Kapow!! Heroes! Draw Your Own Superheroes, Gadget Geeks, & Other Do-Gooders by Jay Stephens

Since before Superman first emerged from that handy telephone booth, kids have been fascinated with comic book and cartoon superheroes. Jay Stephens' Heroes!: Draw Your Own Superheroes, Gadget Geeks & Other Do-Gooders offers hooked-on-heroes artists simple instructions for creating their own superhero characters.

Stephens begins with a short list of drawing supplies, which include black ink pen, markers, colored pencils, and erasers as well as an optional scanner and computer software drawing program to get the apprentice cartoonist started. Stephens concentrates on the basic use of line, shape, and primary and secondary colors to teach the process of creating stylized cartoon heroes. He begins with a historical nod to the hero in cave drawings, Egyptian and Nordic mythological figures, and the first female-created superhero, Miss Fury. Then he's off to show and describe the techniques for drawing heads, masks, facial features, body parts, costumes and accessories, and action poses for a variety of hero types, male, female, and non-human.

Beginning with simple combinations of line drawings of shapes--ovals, quadrilaterals, circles and straight and curved lines, the author shows how simple changes in these constants can create an endless variety of characters. Both hand-applied and computer-generated color techniques are also treated in two brief sections, with some basic suggestions for the use of color to suggest character qualities and personality.

For a slightly younger readership than Lee J. Ames' top-notch Draw 50 series and easy enough for elementary kids with basic eye-hand coordination and reading skills, this book and its companion, Monsters!: Draw Your Own Mutants, Freaks & Creeps, will also appeal to middle schoolers and older cartoon fans and could be great go-to activities for rainy or too-hot-to-play summer days and long car or airplane trips.