About our textbooks

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures

The textbook Drawing Words & Writing Pictures lays out systematic course teaching the alchemical art of combining words and pictures to make comics. In it, authors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden have laid out a complete, structured syllabus that guides students from creating narrative within a single drawing to orchestrating all the skills involved in creating a multi-page, complex story.

  • learn to exploit word-image juxtaposition
  • explore panel transitions
  • overcome penciling obstacles
  • master the fundamentals of story structure
  • lay out comics pages clearly and quickly
  • apply principles of composition to your work
  • letter dialogue and narration and design titles
  • create compelling characters
  • learn to ink with a brush and a nib pen
  • develop convincing visual environments

Buy it online or at your local bookstore.

You can find out more about Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by going to the Drawing Words & Writing Pictures Page.

Mastering Comics

Mastering Comics, the companion book to Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, came out in May 2012. Like the first volume, it weaves together a number of inter-related streams. These include:

  • creating and developing stories
  • coloring, both by hand and using the computer
  • expanding your inking palette–incuding digital inking
  • perspective basics: both linear perspective and other systems
  • reviewing topics and techniques from volume one and taking them deeper
  • making and publishing webcomics
  • getting your work published, from agents to promotions

Mastering Comics can be purchased directly from us or from your favorite vendor via this link.

You can find out more about Mastering Comics by going to the Mastering Comics Page.