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Parent and Teacher Resources
As a parent who has done some teaching and has been around educators most of my life, I have always been very mindful of the positive impacts that reading and making comics can have on us at any age. For children I think the main benefits include literacy skills (for both text and artwork), stimulating the imagination, and even providing positive modeling for difficult situations. A perfect example of these qualities would be the best-selling books of Raina Telgemeier, who has written and drawn autobiographical graphic novels about very relatable problems like getting braces, having a sibling, and friend group dynamics.
Zines have the added benefit of being something that anyone (including kids) can make easily themselves, with nothing but printer paper and a pencil if need be. I started making zines myself at about the age of 15 as part of a thing called an Amateur Press Association - in those pre-internet days it opened my eyes to new friends and fandoms and encouraged me to explore making all kinds of art.
When I get more time I will organize some information here for you in a more organized way but in the meantime here are some links to get you started:
- 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.
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.