#REVIEW - DOODLETOPIA CARTOONS, Draw, Design, and Color - Your Own Super-Fun Cartoon Creations by Christopher Hart

Description:

An interactive doodle book from a best-selling art instruction author and cartoon master that pairs illustrating insights with drawing, designing, and coloring activities for aspiring artists.

Welcome to Doodletopia! Your first stop in this paradise of creativity? The world of cartoons. Your tour guide Christopher Hart is ready to introduce you to the interactive, artistic possibilities of creating your own exciting, hilarious, off-the-wall cartoon characters, gags, and more.

Unlike other doodle books that leave you stranded, with no help at all, Doodletopia: Cartoons pairs fun doodle-based activities with the sort of insightful (and laugh-out-loud funny) advice and tips that countless readers have come to expect from cartooning master Christopher Hart. For the first time ever, you can pick up your pencils, pens, markers, or crayons, and draw, doodle, or color right on the same page as the author.

From finishing cartoon faces to selecting costumes to completing wacky cartoon scenes, the opportunities for creative expression are endless. So what are you waiting for? Open up and start doodling!

MY TAKE:

"5" STARS!!!

RUN to your bookstore NOW, or get online and go to your favorite online bookstore and buy this book, or several for everyone on your gift list! This book is plain ole' FUN! It's a book that would be an excellent choice for ANYONE no matter what their age is, and no matter what they may tell you about their talent or non-talent to draw - they CAN with this this book! It is so much FUN to do the lessons and learn how to draw these cartoons and other things as you go along in this book! This book is for everyone and you cannot go wrong in giving this as a gift to anyone!

Why do I say all that? I got a copy of it in the mail from the publisher out of the blue! It looked like so much FUN! I took a good look at it, then I started to draw in it and do some of the lessons it provides, and I had a riot!! The author is AMAZING how he gets right in there and teaches you exactly how to draw these what looks like such difficult, hard drawings to do, and they become easy-peasy! Easier than what you possibly think, but you won't know that unless you try it first! Therefore, I challenge you! Let's GO!!!

Also, before I could review this book and either tell you this is a great book or not-so-great book this is, I "had" to do some of the drawings in this book and at least try it out first. Not to fear, these are SO EASY AND FUN!!! YOU MUST TRY THEM OUT!! I HAD A BALL! 
The first thing I suggest to do is to make a gift tag so while at that crowded family christmas party, you know who the book goes to! You’ll find that more towards the end of this book. Or, using what you have learned in this book, if there is not anything you would want to use as a gift tag, then use what the author has taught you and make your own! He teaches you so much

I have to admit and tell you my talent for drawing is pathetic! Pathetic! I am the first to admit it! I've had more laughs from people than 'Oooh's and Ahhh's' for my not-so-amazing talent with drawing! LOL! I can draw simple flowers and little itty-bitty things like that to accompany a few of my favorite hobbies which is scrapbooking and rubber stamping, so I have some beautiful colored pencils to color these in too, but none of these things involved drawing from scratch!

The problem - “I” was going to have to draw a PERSON as a CARTOON! HA! I knew this was NOT going to work OR I was going to need a LOT of erasers! Guess what? I got the erasers I knew I was going to need, so I knew I could at least attempt this!

Now with pencils, colored pencils, erasers, a pencil sharpener by my side, and a few blank pieces of paper on a clip-board, I was ready to start! 

The first thing this author has you start to draw in cartoon style is a penguin. I LOVE penguins! They are so cute! I have a good portion of my christmas tree decorated in penguins that I made with pony beads! If I were to draw these penguins on some cardstock, use my tool to poke a tiny hole at the top, I could have MORE penguin christmas ornaments for the tree! The penguin was a LOT of fun to draw!

As I went along, I learned you do not need extra paper as you can draw right “inside” of the book, and it was designed exactly for that! This author teaches you as you go along just how to draw and how to do it correctly! He gives you hints and teaches you to use horizontal and vertical lines to keep your cartoon characters straight. I was so excited about that! I wish my printer was working correctly so I could show you how nice the things “I” drew DID end up coming out so nicely! These are “ALL” SO MUCH FUN TO DO! Not only are these fun to do, but you can get lost doing these! Talk about forgetting anything going on in the world around you, wipe any stress in your life, etc.!

These will be excellent gifts for ANY person you need to give a gift to!
I sincerely hope you enjoy this book as much as I did! I think this book will go far and hit the TOP of ANY of the charts out there because it is so much fun!
Have a GREAT time! I sure did!

I received this book for FREE from the publisher, Watson-Guptill Publications/Berkley in exchange to read and write a review about it. It is NOT required for this review to be either positive/negative, or any type of suggested rating, but of my own honest opinion. "Free" means I was provided with ZERO MONIES to read this book nor to write this review, but to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

About the Author:

Christopher Hart

I started drawing character designs for a small animation studio in San Diego, California, when I was still in High School in Los Angeles. I used to drive 136 miles, each way, on the weekends, when I was 16, just for the opportunity to get paid to draw. Cartooning was a magical experience to me.

I graduated from High School, and attended the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. At Cal-Arts, we had to do a lot of intense animation, which I found tedious. I was more interested in character design, and story, rather than drawing twelve poses to create one second of movement. It wasn't for me.

So I left and enrolled in, and graduating from, New York University. The social scene at Valencia consisted of a sandwich shop, where you could buy a magazine, if you got there early enough. New York city had slightly more to offer.

After I graduated, I worked as a staff writer on several NBC prime-time, comedy-variety television shows. I also wrote for 20th Century Fox, MGM-Pathe', The Showtime Cable TV Network and Paramount Pictures. But then the Writer's Guild went on strike. Writers in Hollywood weren't allowed to work for TV or the screen. So I went back to my cartooning roots. And I began writing for the Blondie comic strip, and began contributing regularly to Mad Magazine, and did some cartooning for magazines.

My cartoon work got noticed by Watson-Guptill, a premier publisher of art books. They asked me to do a book for them on drawing cartoons. They had never done that before. The result was 'How to Draw Cartoons for Comic Strips,' and it sold briskly. They asked me to do another, and then another. Well, I've sold over 3 million books domestically since then, have 19 translations, and I'm still at it.

My book, 'Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics,' quickly became the number one selling art book in the country (source: Bookscan). It is also the winner of the prestigious New Jersey Library Association's Garden State Teen Book Award for 2004 in the category of nonfiction for grades 6-12.

The Young Adult Library Services Association selected two of my books for their prestigious "2003 Quick Picks for Young Adults." Those titles are: "Anime Mania: How to Draw Characters for Japanese Animation" and "Mecha Mania: How to Draw the Battling Robots, Cool Spaceships, and Military Vehicles of Japanese Comics." my title, 'Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics,' was selected for 2002.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) chose my book, 'Drawing Faeries: A Believer's Guide,' for their 2004 'Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults' reading list. The 'Children of the New Earth' online magazine awarded the book its 'CNE seal of Excellence.'

My book, "Manhwa Mania," which introduces Korean style comics to manga audiences, was chosen as a "Quick Pick for Relunctant Young Readers" by the American Library Association in 2006, ages 12-18.

In 2004, I was asked by the Loew-Cornell Art Supply Company to develop a series of eight top-quality art kits, which would feature my manga, cartooning and comic drawings. The kits are now completed. They will be available, on Amazon, in fall, 2006.

My work has also been been featured in such publications as American Artist, Newtype (the premier manga publication), Mad Magazine, Highlights for Children, Crayola Kids, Ranger Rick, Cat Fancy, Dog Fancy and Boy's Life. My tutorials have been featured on Animation World Network, one of the leading websites of the animation industry. I've also been a cover story on the industry trade magazine, "Publisher's Weekly."

And if you've read this far into my bio, then I'm more impressed with you than you are with me!

Thank you so very much for letting me offer some inspiration to you in your art adventures. Keep Drawing!

Chris