Join Our FREE Lynda Barry Making Comics Read-Along Workgroup!
Join our free workgroup!
Starts: May 11th 2026
Do you want to create fresh and original comics full of your unique voice, but find yourself stopped by your inner critic? Do you want to be less precious about your work and learn to see the charm in your doodles so you can preserve that magic as you develop a story?Let’s learn to enjoy drawing like a child again! We’ve started a Discord group to read through and tackle the exercises in Lynda Barry’s fantastic book, Making Comics, and we’d love for you to join us.
What to Expect
This is a low-pressure read-along. We’ll read the assigned pages, tackle the drawing exercises, share our doodles in the designated Discord channel, and cheer each other on.
What You’ll Need
- The Book: It’s completely free to join the group, but you will need to purchase or borrow your own copy of Making Comics by Lynda Barry, as we can’t share copyrighted material. The physical book is an amazing, inspiring object in itself, packed with brilliant visual explanations.
- Basic Supplies: A composition notebook, some paper, and one water-soluble black pen and one waterproof black pen.
- Zero Drawing Skills: Seriously! This book is all about silencing your inner critic and embracing the messy, fun process. No formal art experience required.
The Schedule
We will be following a modified version of the weekly schedule created by Illustrated Life.
Week 1
Read: Up to and including page 52
Exercises:
Page 44: 20 mins
(exercises: 20 mins)
Week 2
Read: Up to and including page 60
Exercises:
Page 54: 10 mins
Page 56: 5 mins
(exercises: 15 mins)
Week 3
Read: Up to and including page 67
Exercises:
Page 60: 15 mins
Page 63: 20 mins
Page 65: 25 mins
(exercises: 60 mins)
Week 4
Read: Up to and including page 75
Exercises:
Page 69: 10 mins
It is a good idea to do the daily diary exercise on pages 72-75, but *we don't share those pages!* We don't share personal information on this server, and you have to be free to write a diary without having to be anxious about having to show it to others.
(exercises: 10 mins)
Week 5
Read: Up to and including page 84
Exercises:
Page 76: 20 mins
Page 78: 10 mins
Page 79: 20 mins (we don't share personal information in daily diary pages!)
Page 82: 20 mins
Page 83: (optional) 4 hours
(exercises: 70 mins)
Week 6
Read: Up to and including page 102
Exercises:
Page 85: 15 mins
Page 91: (optional) 90 mins
Page 92: 20 mins (adding solid blacks optional)
(exercises: 35 mins)
Week 7
Read: Up to and including page 113
Exercises:
Page 104: 30 mins
Page 107: diary pages (don't share)
Page 110: SKIPPING reading our diaries aloud (no sharing of personal info)
(exercises: 30 mins)
Week 8
Read: Up to and including page 120
Exercises:
Page 114: 30 mins
Page 119: 45 mins
(exercises: 75 mins)
Week 9
Read: Up to and including page 123
Exercises:
Page 121: 90 mins
(exercises: 90 mins)
Week 10
Read: Up to and including page 128
Exercises:
Page 124: 75 mins
Page 125: diary (do, but don't share)
Page 126: diary (do, but don't share)
Page 128: 20 mins
(exercises: 95 mins)
Week 11
Read: Up to and including page 131
Exercises:
Page 129: 30 mins
Page 130: 20 mins
(exercises: 30 mins)
Week 12
Read: Up to and including page 136
Exercises:
These are (daily) diaries only, so do them, but don't share them.
(exercises: 0 mins)
Week 13
Read: Up to and including page 139
Exercises:
Page 138: 60 minutes
(exercises: 60 mins)
Week 14
Read: Up to and including page 143
Exercises:
Page 140: 20 mins
Page 143: 75 mins
(exercises: 95 mins)
Week 15
Read: Up to and including page 153
Exercises:
Page 144: diary pages (do, but don't share)
Page 152: 30 mins
(exercises: 30 mins)
Week 16
Read: Up to and including page 161
Exercises:
Page 156: 60 mins
(exercises: 60 mins)
Week 17
Read: Up to and including 164
Exercises:
Page 162: 60 mins
(exercises: 60 mins)
Week 18 and later
Read: Up to the end of the book
These are the pages where we tell stories, make comics. I don't think we should put time limits on them.
Available Tools
Practice Drawing This is filled with tools, and I found myself creating custom ones for this workgroup.
I create an art prompt generator that generates prompts that are similar to the ones on page 47 in the book. You can find it here:
On pages 77 and up, there are a few drawing exercises where you have to draw the same thing, but faster and faster. This is a timer that lets you do that easily. Just define the times as a comma-separated list, and press start, and there will be a beep each time you need to move to the next one.
How to Join
Ready to silence your inner critic? Click on the button below to join our Discord server, then look for the # lynda-barry-making-comics-discussion channel under the Lynda Barry Making Comics Read-Along Workgroup section to say hello and request the 'Making Comics' role so you can post and share your art in the private channel.
Yours sincerely,
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