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A review by bookishadvocate
Making Comics by Lynda Barry
5.0
This is such a unique book, and it would make a great coffee table read and/or conversation starter.
I learned about it while listening to an interview with the author on an episode of Debbie Millman's Design Matters podcast. I had heard of her before but I didn't know her work or anything about her. The way she talked about her passion for drawing made me immediately want to pick the book up from my local library. The entire book is hand drawn and written in a composition book, and it's basically the comics college course she teaches step by step. It starts with a list of supplies, each activity builds onto the previous one, and by the end of the book, readers should have their own comp books full of drawings along with tons of resources and a "comics kit" to keep going after finishing.
I was very artistic as a kid and loved to draw, but like many others I gave it up after I was told enough times that art would never get me anywhere. If you're reading this, please don't do that to your kids. Lynda Barry is proof that it isn't true, and we need more artists in the world. Anyway, I've contemplated getting back into drawing for years, and this book was just the motivation I needed. I'm going to pick up supplies and start over again following along with the activities. I'll update this whether I succeed or not, but I highly recommend this book for folks of all ages, especially those who once loved art but have since "grown" out of it. Listen to the podcast episode too if you have time.
The only thing I didn't like about this book was that so many of the characters had cigarettes and booze and that one of them was labeled a meth head. As someone with lived experience of addiction, it rubbed me the wrong way. We need to remember that these are human beings (this particular drawing was based on a real person the author witnessed on a walk), and labeling them as anything else contributes to dehumanization and puts up barriers for compassion.
Thanks for reading!
I learned about it while listening to an interview with the author on an episode of Debbie Millman's Design Matters podcast. I had heard of her before but I didn't know her work or anything about her. The way she talked about her passion for drawing made me immediately want to pick the book up from my local library. The entire book is hand drawn and written in a composition book, and it's basically the comics college course she teaches step by step. It starts with a list of supplies, each activity builds onto the previous one, and by the end of the book, readers should have their own comp books full of drawings along with tons of resources and a "comics kit" to keep going after finishing.
I was very artistic as a kid and loved to draw, but like many others I gave it up after I was told enough times that art would never get me anywhere. If you're reading this, please don't do that to your kids. Lynda Barry is proof that it isn't true, and we need more artists in the world. Anyway, I've contemplated getting back into drawing for years, and this book was just the motivation I needed. I'm going to pick up supplies and start over again following along with the activities. I'll update this whether I succeed or not, but I highly recommend this book for folks of all ages, especially those who once loved art but have since "grown" out of it. Listen to the podcast episode too if you have time.
The only thing I didn't like about this book was that so many of the characters had cigarettes and booze and that one of them was labeled a meth head. As someone with lived experience of addiction, it rubbed me the wrong way. We need to remember that these are human beings (this particular drawing was based on a real person the author witnessed on a walk), and labeling them as anything else contributes to dehumanization and puts up barriers for compassion.
Thanks for reading!