As Dan Romanelli, president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products division says in his introduction to this book, this is, “not the usual art book; this book about character design was created by artists for artists, and speaks to them in their own language.” In other words, you have to know at least the basics of drawing before this book will be of help to you. But if you are already an artist, if you know something of anatomy, and if you know what it means to “feel” a pencil line, this book is a nice addition to your library.

Not exactly the size of a coffee table book, it is in the format that a character design book would be in an animation studio, which makes it almost those dimensions. It is not a step-by-step how to draw Bugs Bunny “Foster book” kind of thing, although Bugs is almost the only character the book talks about, but it is a textbook.

According to Romanelli, it was created for the artists and freelancers in the Warner Bros. commercial division. These artists are illustrators, as differentiated from animators. They draw one pose at a time for a specific reason; an ad, poster, DVD cover, whatever. And they are highly talented and educated artists, so you beginners don’t get discouraged if you don’t see the point of some of the exercises. Keep drawing, and you will. As Romanelli says, “What you’ll find in these pages is an open vault of information and inspiration about the process (of character design.)”

Cartoons That Weren’t Drawn for Kids
The book is lavishly illustrated with not only deconstructions of Bugs, but also some wonderful cartoons of the last century when cartoons were political commentary, meant to caricature the pompous leaders of the day. The book starts with several Gustave Dore drawings and goes on to Picasso, Lautrec and Kley. And my personal favorite, James Thurber. It makes the point that some of history’s most distinguished artists drew cartoons. In addition to those above, people like Daumier, Goya, Hogarth, Cruikshank, and Blake did cartoons. They were “brandishing their work like a whip to cut through and expose the social structure of their time.”

The credits list art by San Wei Chan, who has illustrated many books, as well as worked for Warner Bros. Additional art is listed by Mark Christiansen, Jerome Moore and Robert Guthrie. Text is by Frank Espinoza, co-written by Marie Taylor.

At the beginning of each subject are clever headings, as in “Knowing When to Stop, or But will you respect me in the morning?” and, for the section on cleanup, one of the least favorite steps in art, “Are We Having Fun Yet?’“ Along with the illustrations are quotes from famous artists, short pithy comments about art and the artist’s philosophies. These are set off in pale blue rectangles and are very entertaining. Unfortunately this same pale blue ink is used for a great deal of the type in the book, and at least in my copy, makes it difficult to read for a long period of time. Where it uses black type, it is easier to read.

The Zen of Drawing
Beginning with chapter two you start getting actual advice, but it is more about visualizing the character than “put a circle here and a line there.” As the book says, “…this manual is just a launching pad for you.” It addresses the fear of drawing, the line of action and what parts of your arm you might be using to draw a part of the character. In chapter three you get words on the Zen of drawing, “We have to draw from the inside out.” The book says that even when Bugs is standing still, he is moving, doing something with his tail, eyes, nose. “He is projecting an attitude.”