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foggy_rosamund's review
3.0
Lynda Barry makes you feel as though you can draw anything. Her pages ideas are imaginative and freeing, and she makes me escape the mindset that I have to create a "good" drawing, and instead lets me work freely in the moment. Her ethos -- to encourage everyone to draw -- is so encouraging, and I really like her openness to all kinds of drawing: by kids, adults' doodles and scribbles, brief sketches and careful designs. However, I found I stalled when I got to the central section of the book, where the exercises veer more towards writing comics in the form of memoir. I found the exercises less inspiring and more relentless. Barry has a tendency to push you: to use bad tools such as cheap oil crayons so that you will have to labour for hours over a single drawing; to spend huge chunks of time using a cheap pen to create shadow when you could just use a thicker pen; to work every day no matter what. Her approach began to feel constraining and lacking in flexibility.
Another aspect of this book that frustrated me is that there are many exercises that require you to work with a class full of people, but obviously I'm not IN a class, and I don't understand why she didn't adapt them when she's not teaching a group.I was also a bit put-off by the absences policy she lists at the beginning of the book: that if you miss three of her classes, you're out. I would never have made it through her class if I was a student with her, and that makes me feel bad.
All that being said, this is a positive, imaginative book. It's fun to look at, very open, and full of great ideas. It made me excited about drawing, and was a good companion during lockdown. I may return to it.
Another aspect of this book that frustrated me is that there are many exercises that require you to work with a class full of people, but obviously I'm not IN a class, and I don't understand why she didn't adapt them when she's not teaching a group.I was also a bit put-off by the absences policy she lists at the beginning of the book: that if you miss three of her classes, you're out. I would never have made it through her class if I was a student with her, and that makes me feel bad.
All that being said, this is a positive, imaginative book. It's fun to look at, very open, and full of great ideas. It made me excited about drawing, and was a good companion during lockdown. I may return to it.
panelparty's review
5.0
One of the best books I've ever read about creativity, art, comics, etc. Got it from the library and immediately ordered my own copy - I'll be coming back to this for years to come.
rebekah_nobody's review
5.0
"There was a time when drawing and writing were not separated for you..."
An unconventional, experiential exploration of authentic (personalized, generative) semiotics.
Should replace many books on literacy theory in education programs.
An unconventional, experiential exploration of authentic (personalized, generative) semiotics.
Should replace many books on literacy theory in education programs.
author_kathy_l_brown's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
This book is non fiction, a how to on making comics and tapping your own creative well. Also, get over your fear of drawing.
thunderdone's review
3.0
Helpful to a point. Much more focused on the craft of getting out of your head when drawing than crafting a story and theory of comics.
emilystrybos's review
slow-paced
4.0
I read this for a comics and graphic media class as an introduction to the process of drawing comics. Lynda uses her own personal experiences with comics as well as many different drawing exercises to teach that everyone can draw, no matter their ability. She is similar to ratatouille in that way, "Anyone can cook" becomes "Anyone can draw"
nickfourtimes's review
4.0
1) "how old do you have to be to make a bad drawing?"
2) "Structure and plot have a spontaneous core that is too easily forgotten when we believe we must know what we are drawing before we can begin. If you open the way for them, monsters will surprise you and this is a reason to draw them. One of the hardest things to remember is to keep certain doors open to unknowns. When you are lost, there draw monsters."
3) "If I asked you which character was drunk, who would you choose? Who just got fired? Who is feeling bloated? Who is experiencing painful urination? How can such specific mood-states show up in faces made by eight different hands? No one intended to make any of these people, yet here they are with specific dispositions. Who creates a comic? The person who draws it or the person who sees it?"
4) "Changing methods every week will make this daily practice a companion. In the way certain friends make you see the world in a different way, and the way certain companions make the world more alive, the daily diary will wake you up."
5) "It can be helpful to build a story in fragments that tend to knit their own connections.
When you read your story over you may be surprised by things that seem to link up with no conscious intention on your part.
This is an alternative to the method of outlining a story, planning our characters' actions, and knowing the ending before we begin.
It doesn't matter how great the plot is, if the only thing moving it forward is logic and duty to the outline, deadness sets in.
Stay alive!"
6) "Everything good in my life came because I drew a picture. I hope you will draw a picture soon. I will always want to see it.
XOX
LB♥"
2) "Structure and plot have a spontaneous core that is too easily forgotten when we believe we must know what we are drawing before we can begin. If you open the way for them, monsters will surprise you and this is a reason to draw them. One of the hardest things to remember is to keep certain doors open to unknowns. When you are lost, there draw monsters."
3) "If I asked you which character was drunk, who would you choose? Who just got fired? Who is feeling bloated? Who is experiencing painful urination? How can such specific mood-states show up in faces made by eight different hands? No one intended to make any of these people, yet here they are with specific dispositions. Who creates a comic? The person who draws it or the person who sees it?"
4) "Changing methods every week will make this daily practice a companion. In the way certain friends make you see the world in a different way, and the way certain companions make the world more alive, the daily diary will wake you up."
5) "It can be helpful to build a story in fragments that tend to knit their own connections.
When you read your story over you may be surprised by things that seem to link up with no conscious intention on your part.
This is an alternative to the method of outlining a story, planning our characters' actions, and knowing the ending before we begin.
It doesn't matter how great the plot is, if the only thing moving it forward is logic and duty to the outline, deadness sets in.
Stay alive!"
6) "Everything good in my life came because I drew a picture. I hope you will draw a picture soon. I will always want to see it.
XOX
LB♥"