Drawing Words & Writing Pictures is a textbook that lays out systematic course teaching the alchemical art of combining words and pictures to make comics. In it, we 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.
Written at a college level for use in organized courses or for independent study, the DWWP method foregrounds visual and structural storytelling, with frequent dips into the nuts and bolts of actually getting ideas on paper, including thumbnailing, penciling, lettering, and inking with both a nib and a brush. Students will also learn principles such as composition as it applies to the panel and the page.
Unlike existing instructional books devoted to comics, which lack both concrete exercises and progress markers, this is a true textbook that has a cumulative and carefully systematized methodology. Each of the fifteen chapters focuses on a particular aspect of comics and comes complete with homework, extra credit activities and supplementary reading suggestions. Illustrated extensively by the authors and with numerous examples of international masters of the medium, DWWP provides a comprehensive introduction to the form that will give students the tools to create their own works in this art on the rise.
The ideas and methods taught in DWWP apply equally to all kinds of long-form graphic narrative: whether one page to a thousand, whether superheroes, manga, memoir, or any other narrative approach. The authors do not discriminate based on style or story content. These tools will serve all.
Additional resources for students and teachers are available on the accompanying website, DW-WP.com.