Cartooning the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm (1982, Paperback, Reissue)

I've finally completed my set of four Jack Hamm how to draw books. These books are all excellent. There's a tip to using them that I learned the first time I got this one in high school -- mine is a replacement copy.

Skim-read the entire book. Just skim it, without trying to remember everything. That gives a good overview of where to look things up. Then when drawing, especially at the pencil stage, go looking up the specific thing you're drawing at the time and reread that page or two, study Hamm's illustrations.

If you want to draw a baby for a greeting card, go look up babies on the Contents page. Everything is laid out handy for you for whatever you want to cartoon, and Jack Hamm goes into great practical detail on how to draw any kind of cartoon person or caricature. My only frustration with this book is its limited topic, it doesn't go into cartooning animals, birds or architecture at all. But if you study this, you can cartoon like a professional illustrator.

The examples are quaint and old fashioned, but if you change the clothing and hair styles to something contemporary they do cover all sorts of constructions that are just as valid for someone doing a webcomic and using a tablet input device! Once you get past old fashioned haircuts and styles, you can definitely begin to appreciate the work that goes into cartooning.

It will also help with serious drawing for expressions, for motion and stance, for any number of things. The line between good cartooning and good drawing is a fine one and Jack Hamm was good at both. You might consider looking for "Drawing the Head and Figure" by the same author to complement it, along with "How to Draw Animals" and "Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes." That last would help you put your cartoon characters in a good three dimensional setting.

In all of Jack Hamm's how to draw books, there are not dozens but thousands of examples of whatever you want to draw. Compare them, vary them, sketch from them and your art will come out a lot better for it!