I have recently downloaded a cartooning course from the web which came as a printable PDF file.

I have a printed copy for use at home and I also put a copy of the PDF on my mini notebook computer so that I always have it available to peruse when I have a few minutes to spare.

I am very pleased with it and would recommend it to any budding cartoonist.

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This is a great little book, even if you don't want to make a living from cartooning. It has lots of advice on how to get started, even though you may feel that your drawing skills aren't good enough.

Apart from lessons on drawing, it offers advice on materials, creating your own style, how to come up with original ideas, comic strips, marketing and how to turn your hobby into a career.

This is one of the books that I always turn to when I am feeling stuck for ideas

I was so impressed with this book that I have used it as a text book for a number of my multimedia classes. It covers cartooning in all of its forms, gag cartoons, comic strips, illustration, advertising, and many more.

It gives advice on setting up your workspace, drawing cartoons, and offers advice on materials, both conventional and digital.

It is laid out in a logical, if very informal way, with every page lavishly illustrated. This is certainly a book to get those creative juices flowing. Oh by the way, my students loved it

Not sure about the title, just leave out the word Idiot and you have a truer indication of what the book is about. Anyway don't be put off by the title, because this is an excellent book.

Everything that you ever wanted, or need, to know about cartooning can be found in this book.

The history of cartooning, where cartooning is headed, tools and techniques for every style of cartooning (including a section on Manga). Generating ideas, breaking into the business and even a section on legal stuff, including copyright and contracts.

It also has a very comprehensive glossary, bibliography, a list of publications and professional organisations to round things off.

This is definitely not a how to draw book for beginners, but there are hundreds of those around (there's a really good one below). This book tells you how to apply your existing drawing skills to cartooning.

Highly Recommended

Now this is a really good book to get if you want to learn how to draw cartoon characters. People, dogs, cats, birds, fish and dozens of wild animals are covered. Where this book differs from many others is that it shows you the techniques you need to be able to draw your character from different angles, an essential skill for comic strips.

Starting with the basic human head, it also covers facial features, the hand, lower leg and foot the body, body language, stereotypes, and how to vary your characters age. It then moves on to animals, birds, fish etc.

This takes up the first 122 pages of the book, the final 20 or so pages cover putting your characters into a comic strip, giving advice on layout, character placement, specialty shots, shading and dialogue balloons.

But don't be misled by the title, the majority of the book covers character drawing and creation, which can be used for any type of cartooning, not just comic strips.

This book will teach you how to how to draw great looking cartoon characters. The comic strip information is an added bonus.

The subtitle of this book is "How to Achieve a Professional Look in Your Artwork". This gives a good indication of the target audience and there are smatterings of pretty heavy theory to be found. However you can always skip over these and just follow the practical side of things.

What I really like about this book is the way that it is laid out. It is basically two cartoon characters, with one leading the other on a journey of discovery. It's just like reading a comic book, but with some learning thrown in.

Because of the format, all of the diagrams and images are always right beside the text, none of that "see diagram on page such and such" here. This does make things easy to follow and gently eases you through the theory.

If you are considering a career in comic books, where the backgrounds are usually very important to the story, or even if you just want an easy to read book on perspective, then this book should definitely be on your bookshelf.