Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain : How to Come Up With Jokes for Cartoons and Comic Strips

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book!.......2004-04-21

Very helpful book on the basics of creating comics. I needed a book that would take me from square one and show me the ropes. This did all that and more. I would definitely recommend this book!

Bleh.......2003-01-05

I wanted this book to be good. I really did. It had what I was looking for, info on the most important aspect of cartooning: the writing.But, unless you intend to create cliche, unoriginal cartoons, this book is not for you. Because that's all it does. It explains in detail the most common cartoon character stereotypes and how you should use them. it tells you what is normally done and tells you to do the same. cartooning is not about following paths that have already been followed. i enjoyed The Naked Cartoonist by Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor for the New Yorker. It explains the creative process in general.
Here's my advice: don't listen to advice from cartoonists who aren't even successful themselves. they clearly don't know what they're talking about.

Great book but not what I was looking for........2001-12-06

Well this book has it all. How to draw and come up with characters, how to layout out for comic panals. What and What not to do writing strips and doing the comic layout, etc. I'de say you have it all here. I was just hoping it would give more on writing scripts, but I guess there realy is no help guid it's just skill.

one of Hart's more in-depth books.......2001-07-06

Christopher Hart's name appears on a number of beginner's how-to books, but he's not just a beginner's author, as this book demonstrates. This is one of the better, and more advanced, cartooning books out there. While it does go over yer usual "stick-man" first steps briefly, most of it is devoted to addressing stuff like panel layout, strip breakdowns, consistency of character design, timing in humor writing, marketing your work, etc. In every case, Hart speaks from experience: apparently he has written stand-up and TV comedy professionally, as well as doing animation, comic books, strips, and piloting the space shuttle. [I'm just guessing at that last one, but don't be surprised... ]

Anyhoo, if you've advanced in your cartoons to the point where you're considering getting into the pool of publication, this book is a good resource for polishing and fine-tuning what you can do.

Much better than most catrooning books.......2001-04-13

Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain is a great resource for aspiring cartoonists, one, because as one reviewer said, it doesn't insult you about your ability. The book helps you learn about creating your own characters, laying out panel strips, making single-panel strips, tricks of the trade, what poses and looks are funnier for characters, help with joke writing, learning more about dialouge, text balloons, shading, techniques, how to get your work noticed and sold, how to protect your ideas, and a ton bit more. He even discusses hard and soft punch lines, good and bad setups, dimensions to draw the copy, what tools to use, different kinds of panels, drama vs. comedy, wide and close views, shadows, connected and double balloons, tips on submitting to publishers and syndicators, rating your own gags, meeting deadlines, handling writer's block, building character name recognition, and cartooning resources to both submit to and get more information on. An all-around great book for the beginner cartoonist and the serious cartoonist with a career in mind.

Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain: How To Come Up With Jokes for Cartoons and Comic Strips

Average customer rating:

Drawing on the Funny Side of the Brain: How To Come Up With Jokes for Cartoons and Comic Strips
Christopher Hart
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:
ASL Literature Series : Bird of a Different Feather & For a Decent Living, Student Workbook and Videotext
Sam Supalla , and Ben Bahan
Manufacturer: Dawnsign Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World

A Dictionary of American Idioms

American Sign Language Green Books, A Student's Text Units 10-18 (American Sign Language Series)

American Sign Language Green Books, A Student's Text Units 19-27 (American Sign Language Series)

The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community

ASIN: 0915035227

Average customer rating:
Algebra: A Complete Course, Module A (Video Text)
Thomas Clark
Manufacturer: VideoText Interactive
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Algebra | Math | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Math | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books
Mathematics | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Algebra: A Complete Course, Module B (Video Text)

Algebra: A Complete Course, Module C (Video Text)

ASIN: 1887891617

Product Description

Complete set in plastic case: 3 VHS tapes, Book of course notes, Instructor's guide, Student work text book, progress tests, solutions manuals,

Algebra: A Complete Course, Module C (Video Text)

Average customer rating:

Algebra: A Complete Course, Module C (Video Text)
Thomas Clark
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books

Mathematics | Science & Technology | Teens | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Algebra: A Complete Course, Module B (Video Text)

ASIN: 1887891633

The Birth of Electronic Publishing: Legal and Economic Issues in Telephone, Cable and Over-The-Air Teletext and Videotext (Communications Library)

Average customer rating:

The Birth of Electronic Publishing: Legal and Economic Issues in Telephone, Cable and Over-The-Air Teletext and Videotext (Communications Library)
Richard M. Neustadt
Manufacturer: G K Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Publishing & Books | Reference | Subjects | Books

Money | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Case Studies | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0867290307

Case Studies of Security Problems and their Solutions (Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, V. 75)

Average customer rating:

Case Studies of Security Problems and their Solutions (Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, V. 75)

Manufacturer: Ios Pr Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Research | Medical | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Public Health | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Research | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Communication & Writing | Reference | Medicine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1586030507

Book Description

The SIREN project was established by the Health Telematics Programme of the European Commission is to assist health care provider groups using regional health care networks to establish necessary security services. The activity concerned primarily the regional health care network projects within the EU programme but also targeted other regional and national user groups operating or planning for health care networks. The project has collected experiences from major regional health care networks throughout Europe with regard to security problems. Using these experiences and security expertise, particularly from the TrustHealth project of the programme, SIREN is disseminating information on good examples of solutions to the user groups. In addition to this booklet, the SIREN project has conducted a series of workshops and conference presentations in different European countries.

Book Description

Since the assassination of the pope by one of Cardinal Trebaldi's men, the ruthless cardinal continues his scheme to seize the exalted position for his own. Only one man can stop him-the Scorpion! His mission: to expose the Cardinal's evil intrigues at the time of the pope's burial and to end the tyranny of the nine families.

Book Description

The Pirates of Penzance, premiered in 1879, confirmed the comic genius of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, following on the heels of their wildly successful H.M.S. Pinafore. Pirates invade the rocky coast of Cornwall in this topsy-turvy tale of love and duty, highlighted by the famous strains of "Poor Wandering One," "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General," "Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast" and "With Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal." This vocal score includes the complete music and all dialogue, a plot synopsis, articles on the famous partnership and the history of The Pirates of Penzance, a filmography and a discography.

Customer Reviews:

Not a Music Note in It!.......2007-01-12

Be aware that this book does not have a single musical note in it! I ordered 30 copies for a production I am directing and when the book came, it is only the dialogue and the lyrics to the music. You can download that much from the internet! I don't know why the other reviewers talk about it being a vocal score. It has no music in it. If you want to get a vocal score, this is not your ticket. Besides, this book is a copy of another book. Amazon says the book is 48 pages long, but the script is only 20 pages and the other pages are blank. I am sending this back and getting the Shirmer edition.

Pray Observe the Magnanimity..........2006-07-15

I used this score in a production of Pirates at my university, and from the standpoint of a cast member it was excellent. It outlined each part and was easy to read. At any point where scores between production years differ, this handy volume recounts them all with notes as to which part belongs with which year. My only complaints are that it is not ring-bound (regular paperback binding, harder to hold on to/use) and some harmony parts are difficult to pick out because they divide on the page turn and appear at different parts of the page. Other than that, it is a wonderful score and I would recommend it to anyone interested in producing this enchanting operetta.

Different editions.......2002-02-28

We're staging a production of "Pirates" in April 2002, and we have two editions of this score by G. Schirmer. The cheaper one is for the chorus, and has just the choral passages. The more expensive one (listed here) has the complete vocal music and dialogue.

I have seen both, and would rate them at five stars except that the original page plates are a little dirty, introducing some confusing dots and spots.

Good version.......2001-12-08

I'm not sure what an earlier reviewer is saying about this score not having the solo stuff. This book has the complete score and dialoge. I've used it for two productions of POP and it is missing nothing.
Unless this is a different edition than the one I have..but it has the exact same cover and credits so I doubt it.

Another G&S Winner from Dover.......2001-11-06

Once again Dover has managed to produce a Piano Vocal score which is a major improvement over the existing editions. While I can't speak for the Scholarly content, and while it doesn't claim to be a "critical edition", it does EXACTLY what a performer wants in a piano vocal score. It is clear and readable and has the words as well as the music. It is also clearly market with measure numbers at the start of each staff and has clear and well marked Major Measure markers throughout. In sum, if you are looking to perform the work, this is the edition to get.

(And if you need a Full Score, the Dover full score is also a very good deal).

Average customer rating:
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE OF THE SLAVE OF DUTY. (VOCAL SCORE).

Manufacturer: Chappell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HFYZRC

Average customer rating:
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty [Vocal Score] (Maestro Publications, E8496)
W. S. Gilbert (Words) , and Arthur Sullivan (Music)
Manufacturer: Hansen House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000TSQM78

Product Description

A vocal score, containing all the music for solo voices and chorus, accompanied by a piano reduction; also includes all the dialogue.

VOCAL SCORE OF THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE OR THE SLAVE OF DUTY

Average customer rating:

VOCAL SCORE OF THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE OR THE SLAVE OF DUTY
Gilbert & Sullivan
Manufacturer: Chappell & Co. Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000L18PIC

The Pirates of Penzance (Or the Slave of Duty) (Kalmus Vocal Score) (6187)

Average customer rating:

The Pirates of Penzance (Or the Slave of Duty) (Kalmus Vocal Score) (6187)

Manufacturer: Belwin Mills
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Sheet music
ASIN: B000IHMLLQ

Customer Reviews:

Mozart: perfect book.......2007-01-04

Esplendid biography written with talent and humor.
It is a worthwhile reading for classical music lovers and students.

STILL NOT OUTDONE.......2005-03-02

And will not be for a while, I suspect.

Unless a crate of new documents turns up, whatever we already know in terms of information about Mozart is not likely to get a whole lot more informative. We pretty much know all the crucial When's, Who's and What's.
That means, what we're measuring is the biographers' ability to put together all that data into something 'insightful' about a genius we can never 'really' know.

Right now, there two other contenders for the title of Best Mozart Bio: The one by Maynard Solomon and the other by Robert Gutman. If you're into (unnecessarily) long sentences and pop psychoanalysis, then the one by M. Solomon might be the thing for you. (I got a lot out of Solomon's Beethoven, but with Mozart, his psychologizing is just annoying.)
Gutman's is exhaustive...and exhausting -- to all except probably to Mozart scholars.

Now, Hilbersheimer. A deservedly well-regarded novelist and man of letters in Germany but unfortunately not as well-known in the Anglophone countries. Hildesheimer's rendering of Mozart, which started out as a lecture in 1956, is still fresh...and delightfully eccentric, but not at the expense of historical truth. Quite blunt with facts, actually: noticeable is the author's radical departure from the usual practice of scholarly 'discretion' with regard to Mozart's "deviant obsessions," which were largely coprophilic, apparently.

Hildesheimer's affection for Mozart's genius is genuine but not adulatory. (And as if to emphasize the authenticity of Mozart's true genius, the author, strangely enough, does take some potshots throughout the book at Rilke as an example of a "fake genius." )
Anyway, here you get just enough psychology -- without feeling like you're reading a therapist's evaluation sheets --to give you a sense of the man's pathological quirks that made him a man and not a god. You get enough of the cultural milieu to appreciate how little Wolfie became the MOZART -- without having to pop a No-Doz pill just to get through all the tedious historical detail. And you get, more than perhaps anywhere else, a real insight into Mozart the GUY who just happened to be a musical genius, AND who also happened to have one bawdy sense of humor!

Example: When Mozart had nothing else to do, he himself kept up his sister's journal, describing the vegetative life in a humorous (and often ill-humored) way, in pointed contrast to the dry unemotional entries of his sister, whose voice he assumed:
"The 17th: With Katherl at the home of Mlle the Saint, who picks her nose with her big toe."
"The 19th: Stayed home with a pipe up the arse, with the pipe up the arse..."
"The 52nd: Lodron at our house in the afternoonish. We went to Fiala's. At 3 o'clock all of us went a walking, welking, wulking, wolking, wilking. It day a fine was."
"The 82nd: a half to niney, blow one out behindy in church.
At quarter past niney, blow one out behindey at Mayr's...."

In short, it's the quirky style of German prose whose literary lineage goes all the way back to the great Baroque novel 'Simplicius Simplicissmus' -- and the content as shaped by such a style -- that makes this version of Mozart so enjoyable.

By definition, no Bio is going to be "definitive," and any that claims to be one is bunk. So, whatever else you might read about Mozart, be sure to include this one too. New scholarship may shed more light on the minutiae of Mozart's life but only Hildesheimer's gives you a Mozart you can imagine as a contemporary.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books