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Rating: 
Summary: Look Elsewhere
Review: I wrote a review of this book a while back, but Amazon opted not to print it, apparently because it wasn't permissible to comment about the author him/herself but only the material. (Amazon was a lot more uptight then.) However, when an author is unqualified to write a book, this becomes pertinent information to potential buyers.Aspiring cartoonists should know that Gautier is a cartooning HOBBYIST and not a "career cartoonist." He earned a living as an actor, playing, among other things, "Hymie" the robot on the old series "Get Smart." He may have had a cartoon published here and there (he never says, but my guess would be no), but he didn't write cartoons for a living, nor could he, with his limited talent, have ever come close to doing so. Would you buy a book called "How to Earn $1,000,000 in Five Years" by someone who earned 30 grand a year? It's the same thing here. Gautier frequently cites as examples his own cartoons, which are horrible. He draws better than the average guy off the street, but his captions are unthinkably bad and serve EXTREMELY poorly in a how-to capacity. Example: 1) A cockroach and a rat are eating dinner. The rat says, "I feel I was destined for the finer things in life." 2) The two are shown chewing. 3) The cockroach says, "Shut up and eat your garbage." Please... you wouldn't even give this a "pity laugh" if your mother drew it! The other cartoons he includes are as bad is his, if such a thing is possible. Example: a a self-portrait of an strikingly unattractive cartoonist in a bunny suit with the caption "Bustering with pride!" Valuable information concerning what format various kinds of work should be in when sent to different publishers is absent. The information regarding selling your material is outdated and can today be easily accessed via the Internet, although of course this is no fault of Gautier's. The book gets two stars because it does contain some useful information about artist's materials. Other than that, it's a bomb. Nothing against you personally, Dick. I loved "Get Smart." But your cartooning steeee-eeenks. (And yes, I bought the book, so how smart does that make me?)
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