After publishing not one, but two Anthologies of Graphic Fiction, noted cartoonist and illustrator, Ivan Brunetti, is back with Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice, an instructional how-to for 
cartooning as an art of self-expression. In this book, he presents fifteen distinct lessons on the art of cartooning, guiding his readers through wittily written passages on cartooning terminology, techniques, tools, and theory. Supplemented by Brunetti’s own illustrations, prepared specially for this book, these lessons move the reader from spontaneous drawings to single-panel strips and complicated multipage stories.
Through simple, creative exercises and assignments, Brunetti offers an unintimidating approach to a complex art form. He looks at the rhythms of storytelling, the challenges of character design, and the formal elements of comics while composing pages in his own iconic style and experimenting with a variety of tools, media, and approaches. By following the author’s sophisticated and engaging perspective on the art of cartooning, aspiring cartoonists of all ages will hone their craft, create their personal style, and discover their own visual language.
Check out the book’s promotional trailer, with Brunetti guiding the viewer through the creation of a single-page cartoon.
The You Tube “trailer” for the new book on Cartooning rings all sorts of bells for anyone who has ever put together a story or even taught literature. The process of “narrative” is often neglected these days for the ideological significance of a given narrative, and we need to restore the concept of composition to narrative to adequately understand why we tell stories. I think we love to make stories, and this charming book by Ivan Brunetti is on my wish list now. It will be very useful in our work at The Writing Institute of Portsmouth.