Moho Forum

Hello,

I´ve already searched for a while but didn´t find anything or didn´t know if it was recommendable. Do you know any (free) resources on the web or any books that deal with drawing cartoon characters? (The traditional way, application independent) By the way - I´m not interested in Anime/Manga Characters (sort of dislike them... )

(Does anybody know this book: http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0 ... KAKR8XB7XF
)

Thanks a lot for your help in advance!

Marco

Have a look at John Kricfalusi's blog, he's pasting a lot of reference material and explains a lot. (http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/)

Also there's the ASIFA archive at http://www.animationarchive.org/, they have a lot of model sheets and stuff.

The book you mentioned I don't know, but from the list of artists included I'd say it's the opposite of what Kricfalusi teaches.

Thanks!

Marco

I did a book review of Learn to Draw with Anime Studio by Philippe Cizaire (Hypercomics):

http://generalpicture.com/animation/?p=48

where I argue that Cizaire's lovely book should not be passed off as for kids only.

More guidance on drawing characters (again, more about drawing than about the essence of characters) comes from the impeccable tutorial by Dr. Nick:

viewtopic.php?t=8904

(Dr. Nick's work is also an object lesson in how teach your own skills to other people.)

But I think you want to learn more about character design than drawing your designs.

OK, there are plenty of the fundamental tricks in character design to be found in Tom Bancroft's Creating Characters with Personality. Watson-Guptill, 2006. Unfortunately, the personalities favored by Bancroft have all the flavor of lukewarm dishwater--yuk! We've seen his characters before from animation studios of the 1960s, where they were invariably better conceived. Try to get beyond that when you read his book and you can learn lots from him. I would also add that Bancroft's whole mindset is very mainstream/Hollywood/mass market/cereal-selling, but this is not the only way to think about characters!

If you want to see the kind of heart and soul which is entirely lacking from Bancroft's Mighty Morphin Sugar Doodles idea of art, feast on the brilliant character design in Tony White's The Animator's Workbook. Watson-Guptill, 1986. Ironically, White's book isn't specifically billed as relevant to character design.

human wrote:feast on the brilliant character design in Tony White's The Animator's Workbook. Watson-Guptill, 1986.

I have an excellent quality copy of that book for sale cheap if anyone here's interested.

Hi Marco,

I've listed a few books here on character design.

The book you mention is, as I recall, fairly good for getting you thinking about character design - including examples from different artists as to how they would all draw a particular character based on a text description of that character.
It doesn't cover a huge range of characters, but the important thing is probably more how it gets you thinking rather than a specific set of rules, techniques, or examples to follow.

Regards, Myles.

Thanks very much everybody!

@myles: Your link was quite interesting!

I´ve just ordered the first book I mentioned in my original posting and the "Animator´s Workbook". (@Touched: Sorry for rejecting your offer but I think it was less complicated and less expensive ordering the book here in Germany (wich was about 14 EUR incl. postage))

Marco

marcotronic wrote:@Touched: Sorry for rejecting your offer but I think it was less complicated and less expensive ordering the book here in Germany (wich was about 14 EUR incl. postage))

Ha, I don't blame you, that's a long way to ship.

I'm learning a lot from "FUN WITH A PENCIL" by Andrew Loomis at this time.
It can be found for free in PDF here: http://basangpanaginip.blogspot.com/200 ... ere. BonAp

Thanks BonAp, I find several books by Andrew Loomis there but nothing like "fun with a pencil"... Does it have a different title?

Marco

I found it here.

But those old books have been reprinted as collections as well. The originals are very large and thin books, like the old Preston Blair books, but I also have a thick, smaller paperback that collects all of Preston Blair's books into one volume. One like that might also exist for Loomis.

Ah, and I just saw that linked PDF, here's the direct URL for that:
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/Andr ... Pencil.rar

Thanks for the link Touched!. That old book is so funny and interesting!
-G

Thanks for the link, Touched!

marco

You'll have to scroll down to "Cartooning", and hit the tittle here.
By the way, the other books by Andrew Loomis might also be of interest.
Bonap

BonAp wrote:You'll have to scroll down to "Cartooning", and hit the tittle here.
By the way, the other books by Andrew Loomis might also be of interest.
Bonap

Yes, thanks. Touched has already posted a direct link. I already knew the other books by Andrew Loomis - and yes, they are useful, too.

Marco