Save
Save chapter to my Bookmarks
Cite
Cite this book
Share
Share a link to this chapter
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
BOOKCartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Ivan Brunetti
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100234
The best cartooning is efficient visual storytelling—it is as much a matter of writing as it is of drawing. In this book, noted cartoonist and illustrator Ivan Brunetti presents fifteen distinct lessons on the art of cartooning, guiding his readers through wittily written passages on cartooning terminology, techniques, tools, and theory. Supplemented by Brunetti's own illustrations, prepared specially for this book, these lessons move the reader from spontaneous drawings to single-panel strips and complicated multipage stories.

Through simple, creative exercises and assignments, Brunetti offers an unintimidating approach to a complex art form. He looks at the rhythms of storytelling, the challenges of character design, and the formal elements of comics while composing pages in his own iconic style and experimenting with a variety of tools, media, and approaches. By following the author's sophisticated and engaging perspective on the art of cartooning, aspiring cartoonists of all ages will hone their craft, create their personal style, and discover their own visual language.

Winner of the 2012 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for the Best Academic/Scholarly Work

"Brunetti has given the cartooning world something very similar to what Strunk & White gave to prose with their Elements of Style."—Tim O’Neil, PopMatters.com
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Print publication date March 2011 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300170993
EISBN 9780300283556
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Illustrations 11
Print Status in print
Publisher (in print)
WorldCat
Google Books

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access

List of illustrations

  • Cartooning exercise: Doodles
  • Cartooning exercise: "The Catcher in the Rye" as a single-panel cartoon
  • Cartooning exercies: Some basic compositional ideas
  • Cartooning exercise: Sample drawings
  • Cartooning exercise: Working out a simple sequence
  • Cartooning exercise: The "eyebrow-to-eyebrow" transition
  • Cartooning exercise: The author unwittingly reveals himself
  • Cartooning exercise: One of countless possibilities for a grid of marks
  • Cartooning exercise: Some common pitfalls
  • Cartooning exercise: Coloristic effects can be achieved on a black-and-white page
  • Cartooning exercise: The evolution of a cartoon
Free
Contents
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Contents
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100235
Read
Free
About this Book
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
CARTOONING can be a lot more than just having fun drawing and creating jokes. This “classroom in a book” provides the aspiring cartoonist with a practical means for creative self-discovery and the exploration of complex ideas through the iconic visual language of comics.
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100236
Read
Introduction
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
It is likely the height of arrogance, not to mention utter foolishness, for me to attempt writing a book such as this. Considering that all human effort could perhaps be an Ozymandian folly, the search for meaning, catharsis, and dignity in the humble act of cartooning may seem an especially delusional quest. Perhaps this will end up as simply another...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.3-10
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100237
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.Graphic novels--United States--20th century

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Syllabus
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
This course provides students with a means for creative self-discovery and the exploration of complex ideas. Students will record their observations, experiences, and memories in a sketchbook and then translate this material into various pictographic narratives of varying lengths. We will explore the rhythms of storytelling, discuss the formal elements of comics, and compose comics pages using...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.11-23
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100238
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 1: Spontaneous Drawing
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning is built upon the Five Cs: calligraphy, composition, clarity, consistency, and communication, each reinforcing the other. We will consider the doodle as the fundament of cartooning. Accordingly, the following exercises should stress minimalism, dynamic drawing, and clear, simple lines.
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.25-28
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100239
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 2: Single-Panel Cartoons
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
This week we will focus on composing a single image that tells a story, and we will also begin to incorporate words as an integral part of the whole. Because we will not always be able to stand over the shoulders of our readers, explaining to them what they are seeing and what it all means, we must develop the ability not only to draw clearly, but also to compose...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.29-35
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100240
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 3: Four-Panel Strips
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Not unlike the marks that form letters and words, we can also think of the lines of our drawing as having a “sound”; they can be cacophonous, flow melodiously, or even evoke silence. Think of a thin, curved dotted line, a harshly jagged scrawl, or a thick droop of ink. Can you hear them in your head? Just as calligraphy can represent sound, so too can...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.37-40
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100241
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 4: A Simple Page
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Some of the more impatient students are probably itching to start drawing pages with fancy layouts, characters bursting out of the panels, word balloons shaped like icicles, diagonal borders, and the like. Yet, at this early stage, the serious student would best focus on capturing the nuances of rhythm, movement, character, and gesture before attempting to dazzle us...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.41-44
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100242
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 5: The Democratic Grid
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
By “democratic,” I am referring to a grid of panels that are all exactly the same size, from which we can infer their equal weight and value in the “grand scheme” of the page. We can also think of this type of grid as an invisible template; it does not call immediate attention to itself, but invites us to an unimpeded narrative flow, acting...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.45-48
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100243
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 6: The Hierarchical Grid
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
We can liken drawing a comic to creating a miniature reality on the page, or, as Chris Ware has said, “dreaming on paper.” Let us consider the dream: is it autobiography or fiction? On the one hand, dreams are leaps of imagination, evidence of the plasticity of the information stored in your brain, recombining in sometimes fantastic, startling ways that...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.49-52
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100244
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 7: Tools
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Intelligence, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity make an artist—not the blithe, confident application of brushstrokes. We master our tools so that we can tell our stories, navigating our way through self-doubt as we stumble and search for truth, not so that we can extrovertedly make our pens “sing.” The depth of an artist’s intellect and...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.53-56
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100245
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.Artists' tools

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 8: Style
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Last week, we experienced firsthand how each tool naturally guides us toward the particular set of marks for which it is best suited. We need not slavishly and laboriously imitate the surface effects of one tool by forcing them out of another. After many failures, we will develop empathy for our tools and discover their intended purpose, and soon enough they will...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.57-60
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100246
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 9: A Full-Color “Sunday” Page
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
The Sunday newspaper comic strips of the first half of the 20th century, printed in color and oversized, provided ample “canvases” for cartoonists to incorporate ornamental designs, ancillary strips featuring minor (or entirely separate) characters from the main narrative, even meditative meta-panels—all interlocked in the overall page structure.
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.61-64
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100247
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Weeks 10 through 14: A Four-Page Story
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
And so, we arrive at our last assignment: a story of four pages in length, on any subject, drawn in any dimension, in black and white or in color, using any tools or techniques, with any layout you wish. This will give you the opportunity to consider the center “spread” as a potential composition, and the story as a whole as yet another level to the...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.65-71
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100248
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Week 15: Conclusion
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Well, how did it turn out? I hope you are satisfied with (perhaps even proud of) your final story and that you have found the course both challenging and edifying. If I have done my job, you should see a noticeable progression in your work from 15 weeks ago to now. At the same time, I also hope you can look at your work objectively and identify some areas where...
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Related print edition pages: pp.73-74
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100249
Chapter subject tags:Cartooning--United States--20th centuryCartooning--TechniqueBrunetti, IvanComic books, strips, etc.

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access
Free
Appendix: Further Reading
Ivan Brunetti
Description: Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
When I started teaching, I relied mostly on reams of photocopied handouts, which expanded with every class I taught. Fortunately, with the publication in 2004 of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #13 (a special comics issue, edited by Chris Ware), I finally had an ideal textbook.
Author
Ivan Brunetti
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2011 by Ivan Brunetti
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100250
Read
Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice
Next chapter