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Welcome to the new Drawing Words & Writing Pictures

Matt and I are proud to launch this new, improved version of the Drawing Words & Writing Pictures website. In the two years since the book first came out, we’ve traveled and lectured extensively, and the most consistent question we’ve been faced with is how to use this material for teaching reading and writing comics in a non-art class context. Here, we hope to begin to address that need. We intend to post lesson plans regularly, starting with some quick exercises and reports from us and guest bloggers on comics teaching in action. Soon we will introduce full lesson plans for teaching subjects like comics reading at a number of levels, using comics in the context of teaching other subjects, and using comics creative writing (and drawing) as part of a larger creative curriculum. All of these materials will be organized and easily accessible via the Teaching Resources section.

Until recently, our teaching and our textbook (also called Drawing Words & Writing Pictures) have been primarily aimed at teaching people how to draw comics and tell stories. And we will continue to address students who make comics by posting new activities, tutorials, and links about making comics. We also want to invite in anyone who wants to think more critically about how comics work–in other words, even if you have no plans to make or teach comics, you will find plenty on insights here that will enhance your appreciation for the medium.

Please take a few minutes to explore the new site. Whether you are a student or teacher you will find a trove of material to enhance your learning experience with Drawing Words & Writing Pictures. We’ll be reminding  you of some of the special features here on the blog and we’ll also be adding more new resources regularly.

We hope you’ll come back often and check out new content regularly—better yet, put us on your feed or follow us on Twitter.

We look forward to building a community of comics teachers and learners with your help.

Jessica Abel and Matt Madden

Comments

7 Comments to Welcome to the new Drawing Words & Writing Pictures

  • by Torsten Adair

    On June 4, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    Looks great! Love the lesson plans, and eagerly await Volume Two!

  • by Jessica

    On June 4, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    Thanks, Torsten! Hope to continue posting activities and lesson plans weekly, at least.

  • by jahhdog

    On June 17, 2010 at 2:13 am

    Hi. I echo Torsten’s comment and love the ideas and exercises!

    The updates are helpful.

    I have volume one of your book and I am looking forward to volume two!

    ArrrOOooo!

  • by David

    On June 27, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Hi,
    First, congratulations on the new website! It’s very nice.
    I’ve just started the book now (which is really great by the way) and am looking for the sample work by other students (I’m a ronin) — is this still available on this new version of the site?
    many thanks,
    David

  • by Jessica

    On June 28, 2010 at 4:36 pm

    Yes, absolutely! Just look under the DWWP book one guide in the student union. We’ve got a lot of examples up there.

  • by David

    On June 28, 2010 at 10:05 pm

    Hi Jessica,
    That’s great — thanks a lot! I didn’t spot the link which is just a downward arrow. It could be worth adding a link to it from one of the related pages (e.g. the Faq on the book) for dummies like me who don’t spot it first time around — just a suggestion! Thanks again!
    kind regards,
    David

  • by Jessica

    On June 29, 2010 at 12:40 am

    Good idea–we’ll do that this week. Let us know how your ronin adventures go–

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