My pitch for Mastering Comics

On May 8, 2012, our new textbook, Mastering Comics, went on sale. I hope you'll pick up a copy and tell your friends, your teachers, and your local library to pick it up as well.

This monster's been a long time coming and it was a lot harder to do than DW&WP. The first book was a massive task as well but we knew exactly what we were doing for most of it: we knew we had a durable framework and sequence in which to present all the fundamentals of making comics. With Mastering Comics it wasn't simply a matter of continuing in the same direction—even though we do build on the first book with more on inking and composition as well as a lot of new technical skills ranging from linear perspective to coloring.

Instead, with this advanced book we also wanted to address a higher order of learning, the process of taking basic skills you've mastered and starting to figure out what you want to do with them. When you get into that territory there are few straightforward or easy answers. And when you talk about future ambitions that further splits into different categories: your creative goals, your goals to make a living as an artist (or not), finding your place in the vast and ever-expanding world of paper and digital publishing. It was a real challenge to organize all of these threads into a coherent structure.

I've come out of this project blinking at the bright sunlight, a little dazed and disoriented, a little unsure of how well this whole thing fits together. So I am extremely appreciative of the people who've taken time to comment to me so far both on line and in person, and I'm both relieved and thrilled that your initial reactions have been so positive. It bodes well for Mastering Comics but also for DW&WP and our website, both of which we are hoping will see some renewed interest and activity now.

If you're a fan of our work we hope you'll help us spread the word and get these books into more schools. We've had great anecdotal response from teachers and students over the last few years and we have been adopted at a few schools but there is a long way to go and a lot of work to be done. We designed these books for the long haul: For individual artists and fans they are an essential desk reference to pull of the shelf and consult regularly; for schools and libraries our ambition is even higher: we have created these tools as a readymade (but dynamic) combination of syllabus, lesson plan, textbook and classroom material. Comics are still finding their foothold in schools (and in library and museum programming) and the recession certainly hasn't helped matters these recent years. Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering Comics can play a big role in establishing the serious study of comics and visual storytelling.

I don't generally like to hawk my wares so baldly but the time is right to give this whole enterprise a big push and Jessica and I need your help to make it happen. Thanks for all your support, everyone.

(all images from Mastering Comics)