Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, and other beloved cartoon characters have entertained media audiences for almost a century, outliving the human stars who were once their contemporaries in studio-era Hollywood. In Animated Personalities, David McGowan asserts that iconic American theatrical short cartoon characters should be legitimately regarded as stars, equal to their live-action counterparts, not only because they have enjoyed long careers, but also because their star personas have been created and marketed in ways also used for cinematic celebrities. Drawing on detailed archival research, McGowan analyzes how Hollywood studios constructed and manipulated the star personas of the animated characters they owned. He shows how cartoon actors frequently kept pace with their human counterparts, granting “interviews,” allowing “candid” photographs, endorsing products, and generally behaving as actual actors did—for example, Donald Duck served his country during World War II, and Mickey Mouse was even embroiled in scandal. Challenging the notion that studios needed actors with physical bodies and real off-screen lives to create stars, McGowan demonstrates that media texts have successfully articulated an off-screen existence for animated characters. Following cartoon stars from silent movies to contemporary film and television, this groundbreaking book broadens the scope of star studies to include animation, concluding with provocative questions about the nature of stardom in an age of digitally enhanced filmmaking technologies.

Few morose thoughts permeate the brain when Yosemite Sam calls Bugs Bunny a “long-eared galut” or a frustrated Homer Simpson blurts out his famous catch-word, “D’oh!” A Celebration of Animation explores the best-of-the-best cartoon characters from the 1920s to the 21st century. Casting a wide net, it includes characters both serious and humorous, and ranging from silly to malevolent. But all the greats gracing this book are sure to trigger nostalgic memories of carefree Saturday mornings or after-school hours with family and friends in front of the TV set.

DIVYoung artists will learn the essential concepts for creating fun, silly, and dynamic cartoon characters, step-by-step./div

One of the world's leading cartoon artists shows readers how to capture the retro look of Sponge Bob, Dexter, and other popular comics, revealing how to recapture the 1950s in cartoons.

Detailed text and drawings illuminate how to conceive animated characters.

Cartoons are fun to look at, but they take a lot of work to create. Aspiring artists learn how to draw memorable details that make cartoon characters come alive on the page. Different techniques are introduced, such as creating a sense of motion and emphasizing different features to give characters distinct personalities. Readers are presented with a variety of cartoons to try their hand at drawing—from a sporty grandma to a creepy villain. Each cartoon is shown through step-by-step instructions of the whole drawing process, as well as full-color illustrations of the finished product.

This pioneering book makes the case that iconic cartoon characters, such as Mickey Mouse, are legitimate cinematic stars, just as popular human actors are. Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, and other beloved cartoon characters have entertained media audiences for almost a century, outliving the human stars who were once their contemporaries in studio-era Hollywood. In Animated Personalities, David McGowan asserts that iconic American theatrical short cartoon characters should be legitimately regarded as stars, equal to their live-action counterparts, not only because they have enjoyed long careers, but also because their star personas have been created and marketed in ways also used for cinematic celebrities. Drawing on detailed archival research, McGowan analyzes how Hollywood studios constructed and manipulated the star personas of the animated characters they owned. He shows how cartoon actors frequently kept pace with their human counterparts, granting “interviews,” allowing “candid” photographs, endorsing products, and generally behaving as actual actors did—for example, Donald Duck served his country during World War II, and Mickey Mouse was even embroiled in scandal. Challenging the notion that studios needed actors with physical bodies and real off-screen lives to create stars, McGowan demonstrates that media texts have successfully articulated an off-screen existence for animated characters. Following cartoon stars from silent movies to contemporary film and television, this groundbreaking book broadens the scope of star studies to include animation, concluding with provocative questions about the nature of stardom in an age of digitally enhanced filmmaking technologies. “[Animated Personalities] is impressive for its lucid historical structure and exceptionally enjoyable content . . . McGowan breathes life into celluloid figures, giving readers a backstory for some of the most enduring iconic characters of screen history. This is a truly gratifying book.” —Choice “Combining historical, formal, and theoretical modes of analysis, Animated Personalities represents a vital contribution to both star studies and the study of animation in classical Hollywood and beyond. By embracing a key problematic of the study of stardom―the inability to take any element of its construction as authentic―McGowan does not undermine the validity of this approach so much as craft a more honest and complete understanding of it.” —Synoptique

Thanks to Christopher Hart's simplified process, anyone can create dynamic cartoon characters right away. He has developed the easiest-ever approach to drawing the basics like heads, bodies, and those super-important cartoon expressions. Hart helps beginners apply these fundamentals to a variety of fun types and settings including animals, under-the-sea locales, stock characters, and popular backgrounds. Each lesson is laid out in accessible steps, accompanied by Chris's personable instruction.