How to Draw Cartoons the "Old-School Way" by animator Bill Nolan

Another one to file under, "How in the world did I miss this?" Our pals at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive scanned in this 24-page "how-to-draw" book by animation pioneer William C. Nolan.

ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive: Media: Bill Nolan's Cartooning Self Taught

I just love the giant hands on all these characters, reminding me of Bud Fisher's Mutt& Jeff, Elzie C. Segar's Thimble Theater (Popeye) and George Herriman's Stumble Inn. It's kinda strange how different decades have different cartooning styles. I wouldn't mind at all if this old-timey "bigfoot" style started to make a comeback!


This book is a quick survey of the most basic building blocks of how to draw cartoon characters: There are different mini lessons on how to draw the head, hands, feet, full figures, action poses, animals and kids. Like a lot of books of this type, it doesn't go into great detail, but it's fun for what it is! It looks like all the text from the book has been re-typed in captions underneath the scans, which makes it a lot easier to read than scanned type. Thanks, Steve!

You can check out the whole set of scans over at the AHAA. They're unfortunately not very big scans, but if you're ever in the Burbank area, the Archive is open to the public on Tuesdays thru Fridays. When you arrive, just ask Stephen Worth and I'm sure he'll let you page thru the entire thing!

ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive: Media: Bill Nolan's Cartooning Self Taught