"A gold mine of essential information for every aspiring comics artist. Highly recommended." -Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics and Making Comics

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures is a course on comics creation — for college classes or for independent study — that centers on storytelling and concludes with making a finished comic. With chapters on lettering, story structure, and panel layout, the fifteen lessons offered — each complete with homework, extra credit activities, and supplementary reading suggestions — provide a solid introduction for people interested in making their own comics.

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures was created by comics superstars Jessica Abel and Matt Madden and based on their classes at the School of Visual Arts. Series editors of the Best American Comics series and creators of a number of groundbreaking works, including 99 Ways to Tell a Story (Matt Madden) and La Perdida (Jessica Abel), Abel and Madden are always at the forefront of the comics industry.

Jessica Abel

Winner of both the Harvey and Lulu Awards for Best New Talent in 1997, Jessica Abel is the author of Soundtrack and Mirror, Window, two comic collections culled from her comic book series, Artbabe. Her La Perdida (Pantheon, 2006) won the Harvey Award for Best New Series and was excerpted in 2006’s Best American Comics. She resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Matt Madden

Matt Madden is a comics creator and teacher at New York's School of Visual Arts. He is the creator of the graphic novels Black Candy, Odds Off, and A Fine Mess, and of the comics theory book 99 Ways to Tell a Story. He is the co-editor (with Jessica Abel) of the Best American Comics series. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.