Part-Time Fanboy. Not New. Not Current. Always Opinionated.

Fun With A Pencil

Written and Illustrated by: Andrew Loomis

Published by: Titan Books

Reviewed by: Kristian Horn

Fun With a Pencil is what this latest release of instructional tomes from Andrew Loomis is called and Fun With a Pencil is exactly what it is.

Loomis’s books are well known all over the world for the succinct and well laid out instruction that all of them offer. I can, however, see how getting through some of the larger books might seem a bit daunting to some. There’s just so much information to absorb in his books that I could see many people being intimidated by the encyclopedic knowledge offered inside. Especially for a beginning or younger artist, Andrew Loomis’s books might seem to be a bit more than what they bargained for when dipping their toes into the artistic pool.

Fortunately Loomis was smart enough to publish Fun With a Pencil. Fun With a Pencil is a terrific beginning tool for anyone, young or old, who is interested in exploring the basics of cartooning and illustration. If you have anyone in your life who’s always thought about wanting to find the cartoonist inside of them this would be the book to pick up for them.  Much of what is in Fun With a Pencil is the same information that artist has laid out in his previous volumes but the presentation here is more direct and the layout is more simplistic so as to make potential illustrators enjoy the experience of learning a new craft. Fun With a Pencil is chock full of exercises, diagrams, cartoons and text that serve to make drawing fun for the beginning artist. Fun With a Pencil should join How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way and Ben Caldwell’s Action! Cartooning to form the holy trinity of beginner cartooning books for younger artists. And while Marvel Way and Action! Cartooning are great books they still can’t compare to the amount of pure instruction that Loomis offers here.  The size and scope of this book dwarf what many other books about introductory illustration have to offer. If content is king then Fun With a Pencil triumphs over other books with its successful combination of educational instruction and fun filled artistic exercises.

As a matter of fact it’s the size of the book that might be its only detriment. Once again, Titan Books has delivered a beautiful hardcover tome but it’s so professionally produced that I could see people having a hard time handing over a nice book like this to a child who might actually benefit from it the most. While I love what the crew at Titan Books have done with the aesthetics of Fun With a Pencil’s packaging I do have to say that it seems almost a shame to hand a book that is as lovely as this one over to the hands of a child who will undoubtedly fill up the hardbound volume with pencil and crayon marks almost as soon as they get their little hands on it. Fun With a Pencil is the one time that I would have to chide Titan Books for their astounding production value. I think that the audience for Fun With a Pencil might have been better served with a softcover edition of the book. If anything it’d make it easier for kids to lug the book around and possibly make it better for a parent to deal with seeing their kid manhandle the pages with abandon. Still, it is a terrific book for a novice artist to have and complaining that it’s too nice a volume is probably the ultimate nitpick. As it is my daughter loved the book. I should actually take this opportunity to apologize to the people at Titan Books for getting this review out so late. I had actually handed this book over to my child to see if she’d get anything out of it and didn’t see it again until a couple of days ago. She’d sequestered it away while doing her best to figure out the contents of the book. So while my review hits this site a bit after the book’s release I don’t think that you could get a better commendation for Fun With a Pencil than the fact that this reviewer’s child hid the book away because she was enjoying it so much.

Program note: During the course of this episode Kristian mistakenly identifies a podcast as The Treatment as opposed to The Business. If you’re interested to listening to either of the interviews cited in this episode be sure to click here or here.

Part-Time Fanboy. Not New. Not Current. Always Opinionated.

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Jungle Book: Last of the Species # 3

Written by: Mark L. Miller

Pencils by: Eduardo Garcia and Ricardo Onsaya

Colors by: Liezl Buenaventura and Crimson Studio

Letters by: Jim Campbell

Edited by: Hanna Gorfinkle

When Tobaqui met Akili  story:

Written by: Robert T. Patey III and Mark L. Miller

Pencils by: Butch Mapa

Colors by: Jason Embry

Events settle in and all the characters begin to make their inevitable moves leading towards the series climax following the slaughter of the Elephant Tribe in the previous issue of Jungle Book: Origin of the Species. Every player in the story seems ready to take their final steps and engage in their ultimate manipulations as all the Chess pieces on the Jungle Book board get ready to play their endgame.

I’ve liked this book from the first mini-series and I feel that this second chapter of the Zenescope Jungle Book has proven to be just as entertaining as the preceding mini-series. There’s a couple of really neat touches in this particular issue that showcase writer Miller’s ability to take previously developed concepts and come up with interesting new twists for them. One touch that I particularly liked in this issue is Miller setting up the apes/monkeys as the drug lords of his particular paradise. Its little bits like that which made me appreciate this particular take on Kipling’s classic.

This issue, as I mentioned previously, is very much a transition phase for the book and appears to be a setup for what’s to come. Miller is able to give each character time for reflection and interaction with others in a way that gives us, the reader, definite insight to their individual personalities and the tribulations that are challenging them. While there’s not a lot of action to this issue, it’s a necessary respite from the savagery that occurred in issue two and gives the audience some breathing time to get ready for what’s to come.  The cliffhanger at the end of the book pretty much telegraphs that things are about to pick up again so an issue of relative downtime is probably a good idea.

The only real gripe I have with this book is with the drastic shift in art style as of issue two. While I feel that the colorists of the book are able to maintain some of the visual quality of the book, there is a dynamic element that is lost in the story because of the new storytellers. There is a fluidity of form that has been lost with the new art team and it’s regretful that the artist from issue one or of the first mini wasn’t able to continue the art chores. Despite that, the comic still looks good…it just doesn’t look as good as it used to…which is disappointing.

As with the previous issues of Last of the Species this one contains a backup story exploring the origins of one of the main characters. This time the narrative focuses on human Akili and her integration into Tavi tribe, a group of animal outcasts. It’s a really sweet tale of developing friendship and trust that serves as a bit of a welcome break from the slightly grim main story. The way that Akili is welcomed into the tribe as well as the way that her friendship develops with Tobaqui , an animal in the tribe, are humorous and heartwarming. It’s a neat little origin tale that sheds a bit of light on the background of one of the more interesting characters in the main adventure.

And just in case you might not have yet discovered the fun romp that is Spandex, be sure to listen to our first interview with Martin Eden by clicking here!

Part-Time Fanboy. Not New. Not Current. Always Opinionated.

Part-Time Fanboy. Not New. Not Current. Always Opinionated.

Part-Time Fanboy. Not New. Not Current. Always Opinionated.

Part-Time Fanboy. Not New. Not Current. Always Opinionated.