If you struggle to turn sticks into figures, then perhaps it is time to seek out a Trained Professional Artist! Illustrator Elwood H. Smith consults his expert funny bone as he leads budding artists through a tutorial on how to draw tricycle- riding pigs, silly-grinning cars, and jousting ketchup bottles. Emphasizing that subjects can be based on everyday materials and that artists have unique styles, this is a workbook that will encourage readers to experiment with their own types of visual expression.

". young artists will come to appreciate that when you use your funny bone to draw, anything can happen." - Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews

"Sage instruction for would-be cartoonists from a veteran, self-billed 'Trained Professional Artist.'As the introduction suggests, this is more an overview of Smith's personal approach than a systematic guidebook. He mixes standard starting points-looking analytically at photos or clip art, working from basic 2-D and 3-D shapes-with pages of sample caricatures and cartoons that interpret images in goofy ways or add comical details. Photos of pigs, mostly, but also pictures of an old car, a goat skull and other promising items serve as inspiration for the galleries of quick sketches. Many of these come with hand-lettered comments: 'Light-bulb pig'; 'Here's a picture of an old sofa.' These complement the breezy main text: 'Even food you think is yucky can be fun to draw.' He also describes-though doesn't actually illustrate-using a lightbox, and he closes by urging readers to develop their own styles, providing a pair of blank pages as encouragement to limber up those artistic 'funny bones.' Smith's pictures are always good for a hoot, though tyros will get a truer start from Ed Emberley's classic manuals." -Kirkus Reviews