would you like to see?

Chris Hart Books: DRAWING TIP OF THE DAY: Are You A Perfectionist?

Chris Hart Books: DRAWING TIP OF THE DAY: Are You A Perfectionist?: So ...  you've drawn something you like, well, pretty much,. But the thing is, you're ambitious - you set your sights high for yourself. And...

MY NEW BOOK IS NOW IN THE STORES!

Thanks, once again, to all of you who stop by to see what's going on, and to all who also send emails for recommendations, or simply, to get a little advice and encouragement.

My new book, "BASIC DRAWING MADE AMAZINGLY EASY" gives you the art background you may never had time to acquire. In a clear, accessible and gradual manner, the material covers contour, shading, perspective (yes, perspective without the struggle!), symmetry and more. The subjects range from cars and motorcycles to boats and yachts, houses, household objects, still life, and a section on heads and bodies. It's got lots of exercises throughout, so you can approach your drawings as projects.

I'd love to hear what you think of it. Thanks to those who have already purchased it, within the first week, it's risen to the number 25 book in the country in art. You guys are awesome. Thanks for inspiring me all along the way. This really is a two-way street.

Regards,

Chris

When to Erase, and When NOT To

It's been a whirlwind of a month -- I handed in a new book and got it approved. And my newest book is coming out on April 17 -- it's called "Basic Drawing Made Amazingly Easy." It cuts right to the chase for people who never really got an art education, and feel that they may be lacking in some of the basics, from perspective to still life and drawing people.

So my hint for the day is this: Erase, but not too soon. That doesn't mean you should stick to what you're drawing beyond the point where it looks good. It means that instead of erasing every time you make what you perceive as a mistake, draw "over" your work instead. While you're drawing, seek the right lines, until your image gets so messy, you can't tell one line from the other! Then erase. Why do I make this suggestion? Because you interrupt your rhythm every time you stop to erase. Get into a groove when you draw, and try to stay there as long as possible. That's how you break through the sticking points.

Chris

DRAWING & PERFECTIONISM

Just handed in a new book. Guess how many pages? All together, about 485 for this one, which will end up being designed into a standard page count. I worked so intensely...  7 days a week, long hours, for months, to get it just right. In fact, I had it all drawn, and then -- a sudden flash of inspiration and an improved approach flew into my mind -- so I decided to draw it all over again! I kept about 20 pages of the original book, but 465 pages of it are brand spanking new!

I'm not a perfectionist. A perfectionist is someone who never completes anything because he or she can't stand to do anything that isn't perfect - and nothing ever is. This is different. I finish lots of stuff and send it out into the world.

I live in a sort of a continuous creative flow. And when an idea pops into my brain, and gets me excited, I cannot - I simply cannot - ignore it. If I give my best effort, I have no regrets later. Plus, there are my readers. Yeah, you guys. I owe you something; that's how I figure it. If you're going to invest the time to read my books, I want the material to meet - and surpass - your expectations. That's no guarantee, of course, that everything I do will turn out as I envisioned it. But I've acquired a pretty good track record over my career; and I believe this is part of the reason.

So, my friends, if you're battling perfectionism, don't worry! It's not the bad character defect that everyone makes it out to be. Go ahead, be a perfectionist -- BUT -- finish your project, and submit it. What if you get rejected? Every successful writer and artist has been rejected numerous times. If it happens to you before you get an acceptance, then allow yourself to feel bad for a few moments. You're human. Then move onto the next project. But always answer the phone, even when you're feeling bad. You just might find that it's an interested editor on the other line, pouring over your submission.


Good luck in all of your creative endeavors!

Your Colleague in  Art,

Chris

Publishing Your Graphic Novel

ANNOUNCEMENT: You can NOW see 20 of my FREE drawing tutorials on Youtube. They were done for Howcast, a premier How-To portal on the web, which was voted one of the top 50 websites of 2011 by Time Magazine. 

Simply go to Youtube, and keyword in these words:

"Christopher Hart" draw manga

The tutorials will pop up. And you can choose the topic you want. If you like 'em, please post a comment. And thanks!

BLOG

A great many cartoonists, manga artists and illustrators dream of launching their own graphic novel. And why not? It can establish you, and your cartoon or manga character, and spin off a series and licensing opportunities.

One of the main considerations is pricing. Many first-time authors, without writing or illustration credits, are currently self-publishing .99 cent books. Let's suppose you just wrote and illustrated the great American graphic novel. And BAM! -  it takes off, at .99 cents, and rakes in an impressively big number of sales for a book in its class by a first time author: 25,000 copies. (To give you some idea of average sales: the average published novel, in print, sells 4,000 copies; and the average self-published novel, in print, sells around 175 copies.)

This many copies sold would invariably lead you to ask the following question (oh, come on, you know it would) --  What if your raised your prices?

You first have to ask yourself what is the elasticity of demand for a book by an unknoiwn author, priced at $9.99?  They key question is: Have you made enough of a name for yourself that you can raise your price ten fold on a self-published book, and still retain your readership?

At $9.99 it's quite doubtful that you will sell anywhere near 25,000 copies. Or 20,000. Or 10,000. Or 5,000. And that's because, for $9.99, the reader can buy the work of the best, established writers, with the pedigree of a publishing house, and with the confidence that they will come away with a reliable read - not something they might have to toss out. At record stores - when there were record stores - a consumer might buy an album from an unknown band because the album cover looked cool - IF it had a fire sale price, like ... .99 cents.  But not at the same price as other albums by your favorite groups.

Here's the thing: there is no impulse purchase at $9.99. People do not have it in their budgets to spend ten bucks a pop for the excitement of possibly discovering the next Sventlana Chmnakova (say that five times fast). But at a buck a pop, well, why not roll the literary dice?


Bringing our projections down to earth, let's see how much you might make at a $9.99 price, selling 1,500 copies in a year. That would probably yield you around $9,000; while 25,000 copies at .99 cents may yield around 8,750. Neither is going to make you rich.

So which way should you go?

There are many considerations, too many to list here, but money isn't the only one.  Exposing your work to the public, as a first time author, especially if you don't possess the writing credits to get an established publisher to consider your work, is another. Having earned some success as an author is important for a career. And whether you charge a buck or a hundred bucks, a sale is a sale. Authors with higher sales are more impressive to publishers, and to the public at large, than authors with small sales and greater profits for themselves. 

There are many other, legitimiate opinions on this topic - but that's the way I see it. I hope this has been helpful.


--Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

TO SELF-PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF PUBLISH - CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE MANGA ARTIST AND GRAPHIC NOVELIST

Before I start the Blog, here's an update that might interest you:  I was just selected to be the host of 20 video tutorials from one of the leaders of How-To-Videos on the web: Howcast (howcast.com). Howcast was named one of the top 50 websites in 2011 by Time Magazine. These are free videos, which anyone can watch. To bring up my Howcast videos on a "search," it appears that you need to use the name "Chris Hart," and not "Christopher Hart." This is something I will bring to their attention. Meanwhile, here's the link. I hope you'll check it out:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/498757-How-to-Draw-Manga-How-to-Develop-Your-Own-Manga-Characters

 Okay, now on to the topic:

The term "Self-Publishing" brings with it negative connotations, most notably, the practice of "Vanity Publishing," in which an aspiring writer, unable to interest a publisher in his work, decides to take matters into his own hands, and manufactures the books himself. This requires self-funding; selecting editors, art directors and other support staff; shipping associated with both sales and returns; bill and accounting; storage and promotion. Foreign sales and special sales are often beyond the scope of self-publishing.


The result is often a book that instantly looks and feels "wrong" -- homespun and amateurish. The printing, the layout, the paper and the binding simply do not have the feel of a book from a legitimate publisher. Add to that the stigma associated with self-publishing, and the fact that most book retailers will not stock them, and what you are likely to end up with is, in this author's opinion, a lot of expense, effort, few actual sales, and a garage-full of unsold books.

Of course, there are exceptions. Some self-published books have become successful. But those are rare cases. Yes, the royalties are higher, since you do not have to split them with a publisher. But receiving a greater royalty on the sale of, for example, 500 books - which is far above average for a self-published author - is still tiny. Because of the reduced outlets which accept self-published books; the number of areas of expertise required to produce, sell and promote them; the poor quality of the production,;and the associated stigma, I recommend against it.

Self-publishing - specifically a graphic novel - is a different animal, and features a business model that is much more favorable. More on that next time! Stay tuned.

ILLUSTRATED BOOKS AND E-READING DEVICES

If you have a passion for drawing - whether it’s manga, cartoons, comics, or the human figure, then you’ve found the Blog that’s written just for you.  Every week, I’ll discuss tips on drawing; offer my analysis and predictions about the rapid changes in the publishing industry; offer advice on how to become a published artist; and, of course, give brief updates on my books. So make this a regular stop as you surf the Blog-O-Sphere. No reservations required.

 Maybe you've noticed; but ebooks are soaring as a percentage of overall book sales, from what used to be less than 5% a few years ago, to what many pros, who analyze the publishing industry, believe will be 80% in 3-5 years. One notable exception to this trend is the genre of heavily illustrated books, which include art books, art instruction books (from yours truly!), and specialty books. Their sales, in print, are healthy; but ebook versions, as a sector of the market, have been very sluggish to date.

Although I agree with the experts that ebooks will ultimately - and soon - vastly outsell books in print, I've also recently come to the conclusion that illustrated books may remain popular in print, at least for a decade, if not more. Nonetheless, we are sure to see serious challenges to the popularity of  illustrated books in print, as ebooks are developed that offer a multitude of entertaining and useful visual bells & whistles to each title.

And yet...

There's something about illustrations in print. Art is a very primitive thing, an atavism wedged deeply into the fiber of the human psyche. Anthropologists recognize cave paintings that go back to the dawn of the species. There is an immediacy to seeing art as a physical medium, rather than in a virtual world.  Consider what recently happened to the field of drawing, as an analogy: When computer drawing tablets became highly developed, and then ubiquitous, there was the concern, and the prediction, among many illustrators, that hand-drawing was quickly becoming obsolete, and that we were ushering in a new generation of "click and drag artists," instead of people with real drawing skills.

So what happened? To everyone's surprise, drawing freehand became more popular than ever. It's almost as if there were a push-back from artists, who craved the purity of drawing. Crafts, too, became more popular. Although it's true that many artists do, now, draw on the computer, very few comic, cartoon, or manga artists do vector art. The vast majority of artists who create illustrations on the computer choose to do so freehand, on a computer tablet, with a stylus. But even a larger percentage of professional artists, in my experience, draw freehand on paper, and then do their corrections on the computer.

A similar scenario may be playing out in the parallel field of illustrated art books. When someone picks up one of my Howe-To-Draw books, they want to simply open the book, and refer to it while they draw on paper. The interactivity comes from their drawing experience, and not from any extra buttons or menu options from an electronic reading device.

So where does this leave the manga artists, cartoonist or comic book artists, who wants to self-publish? What are the pros and cons of self-publishing as an ebook versus a printed book - or in both mediums simultaneously?

You'll have to come back to read my next blog for the answer! (I hope you do!)

Chris

________________________________________________________________________

You can reach Chris by sending an email from the “contact” option on this website. Chris reads all of his emails, responds to everyone, and never uses a “form” email.  Due to his busy schedule, please be a little patient when awaiting his response.

________________________________________________________________________

ARE YOU NOT GETTING SUPPORT FOR YOUR ART INTERESTS IN ART CLASS AT SCHOOL?

Welcome to the Weekly Blog of Christopher Hart

Best-Selling Author of How-To-Draw Books on Art Instruction

If you have a passion for drawing - whether it’s manga, cartoons, comics, or the human figure, then you’ve found the Blog that’s written just for you.  Every week, I’ll discuss tips on drawing; offer my analysis and predictions about the rapid changes in the publishing industry; offer advice on how to become a published artist; and, of course, give brief updates on my books. So make this a regular stop as you surf the Blog-O-Sphere. No reservations required.

NEW BLOG:

Taking art class in school, and not finding any support or instruction for drawing the style that interests you, such as manga, cartoons or comic book heroes and villains?

Don't worry -- lots of young students have the same problem in the U.S.A. Don't argue with your art teacher; don't show her your cartoon or manga drawings; just "act" enthusiastic about the style of art, or media, your art teacher covers, and try to get a good grade by following her instructions.



BUT...

At home, and during your free time, practice from how-to-draw books; and if you can, take a few art classes at your local art center -- even if it's not in your style of art. Show your classmates (but not the ones in art class) your drawings, in order to get suggestions, and also, to get some compliments and encouragement on your progress.

Parents are not usually good judges about contemporary art styles...

If you love drawing, and want to go into it as a field, then you should consider an art college - not a regular university. In a regular university, you might encounter the same problems; they may not appreciate commercial art. And their offerings of art classes will be much more limited. But in an art college, you'll find others who have the same interests as you, and draw the same kind of stuff that you do -- in fact, you will likely discover that many of your art instructors will be professionals in your style of art. An art college may offer cartooning classes in addition to foundation courses, such as animation, humorous illustration, comic book drawing, children's book drawing, and even manga. In my opinion, universities are far behind art colleges in terms of what they can offer students who want to become a pro. In my opinion, as a graduate of an art college, you would be far, far ahead of the competition, most of whom are self-taught. In a university, you still have your required classes, such as foreign languages, math, and English, in addition to art. But an art college concentrates almost exclusively in art instruction. As a result, the art college student typically spends about three times as much time actually drawing and creating art. The results are usually quite evident. (And, after graduating, when you start out in the field of art, without credits to show, you will find that you art college training IS a good and useful credit.)

Last point: If you think you may someday want to be a comics editor, publisher, or run your own commercial art business or studio, or license your work, you may want to go to a university, because they offer business classes. Artists who take business classes are less likely to be taken advantage of by employers. In addition, business-savvy artists have a functioning knowledge of how to get ahead financially. Universities also offer writing courses, which can be important, because if you can write, you do not have to split your royalties or fees with a writer. You can write and illustrate your own stuff.

Some things to think about.

Chris

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you make this Blog a part of your regular surfing.

________________________________________________________________________

You can reach Chris by sending an email from the “contact” option on this website. Chris reads all of his emails, responds to everyone, and never uses a “form” email.  Due to his busy schedule, please be a little patient when awaiting his response.

________________________________________________________________________

Working Like a Crazy Person

Welcome to the Weekly Blog of Christopher Hart

Best-Selling Author of How-To-Draw Books on Art Instruction

If you have a passion for drawing - whether it’s manga, cartoons, comics, or the human figure, then you’ve found the Blog that’s written just for you.  Every week, I’ll discuss tips on drawing; offer my analysis and predictions about the rapid changes in the publishing industry; offer advice on how to become a published artist; and, of course, give brief updates on my books. So make this a regular stop as you surf the Blog-O-Sphere. No reservations required.

Oh boy ... I've been working soooo hard on my new book.  Going on five weeks without a day off, not even a day on a weekend... Went in for a checkup (which was fine), and my doctor asked me if I do anything for fun. I made the mistake of telling that to my wife. Now she's all over me to take a break once in a while. Hey, I sleep occasionally, but she doesn't seem to think that's what the doc meant.

 

Part of it is that drawing can be hypnotic. You can get lost in what you're doing. And the better the book seems to be coming along, the higher you want to raise your standards, to try to best yourself. This can be a chimeric goal, as the harder I push myself, the further the horizon seems to recede.

Nonetheless, every book that I work on is very important to me. It's not only that I want the readers to gain some insights and techniques in the art style that's of interest to them; it's also that I want the book to be a visual "experience." I want it to inspire, to uplift the aspiring artist, to encourage people whose confidence may be ebbing as well as to help to lift the level of artists who are already making good progress.

Well, I should stop now, and maybe do a little reading....

Nah. I'm getting back to work.

Chris

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you make this Blog a part of your regular surfing.

________________________________________________________________________

You can reach Chris by sending an email from the “contact” option on this website. Chris reads all of his emails, responds to everyone, and never uses a “form” email.  Due to his busy schedule, please be a little patient when awaiting his response.

________________________________________________________________________

DRAWING CARTOON ANIMALS

DRAWING CARTOON ANIMALS

 

                          Welcome to the Weekly Blog of Christopher Hart

           Best-Selling Author of How-To-Draw Books on Art Instruction

If you have a passion for drawing - whether it’s manga, cartoons, comics, or the human figure, then you’ve found the Blog that’s written just for you.  Every week, I’ll discuss tips on drawing; offer my analysis and predictions about the rapid changes in the publishing industry; offer advice on how to become a published artist; and, of course, give brief updates on my books. So make this a regular stop as you surf the Blog-O-Sphere. No reservations required.

Ever wanted to draw cartoon animals, but didn't know exactly how to approach it? Many cartoonists use real animals as a reference for their animal cartoons. And usually, the result is an old fashioned looking cartoon. The reason? The styles of popular cartoons have zoomed way past the representational look of characters base upon their real counterparts. Instead, it's more effective to think of your subject as a cartoon first, and an animal second.

After all, how many actual physical traits do you need to make your character recognizable as the species you're attempting to draw? A cartoon elephant will look like an elephant if it is fat and has a trunk. That's the foundation. The rest is all about  manipulating and exaggerating shapes to make it funny, witty and edgy.


If you would like to see hints, techniques and animal characters - in other words, if you'd like to give it a try, or improve your current efforts, I'd like to recommend my book, "The Cartoonist's Big Book of Drawing Animals" published by Watson-Guptill.

And let me know how you're doing with it!

 

*Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you make this Blog a part of your regular surfing*

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You can reach Chris by sending an email from the “contact” option on this website. Chris reads all of his emails, responds to everyone, and never uses a “form” email.  Due to his busy schedule, please be a little patient when awaiting his response.

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HOW TO MEET DEADLINES WITHOUT GOING CRAZY

 Welcome to the Weekly Blog of Christopher Hart

Best-Selling Author of How-To-Draw Books on Art Instruction

If you have a passion for drawing - whether it’s manga, cartoons, comics, or the human figure, then you’ve found the Blog that’s written just for you.  Every week, I’ll discuss tips on drawing; offer my analysis and predictions about the rapid changes in the publishing industry; offer advice on how to become a published artist; and, of course, give brief updates on my books. So make this a regular stop as you surf the Blog-O-Sphere. No reservations required.

HOW TO MEET DEADLINES WITHOUT GOING CRAZY

Many artists struggle with deadlines. How do you make progress, with the clock ticking, which becomes like the the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head? And when you're working on more than one project, it can get tricky. How do you prioritize? How do you know which project to work on the hardest, and which to let wait? Here are some suggestions:

1) When you've got a deadline, before you begin to work, figure out how much progress you must make on a weekly basis in order to achieve your goal. If you've got a 28 page comic book to do, you know you need to do one page a day for a month. But is that really true? You probably need more time for looking over the work and refining it, or re-drawing some pages, before handing it in. Therefore, for safety, you would aim to finish 28 pages in three weeks, leaving the final week for revisions. Three weeks means you would have to produce about nine pages a week of finished art. So, that's a little more than one drawing a day for three weeks, right? Not really. Remember, a week is not 7 days, but five days: Monday-Friday. So, in order to produce 9 pages in 5 days, you have to come up with about 2 pages a day.

2) When you are doing more than one project at a time, remember this rule: The project that is closest to publication is always the most important one. This will help your work look its best, and also, benefit your relationship with the publisher. Quite often, I'm working on a new book, and then, my editor sends me a copy of a book I did six months ago so that I can contribute editorial suggestions. I'd love to stay on a roll and keep working on the book at hand; however, that's not the one that's about to go to print, which is the publisher's primary concern at the moment. So I literally drop everything and work as hard as I can - long hours - to squeeze in the new, additional work.

If you're having trouble coming up with inspiration while under a deadline, I've got three suggestions:

3) Do not take a long walk along the beach or head to a coffee cafe in order to allow your imagination to blossom. Stay working: draw, draw, draw until something comes up. Pros work hard to produce their work. It's a craft and skill in addition to being an art. What if a newspaper writer said to his editor, "I can't write my column this week; I'm not inspired." You think the editor would let him have a week off to get his head together?

4) If pushing through the stuck imagination isn't working, then drop your entire approach to the project and drastically switch directions. In other words, if you were drawing a pretty girl walking her dog, in order to come up with a cute scene, then instead of continuing to refine a drawing that's not working, drop it, and draw a completely new character and new pose. Frequently, you'll find that this allows you to approach the drawing in a fresh way, when you feel totally stale.

5) If all else fails - go back to the basics. Be less ambitious, and draw something that's in your wheelhouse. Then see if you can tweak it enough to give it a fresh angle.

Hope that helps! Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

-Chris

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you make this Blog a part of your regular surfing.

________________________________________________________________________

You can reach Chris by sending an email from the “contact” option on this website. Chris reads all of his emails, responds to everyone, and never uses a “form” email. Due to his busy schedule, please be a little patient when awaiting his response.

Something New

 Welcome to the Weekly Blog of Christopher Hart

Best-Selling Author of How-To-Draw Books on Art Instruction

If you have a passion for drawing - whether it’s manga, cartoons, comics, or the human figure – you’ve found the Blog that’s written just for you.  Every Wednesday, I’ll discuss tips on drawing; offer my analysis and predictions about the rapid changes in the publishing industry; offer advice on how to become a published artist; and, of course, give brief updates on my books. So make this a regular stop as you surf the Blog-O-Sphere. No reservations required.

Hey -- big news - my new board game came out! I'm very excited about this. It's a board game, like Trivial Pursuits, only this is a "drawing" game. It's called, "Cartoon It!" and comes from the prestigious game and puzzle company, Thinkfun. It's already in Barnes and Noble, and toy stores across the country, bless their little hearts. It was designed by me and my co-inventor, award-winning game inventor, Joyce Johnson. But I'm too modest to mention anything else about the game....  Well, okay, you twisted my arm: It's got a splash graphic on the cover with my name on it.

Outside of that, my dog had another accident, we visited the in-laws, and another payment is due on my daughters' tuition. In other words, back to real life now...

Meanwhile, I'm in the development stage of a new project -- coming up with the exact concept and angle. In the past, this has always been the tough part -- you know, like getting a tooth extracted. There's so much focus required: squeezing imaginative thoughts out of the correct hemisphere of the brain; weighing one idea against the next; looking for fresh and useful ways to present various topics. But now, it flows much more smoothly, and has become somewhat enjoyable. But there's no danger that I'll end up liking this process more than dinner at Japanese restaurant with my wife. But, this is where the bones of a book are set - it's the foundation. It's got to be done, and it's got to look just right to me, or I don't begin.

More on the process of writing a book next time...

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Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you make this Blog a part of your regular surfing.

________________________________________________________________________

You can reach Chris by sending an email from the “contact” option on this website. Chris reads all of his emails, responds to everyone, and never uses a “form” email.  Due to his busy schedule, please be a little patient when awaiting his response.

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