Be a Cartoonist

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Presents...

3 Check It Out! 4 Talking to a Cartoonist 6 Things to Do with Cartoons 7 Max & Gracie 8 Make a Flip Book 9 Clay Animation 10 10 Great Cartoon Settings 12 Puzzles 14 The Creator of Charlie Brown 15 How Cartoons Are Made 16 Cartoon on the Loose 20 How Much Does Your Hand Weigh?

21 Cartooning 22 Funny People Game 23 Make a Funny Face 24 Cartoon Fun 25 Family Portraits 26 10 Tips for Drawing Cartoons 28 Joe Hippo 29 Kids Corner 30 Puzzle Solutions 2

Do you enjoy a good chuckle? Maybe your friend told you a funny joke. Or maybe you read a favorite comic in the newspaper. Whatever it is that makes you laugh, cartoons are designed for that purpose. Do you like to make people laugh? Someday you might decide you want to be a cartoonist. This issue will tell you how.

Imagine that you were reading a comic and the characters in the story come to life and were chasing you down the street! That sounds like a bad dream. Check out “Cartoon on the Loose.”

If you’d like to learn how to draw cartoons or make funny faces, it’s all right here. Try making a flip book and bring your cartoon figure to life.

Settle in someplace comfortable. Perhaps you might want to have a pad of paper and pencil or pen nearby.

By the time you finish this new issue of Fun For Kidz, you might be on your way to becoming a cartoonist. Share your comics with us. We will publish them in a future issue of the magazine.

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Meet Chris Sabatino, the artist who creates the zany covers for Fun For Kidz!

You also often see his cartoon stories in the magazine.

Fun For Kidz: How did you get interested in cartooning?

Chris: I had a great childhood! My family had a motorhome, and I used to draw cartoons while we traveled all summer. I developed a love for drawing and traveling!

What other work do you do besides drawing for Fun For Kidz?

I write and illustrate comic books, which is probably my favorite thing to do. I illustrate children’s books and magazines and create art for greeting cards, textbooks, and T-shirts. I’ve also created art for theaters and for stage sets!

What’s your favorite thing to draw?

I love to draw fun, chaotic scenes with many crazy characters! I’ve drawn scenes like that for Fun For Kidz covers. When I was a kid, I had a large poster filled edge-to-edge with cartoon characters. I used to stare at it for hours!

What don’t you enjoy about being a cartoonist?

I enjoy every part of what I do. But the hardest part for me is working alone at home every day. It’s a bit lonely. So, I try to get outside and be around people whenever I can. I’ve gotten involved with community theaters, and I’ve volunteered for different groups. I also have a great wife and kids I get to spend time with!

Was your cartoon style influenced by other cartoonists?

I think my biggest influence was Saturday morning cartoons! When I was a kid, there were wonderful cartoons on TV from early Saturday morning until lunchtime on all three stations (that’s all we had back then). I loved to watch them and tried to draw all the characters. I now have most of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons on DVD’s and enjoy them all the time!

If kids are interested in becoming a cartoonist someday, what can they do to prepare?

If you want to become a cartoonist, you have to LOVE to draw! Draw all the time, like I did. Carry a small sketchbook and doodle. Create your own comic strip about your life! A cartoonist is also a writer, so learn to see the humor in the world, even when things go wrong! The more you draw, the more you’ll love creating, and the better artist you’ll become!

Would you encourage kids to become cartoonists?

I’ve said this before: If you want to become a cartoonist (or anything else), always remember that you CAN! Work hard, love what you do, practice, and take classes. Surround yourself with people who support you. Everyone is an artist. The weird ones become cartoonists!

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by Chris Sabatino

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Portland, OR 1:20 PM

There’s a nip in the air, but otherwise it’s all clear!

Max and Gracie and their owners, Linda, Craig, and their seven-year-old son, Ed, are driving the back roads of America. Perhaps you have seen Max and Gracie with their heads out the window. If not, here is a letter describing their most recent adventure.

ival. It was a lot of fun. We Gracie, and I went to a snow fest Ed, a, Lind k, wor to t wen ig Cra While most deliciously fragrant food. sts, games, and booths with the arti t pain face res, lptu scu ice saw ed like her, except for the big cature of her. The drawing look cari a draw st arti an had a Lind blubbery lips he gave her. lips,” Gracie barked.

“She doesn’t have big blubbery s a feature.” re is when an artist exaggerate “Of course not,” I said. “A caricatu and Ed immediately for a free caricature, and Linda sit ld cou I and cie Gra if d aske The artist said, “Yes.” ryone laughed when e, a big crowd had gathered. Eve plet com was re catu cari our e By the tim me a humongous nose. had given Gracie a long neck and they saw the picture. The artist look at it. “Is it? Is it that crossing my eyes to get a good cie, Gra d aske I ” big? that e “Is my nos er when I crossed my eyes. big?” Everyone laughed even hard bed the picture. whined. She jumped up and grab “I hate that huge neck,” Gracie “HEY,” the artist yelled. h the artwork firmly in her between festivalgoers’ legs. Wit Gracie took off running, weaving mouth, she made her escape. be seen. her, the picture was nowhere to When we finally caught up with ld smell it. d, sniffing the air in hopes I cou “What did you do with it?” I aske me with her as she walked past Linda, Ed, and “Don’t be nosey!” Gracie barked, . neck extended and head held high

Max 7

Make a Flip Book

by Rebecca J. Gomez • illustrated by Pamela Harden

If you can draw a stick person, then you can make your very own animated flip book. All you need is a small Post-it® pad and a pencil! Post-it pads work great because you can easily flip through the pages. If you can’t get a Post-it pad, try any pad of blank paper.

Here’s what you do.

Begin by drawing a standing stick person on the bottom left corner of the top page. See box 1.

You are going to make your stick person look like he is jumping into the air, landing on his head, and standing back up again. You do this by creating a series of drawings – one drawing per page.

On the second page, draw your stick person with his knees slightly bent. See box 2.

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Follow the drawings shown in the remaining illustrations to make your person jump.

For steps 7 and beyond, remember to move each drawing a little closer to the right side of the page until he is at the bottom right corner in step 20. This will make it look like your person is flying through the air. When you are done, use your thumb to quickly flip through the pages, and see your stick person come to life.

More Flip Book Ideas Try making a stick person run across the page or do jumping jacks. Or try something else, like a stick dog chasing a bouncing ball. Be creative and have fun!

by Erica Elmer

Have you ever seen an animated movie or TV show that looks like everything has been made out of clay? This technique using clay figurines and objects is called Claymation, or stop-motion animation. Movies like Chicken Run and The Nightmare Before Christmas used this technique.

Making a film like this is almost like drawing a flip book. If you were to draw a flip book of a person waving her hand, there would be only slight changes in the position of the hand on each page. When the pages are flipped through in one simultaneous motion, it looks like the character is raising her hand to wave hello.

The techniques behind stop-motion film are very similar, except filmmakers will often use figures made entirely of clay. They use a camera instead of pencil and paper to capture their footage.

First they come up with an idea for a film.

Then they mold their characters and the entire world of the film using clay. As they shoot their film, they create the illusion of movement. Each figure is moved just a bit and then recorded on film. After shooting one or two frames of film,

the camera is paused. The objects are moved again. The movement is almost invisible to the eye. Objects are moved just slightly to create fluid, realistic movements. They are moved more to create swifter, jerkier movements. It’s a slow process. Sometimes making a Claymation film can take years!

The Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco, California, has an Animation Studio.

There, visitors of all ages can make their own clay animation film. What kind of clay characters would you create and bring to life on film?

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created and illustrated by Heather Walker

Find the letters described by each statement below. Write the letter you select, in the order given, into the boxes below to answer the question.

What are some cartoons that are drawn for newspapers called?

The first 1/2 of COMEDY The last 1/3 of ATOMIC The first 1/5 of SUPER The middle 1/3 of CITRUS The last 3/5 of CLIPS

Skip wants to draw cartoons, but he can’t remember where he put his pencil.

Help Skip find it in his sketchbook.

Remember, don’t cross any lines.

O N O

by Evelyn B. Christensen

Cartoons are a type of drawing, not intended to look real, which are used in comic strips and animated films. Fill in the squares so that each row, column, and 8-square section has the letters C-A-R-T-O-O-N-S (2 O’s in each).

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A R N T A O O A R O N S A T O S O

O C N R R O T C O R T C O T S A O N

O

Start A R T C A W I N A R T O O N S

I

A R R E G

I

N B O O

K S T D S N C E A N E L W S P A P E O M P R S S

by Guy Belleranti

M A G U F A Z

Find your way through the letter maze by connecting letters to spell out the following cartooning-related words: ARTIST, DRAWING, COMIC STRIP, FUNNY FACES, ILLUSTRATIONS, PANELS, WORD BALLOON. You may move forward, backward, up, or down, but no letter may be connected more than once. Write the leftover letters in the blank spaces to spell a cartooning message.

I

N E N P

I

I

S N O W

S C S O R T

E L E N V R T S

I I

T

I

D B

F Y O N T R A M L A

O C A V L U S N E S

I

I

E S L A

L D M O R E O O N

Finish

A CARTOONING MESSAGE: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _

_ _

_ _ _ _ _,

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,

_ _ _ _ _ _,

_ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,

_ _ _ _.

by Gertrude Knabbe Look forward, backward, up, down, and diagonally to find the words in capital letters. Cross the words off the list. After all the words are found, the remaining letters will spell something relating to cartoon characters.

WOODY woodpecker

DINO

W O O D Y O G

MICKEY mouse

DALE

BUGS BUNNY

WILLY

O

MARMADUKE

JERRY

DAFFY duck

PORKY

D R E N W P E O D U K F K M

ELMER

S A F M I

DEWEY

T N

YOGI BEAR THUMPER SNOOPY DUMBO PIGLET KANGA GOOFY

CALVIN JECKLE HECKLE TOP CAT

I

I

B E A R W M

H R A K N Y O Y

O R N Y E L R

I

I

I

S

I

A

E O F C U R

A M E P E H V A A

O L E W U Y L D M N D

O P O S L E T N H R U O G U C

I

Y O Y

I

K G F T P U

N H J T M T A K I

E E O B E O E

GUS goose

I

BAMBI

DAISY duck BULLWINKLE

B E O S C H L K R C O U A N

LOUIE HUEY

WOODSTOCK

ARLO

MINNIE mouse

PLUTO

TOM

WINNIE THE POOH

Answer:

L O E B Y V C R P O

I

G

I

M T G O L R A L Y A S O R N A U A E L K C E J T C L H B U L L W I

__ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __

I

N K L E T E R M

__ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ?

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by Jan Black The Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz is the most popular comic strip ever. People all over the world love Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the other Peanuts characters. Years ago, I talked with Charles Schulz at his studio in Santa Rosa, California.

Jan Black: How did you become a cartoonist?

Charles Schulz: I’m one of those fortunate people who knew what he wanted to do, ever since I was a little kid. I always read every comic strip that was printed. I had this ambition to draw a comic strip and, fortunately, I did.

Jan: Did you create Peanuts to entertain children or adults?

Charles: All you can do is draw what you think is funny.

Entertain yourself. Draw what you like yourself and then hope that as many people as possible will like it.

Jan: How would you describe Charlie Brown?

Charles: Charlie Brown is a very nice little kid. He’s the sort of boy I would have loved to have had as a neighbor when I was small. He wants to play baseball and enjoy himself.

Jan: Who inspired Snoopy the dog?

Charles: I had a dog named Spike. He had a spot on his back and a great personality. I would say that Snoopy was patterned after this dog. But in the comic strip, Snoopy became almost not a dog.

He walked around on his hind legs, so I think he left my dog, Spike, behind!

Jan: How is the Peanuts comic strip different from other cartoons?

Charles: What has made Peanuts different is that it’s drawn in a simple style, which is difficult to do. I think the expressions are very important. People should be able to recognize immediately what the character is thinking or worrying about.

Jan: What’s your advice for a young person who wants to be a cartoonist?

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Charles: You have to draw something every day.

You have to sit down with a blank piece of paper and think of something funny to draw. Take some drawing classes, learn how to letter properly, and just be patient!

1. The Storyboard

A funny story is created and drawn on a storyboard in cartoon form.

3. Animation

Key drawings are made, then “in-betweens” drawings make the characters move.

5. Camera Work

Photographs are made of the animation and background, one frame at a time. It takes 24 frames to create a single second of film.

2. Recording

The right voices are recorded reading the dialogue.

4. Cel Painting

“Cel” is short for celluloid. After the background is painted, the underside of each photocopied cel is also painted.

6. Editing

The editor matches the dialogue to the picture and adds appropriate music and sound effects.

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by Chris Sabatino

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How Much Does Your Hand Weigh?

You use your hands for so many things, including drawing cartoons.

What if you wanted to find out how much your hand weighs, just for fun? How can you weigh something that is attached to you? The trick is to find something that will take the place of your hand and weigh that instead. Water works great. The science word for what you will do in this experiment is called DISPLACEMENT.

What You Need:

• a large rectangular baking pan • a pot large enough to put your hand in • a scale (The kind that has a CONTAINER on top that hold liquids.)

• water • your hand

What You Do: 1. Set the pot in the middle of the baking pan. Fill the pot with

cool water. Fill it RIGHT TO THE TOP, but do not allow any of the water to spill out into the baking pan.

2. Slowly and gently lower your hand into the pot of water. The

moment your hand enters the water, some of the water will overflow the pot and spill into the baking pan. This is exactly what you want to happen. You are DISPLACING some of the water with your hand.

3. Lower your hand farther and farther into the water. More of

the water will spill into the baking pan. Finally, after you have submerged your hand all the way into the water, slowly take it out again. The water level in the pot will now be lower because of the displaced water.

4. Take the pot out of the baking pan and set it aside.

5. Being careful not to spill any, pour the water that is in the

baking pan into the container on the scales. See how much it weighs. Now you know how much your hand weighs! Your hand will weigh the same as the water that was displaced!

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by Cassandra Reigel Whetstone illustrated by Roy Green

Pen with ink, Paper for dreams.

Drawing cartoons, Stories with seams.

Lines for an arm, Twist for a nose.

Scowl or a smile, A character grows.

Sketch the beginning, The middle, and end.

Drawing cartoons To share with a friend.

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Funny People Game

by Marcia Strykowski Gather two to five players, a sheet of paper and a pencil for each, then get ready for some fun. Here’s the best part: Each player will keep his or her drawing hidden from each other until the end, when the funny figures are revealed!

1. All players draw a head at the

top of their paper, with two lines coming down for the neck. Then the paper is carefully folded so that only the bottoms of the neck lines show are showing. Drawings are passed to the right.

2. Without opening the folded part,

players now draw down to the waist, including arms. Fold the paper again so that only the bottom of the waist peeks out. Pass the papers to the right.

3. Still without opening the folded

parts, players draw down to the knees. Fold and pass to the right.

4. Almost done! Again, without opening the folded paper, players draw down to the ankles. Fold and pass to the right.

5. The last step will be adding on the

feet. Will they be sneakers, furry boots, or maybe duck feet? Pass the papers to the right one last time, then unfold your silly character drawings.

Anything goes, but it can end up extra funny if players continue with their original head idea. For example, a giraffe, a muscle man, or a ballerina.

Imagine those three ideas mixed up!

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written and illustrated by Neal Levin

Drawing a cartoon face is as easy as mixing together a few simple parts. To make a funny face, choose one feature from each box, and combine them on a piece of paper. See how many different faces you can come up with.

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Cartoon Fun

Stanley! You know what Doctor Smith said about your diet.

No snacking between meals.

“YOU’RE TICKING ME OFF!”

by Ron Coleman

by David Sung

“It’s nice that they put food out for us, but it would be so much easier if they wouldn’t put it in plastic bags.”

“Does your thumb feel better now?”

by Joe Genovese

“Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to win this race.”

by Brandon Fall

“Sounds like a busy day, Barb.”

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by Joe Bore

by Heather Klassen • illustrated by Dwane Cude While the rest of his family watched a woman making balloon animals at the festival, Caleb drifted over to the next booth. He watched as the man sketched, drawing the woman sitting in front of him. It looked like her, but different. As the artist handed the finished sketch to the woman, she laughed. “I love it!” she exclaimed as she paid him then walked away.

“Are you drawing cartoons?” Caleb asked the man.

“It’s a kind of cartooning,” the artist answered. “What I do is called caricature. It’s drawing something, usually a person, in a simplified, but exaggerated way. I pick out the most prominent features of the person, then exaggerate them. Most people find caricatures to be funny.”

When Caleb arrived home later, he found his sketchpad and colored pencils and went to work. Using photographs of his family, he drew until he felt satisfied with the results.

Then he showed his pictures to his family.

Dad stared at a drawing for a moment, then laughed.

“That’s me!” he exclaimed. “You’ve made my beard look like a huge bush, but that’s definitely me.”

“Look at that!” Mom laughed too. “That’s me. I never knew my glasses took up half of my face. And look at my lips! That’s great, Caleb.”

Last, Caleb showed his sister her picture. At first, she just stared, but then smiled. “I have to admit that’s pretty cool. You’ve exaggerated my eyes, and my teeth – wow.

You really got me, and it looks funny.”

“How did you learn to do caricatures?” Mom asked.

“By watching an artist at the fair,” Caleb replied. “I’ve always liked cartooning, and I really like this. I used your photographs as my models.”

“Would you draw my friends if they posed for you?” his sister asked.

“Sure,” Caleb answered. Then he smiled. I must be doing a good job as a caricaturist, he thought. After all, I already have my first customers lined up!

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Hey, Kids!

Now that you’ve read about how to draw cartoons, show us your own cartoon creations. Send

them in!

Also, send us your stories, photos, drawings, poems, and jokes & riddles for publication. We can’t wait to see what you send in!

EMAIL TO: kidscorner@funforkidz.com OR MAIL TO: Kids Corner, PO Box 227 Bluffton, OH 45817-0227

ATTENTION READERS!

Dear Ziggy, Hi! I’m Priyanka, and I’m in 4th grade. Our class is doing a play, and I have to learn lines. It will be fun but kind of scary! Keep up the good work on your magazines! I like math and puzzles, so I really liked your Numbers issue (May/June 2019). I like all my issues.

Well, bye for now, Priyanka Nayar

Dear Ziggy, I trained my dog to come to me when I clap my hands. Her name is Bitsy because she’s a little Yorkshire terrier.

Other than that, she just likes to play!

I am 9 and I love Fun For Kidz!!

See ya later!

Deborah Michalski

Write to Ziggy, the Fun For Kidz dog. You see him on every cover of the magazine. He is the “Z” in Fun For Kidz. Ziggy has ears, eyes, a nose, a mustache over his mouth, and a tail. If you write to Ziggy, he will write back to you! Send letters to: Fun For Kidz Attn. Ziggy PO Box 227 Bluffton, OH 45817-0227

Dear Ziggy, My family has 2 dogs and a cat. We had to train our dogs not to scratch on the door because they were always scratching. We used treats, just like in the Animal Training issue (Nov./Dec. 2019).

For Halloween, I’m going to be a pirate or a firefighter. We went on a hayride and we also went to my friend’s house and hiked in the woods and saw all kinds of animals. It was great.

Your friend, Smith Walters

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Puzzle Solutions Cartoon Character Word Search on page 13

W O O D S T O C K I B M A B

O I R R A N P I G L E T U U

O H N E F I O Y F O O G A L

D R Y N M O S O T E S O E L

Y A E W I L L Y P B C L L W

O K L P A E E I U Y H R K I

G N R E M W T N I V L A C N

I Y I O E U N H E C K L E K

B O E D P Y H J E R R Y J L

E Y O U E L R T O P C A T E

A I F K H D U M B O O S C T

R S C F V M O T E I U O L E

W I U K A N G A O G A R H R

Fun with Fractions on page 12

M A R M A D U K E I N N I M

What are some cartoons that are drawn for newspapers called?

COMIC STRIPS

Cartoons Sudoku on page 12

O S C A O N R T

N O A R S O T C

O C R T O S N A

S N T O C R A O

R T O N A O C S

C A O S N T O R

A R N O T C S O

T O S C R A O N

Where’s My Pencil? on page 12

Answer: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER? A-Maze-ing Cartooning on page 13

A cartooning message:

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CARTOONS ARE IN BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, TELEVISION, MOVIES, AND MORE.

Photo Credits: ©lightfieldstudios/123RF.COM 3; Colored pencils: ©devmarya/123RF.COM 6; Photos courtesy of Children’s Creativity Museum 9; Images courtesy of the Charles M. Schultz Museum and Research Center, Santa Rosa, California 14.

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V i s i t U s O n l i n e ! F a c e b o o k . c o m / F u n F o r K i d z • w w w. F u n F o r K i d z . c o m Vol. 19 No. 1 • JAN/FEB 2020 Publisher: Thomas M. Edwards Editor: Marilyn Edwards Associate Editor: Diane Winebar Graphic Design: Gaurakisora Tucker Marketing Director: Jonathan Edwards

FUN FOR KIDZ (ISSN 1536-898X) is published bi-monthly by the Bluffton News Publishing and Printing Company, P.O. Box 227, 101 N. Main St., Bluffton, OH 45817-0227.

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Co. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be Science Illustrator: Alan Wassilak reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Attention Readers: Send in your letters, short stories, Riding ... with Max & Gracie Editor: Lisa Rehfuss FUN FOR KIDZ™, and the FUN FOR KIDZ logo™, are trademarks poems, jokes & riddles, and drawings for publication. Send to: of FUN FOR KIDZ, The Bluffton News Publishing and Printing Co. Kids Corner, PO Box 227, Bluffton, OH 45817.

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