I am a seasoned professional graphic designer/illustrator and I sometimes give private art lessons on the side. I give every student a copy of this book, as it is kid-friendly (no nudes and lots of cool characters to keep kids interested) and gives a really solid overall explanation of universal drawing fundamentals.

This is the best book I've found for sharing the basics of drawing and design with kids and big kids. I'm about to buy another copy to give someone.

It is really a pleasure to come across this book online. I bought it maybe thirty years ago, when I was a preteen, and was developing a serious interest in design. Without a doubt, much of it is dated; particularly since so much of what the book describes can be done on a computer, and quickly. However, in doing graphic design work/illustration, I have often fallen back on the basic principles communicated in the book-e.g. its cues on how to render the human body. Subsequently, I think that it's an excellent primer, and will provide you with a great foundation on how to illustrate.

I received this book over 20 years ago, and I can't begin to tell you how it ignited a fire within me to draw. This is a great book for those who wish to draw superhoroes, but don't have a clue where to start. There are very few books that we remember as we age, but for me this is one of them.

Just thought worth mentioning about this book is John Buscema as an artist. The best thing about this book are his drawings. You can look at his drawings for minutes and just derive pleasure from them.

That provides for inspiration; just gawking at Buscema's illustrations makes it click. Since no-one else seems to have noticed that he 's actually a highly, highly talented artist I decided to fill that gap. I think he's drawings are much more beautiful than many other's of today are. More could be said about his style. Such as the balance and expression and the flow in the drawings are amazing. Even when simple the taste is stunning.


As far as the textual content goes, well, Stan Lee's writing style is corny and seems directed toward 5 year olds, or younger. But nevertheless he writes in sync to the adjacent illustrations and is just corny, and are not nonsensensical. It's just something about the writing style in particular that can be kind of silly (no offense).


This book, due to John Buscema having made the illustrations, is worthy of having since they alone can provide for needed inspiration. Many other areas missing such as topic depth and detailed explanations, John Buscema's drawings make up for it since you buy the book because you want to learn to draw and that begins with inspiration.

In the end, all these things, as far as learning something goes, are quite meaningless. In the end, only when you actually know what you're doing will you understand what they all actually meant. Practice is what leads to result, and inspiration is the fuel for it, and Buscema provides that. (Lee too, albeit somewhat 'corny').