Monday, September 1, 2008

How to Draw Cartoons the U.S. Army Way! WWII-era Cartooning Course

Learn how to draw cartoons the Army way! Cartoonist Mike Lynch has shared a rare cartooning book that he found on eBay...a how-to guide on cartooning prepared by the staff of Popular Mechanics, published for the Special Services Division A.S.F. and "For Use of U.S. Armed Forces Only!"
There are separate lessons on all the basic cartooning topics:

how to draw cartoon heads and faces from army booklet

How to Draw heads, faces, expressions, caricatures, proportions and clothes...

In the second of two posts, Mike shares the rest of the book, including lessons on how to draw cartoon girls, kids, animals, hands and feet.

The last few pages are devoted to composition, perspective, shading and drapery! It's quite an all-inclusive little masterpiece of cartooning education!

how to draw hands feet cartoons

Every page is drawn in a very bold and appealing old-timey cartoon style. Looks to me like the people that put this book together were artists that drew cartoon ads for matchbook covers and newspaper ads...they're all very bold and eye-catching, even at the dinkiest size!

The whole book is featured on two posts at the Mike Lynch Cartoons blog:

http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2007/01/handicraft-guide-no-9-cartooning.html
http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2007/01/handicraft-guide-no-9-cartooning-part-2.html

There's like 18 pages of wonderful cartoony stuff here! I highly recommend you check it out!

Hey Mike...thanks a lot
for posting these rare cartooning treats!