Cartooning Self-Taught Paperback – June 21, 2025

Bill Nolan's "Cartooning Self-Taught" is a comprehensive guide for aspiring cartoonists, offering a foundational approach to drawing various comic elements. Originally published in 1936, this book emphasizes a step-by-step method, beginning with basic strokes and progressing to complex figures and scenes.Key Features:Materials and Basic Strokes: Learn about the essential tools needed for pen and ink comics, including India ink, appropriate paper, a pen, pencil, and eraser. The book provides exercises to practice fundamental strokes, stressing the importance of slow, careful practice before increasing speed. Arrows indicate the direction of pen travel for effective learning.Drawing the Human Form:Hands: Discover a simplified method for drawing hands by starting with a rough pencil circle representing the palm or back of the hand, then adding the thumb and fingers. The guide focuses on suggesting rather than detailing, a key aspect of comic drawing.Feet: Explore how to draw a variety of shoes to fit different comic characters, noting specific details like button placement on the outside of the foot for buttoned shoes and spats.Heads: Master drawing comic heads by beginning with a pencil circle and then dividing it to add eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The book demonstrates how to express different emotions by altering the mouth, the eyes, and the eyebrows, and how to draw heads in various tilted and turning positions.Character Heads: Advance to creating unique character heads by combining multiple circles to form a framework for, what might be called, compound heads.Comic Figures and Action: Understand how comic figures are initially sketched using a combination of circles for the head, chest, and buttocks. Learn to create dynamic poses by bending and foreshortening figures, with circles overlapping to suggest action rather than stiff, erect stances. The book encourages drawing figures in various activities like ball players, golfers, divers, and runners.Developing Comic Characters: Learn to create distinct comic characters by varying the size of the foundational circles, allowing for diverse body types. Examples include a policeman built with large circles for the body, a small-chested and large-buttocked character, a long-legged character, and a character with a large head and tiny body.Children and Animals: Gain insight into drawing children, emphasizing the use of two circles for the head (with the upper circle being larger) and a proportionally large head relative to the body size. For animals, the book explains how comic animals are also built on a circle substructure, with examples of cats, dogs, and horses. It highlights the artistic liberty allowed in comics, such as drawing animals walking like humans.Content Warning: This book was originally published in 1936. As a historical document, it may contain outdated cultural depictions or stereotypes that are now considered insensitive or offensive. This content does not reflect contemporary views, and it is presented as part of the historical record. Read more