Archives: Walter Foster Books
While animators must first know how to draw, the animation process involves much more than just good drawing skills. In this new edition, acclaimed cartoon animator Preston Blair shares his vast practical knowledge to explain and demonstrate the many techniques of cartoon animation. Learn the knowledge and skills animators must have, including:
- How to construct original cartoon characters by developing a character’s shape, personality, features, and mannerisms
- How to animate movements such as running, walking, dancing, posing, skipping, and more
- How to create realistic-looking mouth movements during dialogue, as well as body movements and facial expressions while the character is speaking
- The finer points of animating a character, including drawing key character poses and in-betweens
THIS REVISED EDITION INCLUDES:
Chapter 1: Getting Started
Tools & Materials
Drawing Basics
Animation Methods
Chapter 2: Cartoon Construction
Parts of a Cartoon Character
The Body
The Head
Facial Expressions
The Hands
Chapter 3: Character Design & Development
Cartoon Examples
The Cute Character
The Screwball Type
The “Pugnacious” Character
More Animal Characters
Fictional People
Children
Chapter 4: Basic Character Movement
Comics to Life
Line of Action
Rhythm & Design
Basic Movement
Chapter 5: Animation
Principles
Beyond Simple Movements
Rough Sketches
Balance
Paths of Action
Animation Effects
Chapter 6: Animated Acting
Expressing an Attitude
Three Rules for Actors
Body Language
Dialogue
The Collector’s Series offers a broad range of projects across a variety of mediums and genres, such as drawing, oil, acrylic, watercolor, cartooning, calligraphy, and others. This series is suitable for beginning to intermediate artists, and each title features in-depth instruction about how to work with the tools of the trade, master techniques, and use newfound skills in practical application.
Aspiring artists, illustrators, art students, and art hobbyists will discover how to use basic carving tools and techniques to design and create custom lino prints for distinctive works of art. Practical instruction combined with approachable step-by-step projects and inspirational imagery guide readers on an engaging, easy-to-follow exploration of block printing.
Following an introduction to essential materials, such as printmaking inks, linoleum blocks, carving tools, and papers, Block Print for Beginners demonstrates how to get from uncarved block to finished print, including transferring a drawing, carving the block, working with inks, and achieving the best print results. Once comfortable with the basics, aspiring printmakers can move on to explore a series of step-by-step tutorials for creating a variety of lino prints with blocks they can use over and over again.
From basic block prints to more advanced techniques, such as printing in repeated patterns and creating stationery, wrapping paper, wallpaper, and more, Block Print for Beginners provides a fresh, contemporary, and enjoyable approach to learning this time-treasured art form.
The Inspired Artist series invites art hobbyists and casual art enthusiasts to have fun learning basic art concepts, relaxing into the creative process to make art in a playful, contemporary style. Also from the series, find even more artistic inspiration with: Draw Every Little Thing, Paint Every Little Thing, and Watercolor Painting at Home.
With Art Makers: Empowered Embroidery, learn to sketch and stitch strong, recognizable women from all walks of life.
Featuring sketching and illustration instructions, basic stitches, embroidery techniques, and 6 projects with portraits of famous women, this book is a must-have tool for hands-on artists and crafters.
If you’re a beginning embroiderer, start with the basic stitches and embroidery instructions at the beginning of the book. Essential tools, warm-up exercises, tips for embroidering facial features and hair, and general information on embroidery will give you the know-how you need to get started. Then dive into sketching your favorite female cultural and historical icons:
- Frida Kahlo
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Maya Angelou
- Harriet Tubman
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Michelle Obama
Once you’ve sketched your figures, follow along with the step-by-step embroidery projects as you learn to stitch the women featured in the book—and anyone else you admire! All of the projects are beautifully paired with large photos so that you can easily mimic the techniques at home while relaxing with your embroidery.
The author is a professional illustrator, designer, and embroiderer uniquely suited to give instruction on this fun, trending embroidery technique. With her expert tips, you’re sure to enjoy learning a new hobby, or advancing your skills if you’re already familiar with embroidery.
Art Makers: Empowered Embroidery makes it easy to sketch, stitch, and create your favorite female icons, from empowering women of today to icons of the past.
The Art Makers series is designed for beginning artists and arts-and-crafts enthusiasts who are interested in experiencing fun hands-on mediums, including polymer clay and papier-mache.
With Ten-Step Drawing: People, learn to draw the figure from head to toe, step by easy step. From eyes, lips, noses, and ears to hands, feet, and clothing, beginning artists will delight in rendering a variety of poses and expressions; as well as how easy it is to recreate them in ten simple drawing steps. Handy prompts help encourage artistic individuality and include helpful tips for drawing other subjects not featured in the book. Approachable text and step-by-step drawings make learning to draw fun and easy, and the portable format allows for spontaneous drawing wherever you may be. So grab a pencil and start drawing!
Designed especially for aspiring illustrators, doodlers, and art hobbyists, the fun and approachable books in the Ten-Step Drawing series encourage new artists to get acquainted with the basic principles of drawing so they can learn to create art with confidence. Ten-Step Drawing: People is sure to encourage even the most reluctant artist to break out a sketchbook and doodle to their heart's content.
Also available in the Ten-Step Drawing series: Flowers, Animals, and Nature.
With Ten-Step Drawing: Nature, learn to create an array of animals, insects, and plants, step by easy step. From dragonflies and birds to flowers, feathers, and shells, nature lovers will delight in the varied selection of subjects; as well as how easy it is to recreate them in ten simple drawing steps. Handy prompts help encourage artistic individuality and include helpful tips for drawing other subjects not featured in the book. Approachable text and step-by-step drawings make learning to draw fun and easy, and the portable format allows for spontaneous drawing wherever you may be.
Designed especially for aspiring illustrators, doodlers, and art hobbyists, the fun and approachable books in the Ten-Step Drawing series encourage new artists to get acquainted with the basic principles of drawing so they can learn to create art with confidence. Ten-Step Drawing: Nature is sure to encourage even the most reluctant artist to break out a sketchbook and doodle to their heart's content. So grab a pencil, get out in nature, and start drawing!
Also available in the Ten-Step Drawing series: Flowers, Animals, and People.
Whether you're an experienced artist or just starting out, The Complete Book of Textures for Artists features a wide variety of both traditional and contemporary techniques. After an introduction to the basic tools and materials, discover a variety of drawing and painting techniques, such as hatching, crosshatching, shading, blending, layering, burnishing, and more. Organized into sections based on subject matter and media, each page features easy-to-follow steps demonstrating how to create each specific texture. Not only will you learn a variety of techniques, but you’ll also discover new ideas and inspiration for using the techniques in your own projects.
Packed with easy-to-follow instructions and plenty of helpful artist tips, The Complete Book of Textures for Artists is the perfect resource for beginning and established artists who are ready to master the intricacies of rendering realistic texture in their artwork.
Perfect for both aspiring and established artists, this easy-to-understand guidebook shows you the secrets to drawing lifelike still life artwork in the dynamic medium of colored pencil.
*Named One of the 54 Best Colored Pencil Drawing Books of All Time by BookAuthority*
Rendering artwork that leaves your viewers contemplating whether a piece might actually be a photograph is no easy task! But if you want to learn how to render realistic still lifes using a wide range of techniques, the approachable and engaging Realistic Still Life in Colored Pencil is just the resource. After an introduction to the basic tools and materials, you will discover a variety of basic colored-pencil techniques, such as:
- Hatching
- Crosshatching
- Shading
- Blending
- Layering
- Burnishing
- And much more!
In addition, you will find more complex techniques for creating realistic still lifes, including how to render various textures like glass, wood, porcelain, flower petals, and others. Throughout the book, expert artist and art instructor Cynthia Knox offers tips and techniques for using layers to build color and depth, establishing dramatic and moody backgrounds, and working with “hidden” colors to achieve realistic effects. Also included is valuable information for connecting all of the elements for polished and professional results. Each project comes with a list of the colored pencils that are needed to complete the project.
Packed with easy-to- follow instructions, plenty of helpful tips, and beautiful artwork and photographs to inspire, Realistic Still Life in Colored Pencil is the perfect resource for taking your colored-pencil art to the next level.
The book follows the same format as the first in the Grown-Up’s Guide series, consisting of multiple creative prompts, exercises, and step-by-step crafting projects that children and adults can do together. Author Vicki Manning, who runs a popular Instagram account where she regularly posts craft projects that she’s done with her own kids, The Grown-Up’s Guide to Crafting with Kids appeals to parents, caregivers, grandparents, teachers, and anyone else who wants to spend creative time with the kids in their lives. Kids will love working with adults to make crafts, which include:
- Clay robots
- Pom-pom ice-cream cones
- Sun printing
- Treasure boxes
- Wax-resist bookmarks
- And much more
Chapters on tools and materials, sourcing materials around the home and outside, and suggestions for engagement and craft-making are included as well. Crafters and families likely already have most of the items they need for the projects, so it’s easy to get started now. Plus, cleanup is quick afterward!
With fun, colorful, and appealing artwork and projects; easy-to-follow instructions; and crafts made from accessible, affordable, and popular materials, The Grown-Up’s Guide to Crafting with Kids will quickly become an essential book for families, preschool and elementary schools, art classes, and more.
Perspective is a necessity for realistic drawing. Whether you are drawing people, still life, architecture, or landscapes, you must have a thorough understanding of perspective in order to create depth and dimension in your subject. Mastering Perspective explains one-, two-, and three-point perspective in a fresh, approachable way, through the eyes of an experienced artist. Learn how to use vanishing points and foreshortening to build scenes and compositions and render subjects in proportion. With clear, step-by-step instructions and illustrations outlining horizon lines, field of vision, point of view, and more, Mastering Perspective teaches artists how to master this basic, and often challenging, technique.
More than a basic step-by-step drawing guide, the Success in Art series focuses on subject matter that is often challenging for artists, regardless of skill level. From highly foundational art concepts, such as proportion and perspective, light and shadow, and composition to mastering textures and the human figure, Success in Art covers difficult subject matter in an approachable way using easy-to-grasp techniques and step-by-step exercises.
Drawing realistic hands and feet in graphite pencil is a challenging subject for most beginners. With Drawing Hands & Feet, follow along as you study the common forms of the fingers and toes and learn to create and meld basic shapes to build realistic final art. Discover how light and shadow play an important part in creating muscle definition, expression, and realism. Understand the effect of perspective when choosing and rendering a pose. Drawing Hands & Feet encourages artists to master the individual parts of the form—the pose, structure, values, and shading—before approaching the composition as a whole.
More than a basic step-by-step drawing guide, the Success in Art series focuses on subject matter that is often challenging for artists, regardless of skill level. From highly foundational art concepts, such as proportion and perspective, light and shadow, and composition to mastering textures and the human figure, Success in Art covers difficult subject matter in an approachable way using easy-to-grasp techniques and step-by-step exercises.