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Creator Resources

Not sure where to start? I think the following books are essential for every cartoonist’s library:

• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud – an essential overview of the comics and how they work.
• Making Comics by Scott McCloud – how to tell stories using words and pictures, and the creative choices that involves.
• Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner – one of the masters of comics explains his inventive approach.
• The Elements of Style by Strunk and White – a classic guide to writing well.
• On Writing by Stephen King – very practical advice for those who want to become writers or improve their work.
• The Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing by Dave Sim – quite useful for general art and writing advice, and for print publishing and distribution.
• How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Romita - a bit dated, but some good advice on setting up a traditional studio and workflow.
• Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth; good fundamentals of figure drawing.
• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
• The Art of Comic Book Inking by Gary Martin
• Die Empty by Todd Henry, great book about staying productive.
• The Graphic Artist’s Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. Extremely useful for anyone who wants to know what to charge for their artwork and how to conduct oneself as a freelancer, even if you don’t plan on being one.

How to Draw Comics the Marshall Way was my comics advice tumblr, where I reblogged a bunch of useful posts on various parts of the comics making process, and also posted a couple of still reasonably useful pages on how to get started making comics and so on. If you don't want to scroll through a bunch of old posts try searching the site for keywords like "drawing" or "inking". The Instant Comic Book is a blank comic zine that you can print out, copy, and give to kids (or use yourself) to make your own comics.