Sunday Mailbag: Art Books?

Q: Besides your book, what books do you think should be on any artist/cartoonist bookshelf? It can be instructional or inspirational.

A: Like many artists I’m a bit of an art book junkie, but like many artists far too many of the books I get end up decorating a shelf and and only skimmed or read once. There are a few that are pretty well thumbed on my bookshelves though. Here are some that I consider classics, and which are not left collecting dust on a shelf. I have included only instructional or reference books here, as “inspirational” books would be too numerous to list and would make for a very different list for each individual anyway:

Anything by Jack Hamm– Jack Hamm was a cartoonist and illustrator from the 40’s on who did ghost work on comic strips including lettering, but he mostly taught art and had a very early TV drawing show called “The Jack Hamm Show”. His style is very 30’s and 40’s advertising influenced (and thus dated) but his books are very easy to digest and consist of tremendously practical bits of advice and direction, and my copies are pretty tattered. The three best are:

• Drawing the Head and Figure
• Cartooning the Head and Figure
• Drawing Animals

Anything by Andrew Loomis– Loomis was primarily an advertising artist before turning more to teaching. He was a master of realistic figure drawing, and while his style was very successful in the golden age of advertising it escapes that dated look so many from that era suffer from. His books have been reprinted and repacked so many times it’s hard to keep them straight, and some are hard to find these days. Here are my favorites:

• Fun with a Pencil
• Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth
• Creative Illustration

Drawing Comics– These are almost indispensable when it comes to comic book style storytelling/art:

• Comics & Sequential Art- Will Eisner
• How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way– Stan Lee and John Buscema
• The Art of Comic Book Inking– Gary Martin
• Understanding Comics– Scott McCloud
• Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist– Stephen Rogers Peck

Drawing Caricatures– Besides mine, these are of benefit to the caricaturist:

• How to Draw Caricatures– Lenn Redman- Dated but has solid concepts and advice
• The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression– Gary Fagin- No caricature specifics but great for understanding the face
• Let’s Toon Caricatures– Keelan Parham- Particularly good for live stye work

No list is complete without this book, which is not instruction but amazing practical advice and insight into the giants of cartooning/humorous illustration:

• The Art of Humorous Illustration– Nick Meglin

Thanks to Brian Smales for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!