The graphic novel "The Reformed" is a first. The other three fall in line with what the Westport resident has made his calling card: teaching others to cartoon and illustrate.
His books have sold more than 2.5 million copies and have been published in 18 languages. Due in May are "Cartooning: The Ultimate Character Design Book," "Manga Mania: Romance" and "Drawing the New Adventure Cartoons." They will become additions to a collection that offers instruction in anatomy, fantasy, animals and manga - Japanese print cartoons and comics that came to form after World War II.
In adulthood, Hart is providing the tools and instruction he wishes were more readily available when he was a child.
Hart was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Los Angeles (his father wrote for television), where he fell in love with animated Disney movies at the age of 13.
"Watching a Disney cartoon was as good, if not better, than Christmas morning to me," he says. "Nobody was coming out with any animated movies but Disney but I kept working and cartooningÉ Early MGM, Warner Bros. with Bugs Bunny, anything with good full-flowing animation was inspiring to me, but I didn't have a mentor."
Despite a friendly illustrating competition with a classmate, he didn't know where to seek guidance for his budding talent in the 1970s, a period he says was a low point for animation. He would approach studios where the heads would wonder why a young man was so interested in animation, and he attended night classes at a cartoonists' union when he became old enough to drive.
Sensing a lack of future opportunity in cartooning, Hart stopped drawing for 10 years to attend New York
University film school (1976-1980) and find work as a screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Showtime. "I was making a nice living, but it wasn't hitting the screen." As his aspirations in screenwriting began to wane, his interest in drawing picked up.
His first book, "How to Draw Cartoons for Comic Books" (1987) came about through a chance conversation with a friend who had a friend in publishing, etc. It sold more than 200,000 copies. Hart says there was a dearth of cartoon and comic instruction books at the time, even though the form itself was enjoying a surge in popularity and beginning to be viewed as serious art. (Hart says the shift to acceptability was cemented when Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for the graphic novel "Maus" in 1992).
Hart soon realized books like his filled a niche. And so did his publisher at the time.
"You would look at the book store at the art technique shelf. Like with music it used to be 'how to play classical.' All of a sudden it was 'how to play rock 'n' roll.' I didn't know if I was going to continue with this but a marketing person looked at my books and said, 'This is a series.' "
With more than 60 titles, there have been some highlights to his instructional books. He cites his "Manga Mania" series and "How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains" as extremely popular. At one point in the early part of this decade, he held the top three positions of best-selling art books as ranked by Nielsen Bookscan.
"I have an internal barometer. If I think something is very cool, chances are kids are going to, too."
In a way, comic art began its ascent to respectability and high art as the generations that grew up with the comic book and comic strips hit middle age.
"Certainly there's a lot of tough adult movies that have come from graphic novels," says Hart, citing "Sin City," "300" and "V for Vendetta." "But the collectors were also older and the stories had to reflect some sophistication, not just stories for 8-year-olds."
In Japan, manga have been read by people of all ages for decades. In 2000, the Japanese styles and techniques spiked in popularity. In the United States, Hart says, the average comic book reader is 30 and male. Manga boasts a readership in which 60 percent comprises girls between 12 and 16.
"The Reformed," the artist's first graphic novel, will be published by Del Rey Manga, a division of Random House, on May 27. The stories involve the vampire Giancarlo and his feelings for new love Jennifer. "He tries to give up his compulsions and finds it's a lot more difficult than he realized."
With 60 titles in less than 20 years, it's obvious Hart draws every day. Left-handed - common in the industry, he says - Hart likes to begin his work day at 6 a.m. and take a break in the early afternoon. When he is juggling multiple projects, he finds switching styles can be difficult. He and his wife - they have two teenage girls - moved to Westport 14 years ago after visiting friends in the state. His wife loved the area and Hart realized it positioned him close to New York, the center of the publishing world.
A market that he helped create in 1987 has become highly competitive. Today's aspiring artists and animators have resources he didn't, but the process of creating and breaking into the industry, he says, is the same.
"The answers are really easy but you don't know that until you get to them," he says. "Comic book conventions are huge right now. Comic book studios are developing new characters all the time and Hollywood is always hungry for new ideas. If something does well, they will repeat it."
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