Independent British author, publisher comic creator David Hailwood recently launched his last “How To Draw” book of the year on Amazon, How To Draw Cartoon Characters For Creative Kids: Gamers Edition, released through his imprint, Biomekazoik Press.
Following simple step-by-step instructions, the book offers the means for children to learn how to draw a vast range of fun and quirky characters, from a variety of popular gaming genres.
Once they’ve finished learning the basics, a ‘Create Your Own Comic’ section awaits them, ready to be filled to the brim with their crazy creations!
And if they’re feeling adventurous, there’s half a dozen ‘Roll and Draw’ activities in the rear of the book, along with a full ‘Board Horde’ fantasy board game to keep them entertained.
Since it’s the “Gamers Edition”, How To Draw Cartoon Characters For Creative Kids: Gamers Edition also contains a special Board Horde board game, loosely based on a computer game he created about a decade ago, cut out, create and play.
Lead a team of valiant heroes through a dungeon filled with traps and monsters, and beat your opponents to the exit in this 2-3 player competitive dice rolling dungeon crawler.
As well as the board game and half a dozen unique ‘Roll and Draw’ adventures, there’s over 100 characters inspired by various gaming genres to draw, such as Kung ‘Thulhu, Quickdraw McCoo, and the Skunk Punk.
“For the benefit of those folk who don’t fancy cutting up the How To Draw book to get at the board game, I’ve added a free ‘Print And Play’ version to my website,” Dave says.
He’s also made the entire board game available as a 3D printable version, “which has been a somewhat exhausting endeavour!”
“Please bear in mind that I’m very new to 3D printing, so they won’t be perfect (some of the modular board pieces are too loose in some places and too tight in others, for example),” he cautions – but I’m in awe of his experimenting!
All models were designed using Blender, a free 3D program, and can be downloaded as zip files from the Board Games page on David’s official web site at davidhailwood.com/board-games.
David Hailwood was raised in a somewhat surreal youth hostel on the south coast of England, where it was perfectly commonplace for hordes of swarthy Vikings in full battle regalia to charge upon the premises, without having booked a reservation first.
Over the past twenty years his brain matter has leaked onto the pages of over 30 different comic publications, including Egmont’s best selling children’s comic Toxic and his own, brilliant digital comic, 100% Biodegradable, and his kids comic title, Hotchpotch. He has written comedy material for ITV and E4, and been shortlisted for two BBC sitcom writing competitions.
• How To Draw Cartoon Characters For Creative Kids: Gamers Edition is available here on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• David is online at davidhailwood.com
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Books, British Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Games, Other Worlds