Learn to Draw Hooky (WEBTOON)

by Miriam Bonastre Tur

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Learn to Draw Hooky is a tutorial technique guide for drawing the characters from the very popular webcomic in their familiar style. Due out 10th Sept 2024 from Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 96 pages and is available in paperback format.

The layout has a fresh and unusual (for Walter Foster) format. It's set up very much like a webcomic, with breakaway panels and a comics layout and flow. A beginning chapter introducing the characters in colored panels is followed by a surprisingly thorough step-by-step tutorial section. There's also a QR code which links to online content/the latest episode of the webtoon.

The author/publisher have included colored full page panels with the hexadecimal values for the shades used in the pictures to help with color selection. The tutorials are moderately advanced, but do-able for a determined beginner, and will give artists enough accomplishment to keep going, which is the most important part.

This is a beginner to advanced booklet but full of good technique for anime style art/cartooning and will provide some useful takeaways for the majority of readers/artists who are interested in the style. The pages (and there are many) dealing with positioning, emotional expressions, and facial features are especially detailed and useful (not just for drawing these particular characters). 

Five stars. This would be an excellent choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, activity/makers' groups libraries, home studio, or gift giving, maybe with a sketch pad and markers/pens.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.