Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond Author: Jessica Abel | Language: English | ISBN:
1596431318 | Format: PDF
Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond Description
"A gold mine of essential information for every aspiring comics artist. Highly recommended." --Scott McCloud
Drawing Words and Writing Pictures is a course on comic creation – for college classes or for independent study – that centers on storytelling and concludes with making a finished comic. With chapters on lettering, story structure, and panel layout, the fifteen lessons offered – each complete with homework, extra credit activities and supplementary reading suggestions – provide a solid introduction for people interested in making their own comics. Additional resources, lessons, and after-class help are available on the accompanying website, www.dw-wp.com.
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: First Second; First Edition edition (June 10, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1596431318
- ISBN-13: 978-1596431317
- Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 12.1 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I am a BIG fan of both Abel and Madden's work. I go to BOTH of their websites several times a month and "La Perdida" and "99 Ways To Tell A Story" are part of my collection of graphic novels.
This book is great for high school & college art teachers who want to teach sequential art to their classes. I believe the content is particularly suited for art majors that are interested in the finer points of visual narrative. And you can tailor your curriculum around the chapters if you so choose. If you want to use these for middle school kids I think simpler steps need to be added. I like the fact that people can form groups: "Nomads" OR go do it alone: "Ronins" and follow the lessons independently.
This book is NOT bad.
All the chapters and lessons are made to be studied in sequence and if you are an old timer to comic art you can easily skip to other chapters; which I did alot. A seasoned pro will probably go to the chapters that interest him/ her the most. One chapter that I REALLY like was called "Black Gold" the chapter on using and inking with a brush.
The other chapters on page layout, panel construction, character design,
facial features/ figure anatomy were VERY good.
My ONLY complaint was the layout of the book. My [web]comic artist collegues & I felt there was TOO much white space waisted on each page, the typeface was too small and that neon orange color used throughout the book distracting. It was hard to read and strained the eyes.
Plus being a webcomic artist myself I wanted to see MORE about using the computer for making comics. It covered scanning, re-sizing, adjusting your line art in PhotoShop, etc. The chapter on lettering was good; but they tended to downplay the use of COMPUTER LETTERING.
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