Fantasy! Cartooning

by Ben Caldwell

Book Overview

Ben Caldwell now delivers his thrilling follow-up to Action Cartooning. Fantasy Cartooning is ideal for all kids and adults who love the Lord of the Rings movies, anticipate the Christmas 2005 release... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402731213
• ISBN13: 9781402731211
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co Inc
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fantasy! Cartooning review

Ben Caldwell loves to draw! And he loves to tell about how he loves to draw. His new book, Fantasy! Cartooning is a delightful and entertaining look at how to draw heroes, creatures, rogues and maidens. Ben's style of art is reminiscent of the current(and popular)animated style, and he gives step-by-step instruction on how to construct characters. Along with his drawings, Ben provides annecdotes about the mythos of fantasy and heroes,and just what makes them all so appealing. It is fun to first flip through the entire book, and drink in Ben's artwork, and imagine how much fun he had putting this book together. It makes you believe that its as easy to draw these illustrations as it is to watch them! Ben is a master teacher, and takes the time to explain the steps in easy to understand terms, and gives tons of useful content that will benefit the professional and the beginner alike. I give it my highest reccommendation.

Good addition to any artist's library

Good follow-up book that expands on the foundation set in Action Cartooning. The 2-3 step drawing process of beautifully rendered cartoon drawings of fantasy heroes, villains, and animals/beasts is effectively supported and enhanced with many design tips on how to portray specific traits/moods/archetypes along with concise explanations of their cultural/historical/mythological backgrounds. This book is suitable for beginner and intermediate budding artists as a foundation for self-study and a good source of inspiration for more advanced artists that may find Ben's cartooning approach refreshing and fun as they experiment on their own sketchbooks.

Beautiful Book

Any inspiring cartoonist will benefit from this book. Ben has mastered and combined styles from Disney and Don Bluth, as well as a few other influences tossed in. The renderings are beautiful, and Ben inspires the artists with interesting and different concepts on mythological and fantasy themes. This book is not intended to be a comprehensive volume on cartooning. Fantasy Cartooning is best used in combination with his previous work, Action Cartooning. Also, the book mainly focuses on character design and props. Unfortunately, there's very little on stage and background design. Fantasy Cartooning is just great to look at, even if you don't intend to learn drawing. Ben regularly uses Shane Glines' forum. If you want to see more of his sketches and recent work, I recommend stopping by.