Books like What It Is by Lynda Barry


*What It Is* offers a hands‑on, creative method that invites anyone with curiosity to explore writing and drawing. Through vivid full‑color panels, collage, and autobiographical passages, Lynda Barry demonstrates how ordinary experiences can be transformed into powerful artistic expressions. The book serves as both a tutorial and an inspirational companion, encouraging playful experimentation and easing creative blocks. The pages are filled with gentle prompts and questions—such as how objects summon memories or what real images feel like—inviting readers to connect words and pictures in new ways. Barry’s sincerity and humor appeal to anyone, especially those who once felt hesitant to draw again, providing a joyful path back to creative life.
First publish date: 2008
Genre: Arts & Culture/Fine Art
Authors: Lynda Barry
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.5 (2 community ratings)

What It Is by Lynda Barry

How are these books recommended?

The books recommended for What It Is by Lynda Barry are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.


Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.

Books similar to What It Is (22 similar books)

Steal like an artist by 11161966|Austin Kleon book cover

📘 Steal like an artist

Steal Like an Artist is a visually engaging guide that translates Austin Kleon’s viral lecture into actionable advice for writers, artists, designers, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to make things in the digital age.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 (42 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Amulet by 7331203|Kazu Kibuishi book cover

📘 Amulet

Kazu Kibuishi’s graphic novel follows siblings Emily and Navin as they discover a perilous, fantastical house filled with robots, mysterious plants, and talking animals after the loss of their father.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (36 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Bone by 8616514|Jeff Smith book cover

📘 Bone
 by Jeff Smith

Three Bone cousins—Fone, Phoney, and Smiley—are cast out of Boneville, wander a strange desert and forest valley, and eventually find refuge on Gran'Ma Ben’s farm, where hidden dangers await.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 (21 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The artist's way by 6412737|Julia Cameron book cover

📘 The artist's way

The Artist’s Way offers a practical, twelve‑week guide of creative exercises and reflective practices designed to help writers, musicians, painters and other artists unlock and sustain their creative potential.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.1 (15 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
My Friend Dahmer by 7272288|Derf Backderf book cover

📘 My Friend Dahmer

A graphic memoir that portrays high‑school friend Jeffrey Dahmer as a shy, alcohol‑using teen facing deep inner turmoil, offering a rare sympathetic view of the future serial killer.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.7 (13 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Jedi Academy by 6944522|Jeffrey Brown book cover

📘 Jedi Academy

Jedi Academy follows Roan as he enrolls in a secret Jedi school, learning Force skills under Master Yoda and discovering his hidden potential while navigating school life and adventure.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 (8 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Make Good Art by 9626864|Neil Gaiman book cover

📘 Make Good Art

Neil Gaiman’s 2012 commencement speech at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, urges students to embrace creativity, bravery, and rule‑breaking, encouraging them to "make good art." The book reproduces the full address, designed by Chip Kidd.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.8 (5 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
X-Men by 8683581|Warren Ellis book cover

📘 X-Men

A comprehensive eight-volume collection that compiles key X‑Men story arcs, from "Alpha" to "X-Man," featuring iconic characters, alternate‑universe battles, and behind‑the‑scenes excerpts from Apocalypse.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (4 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Syllabus by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 Syllabus

Syllabus traces Lynda Barry’s three‑year experiment developing a creative‑notebook course, offering her lesson plans, doodles, and watercolor insights to inspire writers of all backgrounds.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 (3 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Picture This by 11161450|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 Picture This

A practical guide to drawing and comic storytelling, “Picture This” invites readers to explore visual creativity with Lynda Barry’s beloved character Marlys and a new Near‑sighted Monkey, building on her acclaimed memoir‑how‑to style.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
My Perfect Life by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 My Perfect Life

A continuation of Lynda Barry's popular Ernie Pook series, focusing on Maybonne and Marlys's teenage struggles through vividly drawn lines.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Best American Comics 2008 by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 The Best American Comics 2008

A curated collection of 2008's finest American comics, featuring works by Chris Ware, Seth, Alison Bechdel, Paul Pope, Matt Groening, and many others, assembled by editors Lynda Barry, Jessica Abel, and Matt Madden.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Everything by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 Everything

A collection of Lynda Barry’s comic strips and illustrations from 1978‑1982, blending humor, adolescent angst, and intimate portrayals of dysfunctional families into a collage‑style graphic novel.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Everything in the World by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 Everything in the World

Lynda Barry's outrageous humor in cartoons about dating, men, friendship, parents, singles bars, sexual harassment, grooming, and sleeplessness.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Let's draw manga by 10931040|Noriko Aster book cover

📘 Let's draw manga

Learn to illustrate fantasy manga with step‑by‑step guidance on characters, costumes, weapons, beasts, and worlds, covering techniques in drawing and cartooning.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Drawing on the right side of the brain by 7077533|Betty Edwards book cover

📘 Drawing on the right side of the brain

Presents a set of basic exercises designed to release creative potential and tap into the special abilities of the brain's right hemisphere.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
One! Hundred! Demons! by 10749337|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 One! Hundred! Demons!


★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
What It Is. [By Lynda Barry] by 10749337|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 What It Is. [By Lynda Barry]


★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Lynda Barry Experience by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 The Lynda Barry Experience

Lynda Barry shares a collage of memories and myths from her childhood in Seattle, blending fact and invention in an engaging audio narrative.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
King Lear by 7136522|Gareth Hinds book cover

📘 King Lear

A graphic‑novel adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy in which King Lear divides his realm among his daughters, sparking a violent family and political downfall amid a stormy backdrop.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Making Comics by 6814231|Lynda Barry book cover

📘 Making Comics

A hands‑on guide to comic creation that blends drawing, storytelling, and daily sketching, encouraging readers to discover and nurture creativity through playful exercises and journal projects.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The creative spirit by 6579993|Daniel Goleman book cover

📘 The creative spirit

Prepared for the PBS series of the same name.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0

Some Other Similar Books

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!

Please login to submit books!