Scott McCloud’s incomparable “Understanding Comics”.
I swear you can open this book to any page and it’s amazing.
(ps it’s actually a digital image of a printed copy of a drawing of a painting of a pipe)
Highly recommend scott mccloud’s “understanding comics” as an introduction to all forms of visual media, but especially educational work like scientific illustration because the man does have a handle on some of the funkier stuff that happens when a viewer tries to interpret an image.
Also reccomended: james gurney’s “light and color”. The man did Dinotopia he knows what the fuck he’s talking about.
Also: Understanding Comics is available to read for free on the Internet Archive!