Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action (Family Comic Friday)

 

When a knight errant and his trusty steed come across some seedy characters in the forest, they learn that their beloved king is in peril. At the castle, the knight discovers that the king is missing and a famous director has decided to hold casting calls for his replacement. But the knight will have to get in line to audition if he's interested in the job.

   Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action is one in a series of books presented by the Center for Cartoon Studies. Just what is the Center for Cartoon Studies? It's an educational institution based in Hartford, Vermont. The school's focus is on sequential art, primarily cartooning. Adventures in Cartooning is written and drawn  by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost: graduates from the CCS. 

    This 2013 book is like Schoolhouse Rock or Sesame Street in that they make learning fun again. Here, the series creators take a bizarre situation, such as a director turning a castle into a movie set, and add details that inform you on how to best draw characters. For Example, there are two characters that look like Albino peanuts and they can change into anything. They are also father and son. But how can you tell? Well, it's explained by the bigger 'peanut' that his son has a smaller body and larger head proportionately compared to his. 
  
   At the end of the book, the knight is taught by his friend the Magic Cartooning Elf how to draw characters. One of the steps he teaches our hero is that when drawing kids make their heads larger than their bodies. Hmm... I wonder where I heard that tip???

    Adventures in Cartooning takes the beloved art of drawing and creating and boils it down to a more age appropriate level. When I was a kid just about the only art book for those under the age of 21 was 'How to Draw the Marvel Way.' But the art was so advanced in that book for a kid the age of 11 to copy that I got frustrated that my stuff looked nothing like the experts and I gave up quick. 

   I'm not saying The Marvel Way isn't a good book. In fact it's a classic! But it's just too much for children of ages 6-13 to master. I'm ecstatic that the CSS has issued these books. But I'm a little jealous too as I wish I had books like this growing up! If your child is interested in possibly becoming a cartoonist or just want to learn how to draw in general- run, don't walk, to your computer or iPhone and order all of the books in this series. 

   Along with Characters in Action, the other books in the Adventures in Cartooning series, published by First Second are:

• Adventures in Cartooning (2009)
• Adventures in Cartooning Activity Book (2010)
• Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special (2012)
• Sleepless Knight  (2015)
• Gryphons Aren't So Great (2015)

Check these books out, your children and the next generation of comic book enthusiasts will thank you!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

By the way, if you have a child or teen who is interested in one day becoming a cartoonist or involved in the comic book industry, check out the website for the Center for Cartoon Studies. It's never too soon to start getting ideas about college and they might even offer camps and have other links for getting your child on the right track to becoming the next Jack Kirby or Alex Ross.