what is wrong with christopher hart?

[Ghast]

This thread reminds me when bunch of artists had to explain why buying this book

wouldn't be a good investment considering artistic growth, even if the book had "helped" someone by enabling them to copy the images in the book. Good times.

I hate to admit that this was the first art book I ever bought waaaaaaay back in 5th grade lol good memories tho...however its kind of painful to look at my art from way back when

[hitnrun]

I don't think I ever owned that particular book. Now my "library", as tiny as it is, consists of Bridgman, Sheppard, Gene Franks, and one or two others. If you'd see the small amount of books I have, you'd probably be shocked to see that I have one by Banksy. His stuff is mainly stencils as far as I know, but whenever I look at his work, I'm usually impressed by it. (Not that I'm for graffiti or anything, but still, good art is good art)

@ghast - It's painful for me to look at my art from a year ago, and to know that I will look back NEXT year on the art I do this year and think my stuff NOW sucks. I really should get some of the stuff I'm doing scanned (which isn't much actually), as well as finish off a few drawings and get them uploaded.

[Elwell]

It's painful for me to look at my art from a year ago, and to know that I will look back NEXT year on the art I do this year and think my stuff NOW sucks.

No, what would be painful is if it were the other way around.

[FourTonMantis]

This thread reminds me when bunch of artists had to explain why buying this book

wouldn't be a good investment considering artistic growth, even if the book had "helped" someone by enabling them to copy the images in the book. Good times.

Holy balls. Thanks for dragging that out of my repressed subconscious. The saddest part is checking out her Deviantart page and seeing she hasn't improved too much. :/

[donm]

Holy balls. Thanks for dragging that out of my repressed subconscious. The saddest part is checking out her Deviantart page and seeing she hasn't improved too much. :/

114,766 pageviews...

[QueenGwenevere]

Holy balls. Thanks for dragging that out of my repressed subconscious. The saddest part is checking out her Deviantart page and seeing she hasn't improved too much. :/

Right, I'm depressed now. I hate to say it, but I'm having flashbacks to this thread: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204079 Here we were being reprimanded for bitching unnecessarily about amateur hobbyists - and it turns out the amateurs are publishing how-to books. To teach other amateurs how to draw amateurishly. In ten easy steps.

'kay, I don't feel guilty for bitching a bit back there.

And the thought recurs............ What was Scholastic thinking!?

[TinyBird]

Holy balls. Thanks for dragging that out of my repressed subconscious. The saddest part is checking out her Deviantart page and seeing she hasn't improved too much. :/

Well, those seem to be from 2009 latest, so maybe maybe she actually has improv--no wait http://www.ktcoope.co.uk/2010/12/merry-christmas-2/
Yup, I'd say she hasn't improved much.
But wait! She doesn't have to improve, because she teaches animu!
http://www.ktcoope.co.uk/work/teaching/ and what better way stop improving than having hundreds of kids fawning over your awesome manga skillz.

[Izi]

I like Civardi's books as well. Couldn't learn everything from them but they're useful reference tools. Most of the books mentioned are trash. You don't "learn to draw anime" you learn to draw a straight line, and how light falls, what anatomy should measure up to. Then you can draw anything. Angle, value, chroma, hue, composition. these are the essentials...

[pixel cheetah]

Well, those seem to be from 2009 latest, so maybe maybe she actually has improv--no wait http://www.ktcoope.co.uk/2010/12/merry-christmas-2/
Yup, I'd say she hasn't improved much.
But wait! She doesn't have to improve, because she teaches animu!
http://www.ktcoope.co.uk/work/teaching/ and what better way stop improving than having hundreds of kids fawning over your awesome manga skillz.

You have to admit that she has to know something. I mean she had her book published at the age of 16!

[TinyBird]

You have to admit that she has to know something. I mean she had her book published at the age of 16!

Well, everyone in the world knows something, but someone publishing her crappy book in a desperate money-mongering haze doesn't mean she'd know something different or exceptional. I'm also guessing that she got most of these teaching jobs solely because of that book.
But it's very possible that she's a nice teacher.

[Beeston]

You have to admit that she has to know something. I mean she had her book published at the age of 16!

Maybe not the criteria to measure against in these circumstances. Gloria Tesch, anyone?

[megaten]

Holy balls. Thanks for dragging that out of my repressed subconscious. The saddest part is checking out her Deviantart page and seeing she hasn't improved too much. :/

That cave story pic is quite good.

[Vermis]

Pulled my Civardi books off the shelf for a fresh look, and I admit I was a bit too unfair in my last post. I still think Drawing the Clothed Figure could use a bit more instruction, though.

Gloria Tesch, anyone?

Erm... nope. No idea. Do I look at the official site, the TVtropes page, or the ED entry first?

[Sascha Thau]

^ What were the comic publishers thinking when they hired that guy to draw for them in the first place?

You are probably too young, but back in the day it was DA SHIZZ! Imagine you were your whole life exposed to Curt Swans 'Superman' and along comes *this*.

It was a totally new way of drawing comic books. It was new, full of 'details' (we thought that were details, in the end we were hooked on "lots of unnecessary and superficial lines") and all of it was very exciting.

Later on we came back to Curt Swan and really appreciated his work, but back then? Ouuuuweeehhyesssss, we had a hard-on for the new style from Liefeld, McFarlane and so on.

I can remember anxiously awaiting Crypt #1, drawn by Rob Liefeld. I was 16 at that time. People do strange things when they are younger.

[hitnrun]

And the thought recurs............ What was Scholastic thinking!?

They were thinking that there was, and still is a very large market for people who want to draw anime/manga (and want to learn it quickly, because anyone who can't draw will perceive the cover art as amazing and think "hey, that's f-in' awesome! 10 steps? Shit I CAN DO THAT!!"). Book publisher 1, consumer 0.

[Snakeygirl42]

If we knew that this whole thread and others could have been avoided.

I used to have a few Hart books in high-school, though to my dismay they were stolen. I guess it was God's work because it prompted me to get more books that were not by Hart.

From what I can tell looking back with better knowledge, he doesn't really teach you anything. In the book I still have "Cutting Edge Anatomy" he gives the most basic muscle diagrams that can be found online for free. The muscle diagrams are stylized and lack depth for the most part. Muscle groups are cleanly outlined which looks nice but doesn't convey information to the layman.

Bridgeman, while stylized, at least explains and shows WHY muscles form certain shapes and how they react to light. Bridgeman diagrams have weight and mass, Hart is full of hot air.

I agree. I bought a ton of Hart's books when I was younger (I'm not proud). His work ranges from average to below average. If you already have his books I wouldn't bother throwing them out because at minimum you might get a laugh and at most you might find something to learn from it, but I currently wouldn't go out of my way to buy them anymore. I found guide books that had multiple contributors that taught me more. Most of his work is similar to things you can find free online. I don't hate him but I no longer have any interest in his work for anything other than an occasional laugh. If you like his work then keep on liking it. I just think there is better stuff out there.

[JoeCowan]

...

It's been six years since this thread saw the light of day! But it was actually pretty funny so thanks for digging it up.

[Book Guru]

It's better later than never!
Omg, back in 2010-2014 I've spent hours and days trying to prove my point on similar threads... It's interesting to see that many people who were protecting Hart's books and accusing me in trolling are now rejecting them. If this goes on, one day we might finally have only real quality art books on the market.
Yet... I'm respecting all people opinions. So if someone still wants to live in illusions, let him be. )

[Rumexxx]

When I was a kid ( probably 10-12 years old?) I had his How to draw Manga Books. Of course when I look at it today ( I'm 22) I see that it's not great, but back then I would have never understood the likes of Loomis or Bridgman and I loved to draw the stuff from Harts books. I think it's not bad for children but today there are better How to draw books available even here in Germany.
But a professional artist wouldn't buy them either I guess