DC loves drawing cartoons - how to encourage?

[Growingboys]

Posting here for traffic. DD, 8, loves drawing cartoons - she makes her own comic books and spends hours doing them. They're really really good.

I found a Cartoon Museum in London but it's closed til 2019. She's done regular art lessons but isn't really interested in anything except drawing comic strips.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to develop her talent/passion? I can't find any courses or even 'how to draw cartoons' books for children, apart from Dogman books which she loves.

Random request but you never know!

My niece is now learning the techniques of animation,OP and, like your girl she was drawing cartoons at a similar age to yours, so I find your post interesting.She's just 16 now...Snag is that she lives in America! At school she's studying advanced biology which, if you think about it, she will need to be able to get figures to realistically move. Over there, during the summer holidays, colleges of art and design run holiday camps for youngsters wanting to learn all aspects of animation.(my niece got herself enrolled for a 6 day course at SCAD -South Carolina School of Art & Design.)
So, how can your daughter develop her interest? Certainly keep up with her art classes and I'd think you should be proactive on her behalf contacting any schools of art and design near to you to ask if they run any courses for juniors? Something to think about?
Good luck to her, OP.

Thank you so much aviator , that is so interesting to read. I am very unartistic so didn't know where to start, but the biology suggestion is a very good one, ditto looking out for art schools.

Thank you!

There are quite a few 'how to' cartoon books on Amazon. Also look on YouTube for suitable drawing tutorials to encourage her?

Usbourne does a "draw your own comics" book www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Draw-Your-Own-Comics/dp/1409564258?tag=mumsnetforum-21

The comic book artist Tom Armstrong was doing workshops in local libraries over the summer [https://activities.essex.gov.uk/Event/comic-creation-with-tom-armstrong-1635], I don't know if that is something he does a lot.

When I was Googling for the Tom Armstrong workshops (we didn't go in the end although I bought tickets as it clashed with something else) I also found this www.thecartoonacademy.co.uk/about/ and this uk.funzing.com/funz/comics-on-the-canal-workshop-for-children-11381

I take my children to comiccons where they can go to panel discussions, ask questions, get their portfolios reviewed as well as seeing how it can become a career. Quite a few artists are really supportive.

It's worth seeing if there is a comic artists club in local libraries. There is a manga one in Huddersfield.

Oh my gosh everyone, thank you so much! This is all so great! I would never have thought of any of this.

Lots to read and google while I'm pretending to work this morning, thank you so much!

My dd is a keen artist, and has definitely come on leaps and bounds from copying YouTube tutorials, (as well as attending an art club), and there are conventions to look out for at arenas. One of my friends took her kids to a manga one recently.

DD's just started doing a Drawing Bootcamp on jam.com. She's really enjoying some focus to her drawing, learning new techniques etc.

There are comic book conventions and maybe worth a look at a local independent comic book shop, they sometimes hold events.

There are a load of cartoon museums and centres in Europe - there's one in Paris called Art Ludique, the International Cartoon Museum in Anglouleme, and a Cartoon Centre in Brussels which focuses on the Franco-Belgian cartoons like the Smurfs, Tintin etc. Each one shows cartooning as a serious art form and business. Could be a fun half term trip?

Where are you based? I am in Leeds and there's a great comic/zine fair and festival type thing called Thought Bubble which is held every year. A friend of mines daughter who is around the same age as yours had a stall selling her zines this year and she did really well! Might be interesting for your dd to visit if you're up north?