Teachin' Words + Pictures

[uglystik57-blog]

Discovery Task 10.

I was going to draw about a place I’d been recently for the first time…but as I was waiting for the oil change place to open, I wondered if that was outside of the assignment rubric. Then I realized, I’d never before been to a drive through oil change place where you stay in the car. I attempted to use some of the panel aspect from The March. I drew the panels aspect to aspect and incorporated my views of the business as seen from the windshield (panel one), the driver’s window (panel two), and the rear view mirror (panel three). The objects are the panels themselves. I hand drew this and could’ve spaced the panels more evenly.

[chiropterhetoric]

Discovery Task 10

“the commute home”

Daylight savings has made things kinda weird, especially walking back from my late class on Monday. Usually I stay for the whole class and then go back with a friend, but today I was feeling particularly shitty so I left during our break (the class is 3 hours long, mind you) and decided to take a scenic route that I never actually took, until I got to the shuttle stop. By the time I got out at 5:40, it was already dark, and that made my experience better.

I did this by taking pictures as I walked out of the building and along the way. I took about 20 pictures, actually. And then I imposed myself in the scenery as the only figure walking, and tried to draw the backgrounds as accurately as I could. Not realistically, but enough detail for the surroundinngs to be readable. I just had to work on a huge project this weekend tht involved a lot of character art, so I took my time with this and made every stroke count (until the last panel, when I realized I had to finish quicker). It was actually a very cathartic experience and I needed a more scenic subject to draw to wind down from my stress.

A little sad that this will be the last discovery task, but I made sure to make it count. Thank you for giving us these!

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

Last week in Rhetoric of Comics, we looked at the role of superheroes in our culture.

For our daily drawing task, we decided to draw ourselves as superheroes.

It was an interesting activity. Some students simply created costumes, the tried and true capes and emblems. Others created their own superpowers, which offer varying degrees of usefulness (as you can see above)!

[uglystik57-blog]

Savior-in-Chief?

I really dig the collage comic strategy. It allows you to create a work and convey a message in an almost infinite number od possibilities. In drawing a comic you are limited by your artistic ability. When creating a collage your only real limit is your imagination. If I could do this over, I would collect more material such as magazines and newspapers, rather than relying on my printer and the net.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

One last comics collage this afternoon, because why not?

[madforcomics-blog]

****POSTED PRIVATELY BY ACCIDENT**** 

Discovery Task #8: Collage Comic

For my assignment, I drew over a “document” which in this case is a page from the bible. This collection of verses describe how Jesus’s sacrifice saves man kind and offers us salvation. Over the page, I drew “by his wounds we are healed” with a nail, which is what they used to pin Jesus to the cross. I do not think I will be using the bible as a source for my adaptation project, but I enjoyed this assignment and all of the different possibilities of where you could take it.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

And as a huge contrast to the last collage comic, here is another, using the same(-ish) text.

Different words added, different images drawn, completely different impact and meaning.

Spiritual Comics? Christian Comics? We need a snappy name for a new genre.

[neilrlaverde-blog]

This collage comic represents controversy and personal belief and personal trauma. Yes this is a bible and even though some may find it offensive to graffiti all over this specific page I just see it as a piece of literature from an atheist point of view just as a religious person would find a science text book as just literature with fake information.

My entire life I was taught to belive so many things that today I don’t belive in. One of those things was that being gay is a sin. As a gay man being young and gay was a confusing time period for me and this literature in which my family believes in so much went against everything I am. I love my self. I love men and I belive that love is love. In this collage comic I drew my best sketch of the male body because well. I LOVE MEN! It’s such a strong attraction that no matter how much religious beliefs was shoved down my ass I still found my way into being a happy gay man. I drew several drafts but this one was my best. I wish I could draw better like maybe two men kissing, which I tried, but it was too ugly and didn’t even look good so I put my best drawing expressing love and desire for men next to the part in the Bible where it says that sleeping with another man is an abomination.

To me the Bible has always been such a dull book and I’ve always wanted to draw on it lol. So now that today I stand as a proud gay man I drew the rainbow flag as a sign of pride and strength in my beliefs. Even after being told I was never going to be who I am today.

This is far from my adaptation project but it was fun and VERY significant for me to do.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

More collage comics, and comics activism, but with a touch more “comics controversy”? 

Here, we can clearly see (and the author acknowledges) how the juxtaposition of certain images with certain words can have lasting impact, and deep personal meaning.

[comicscoffeeandcrying]

Discovery Task 8 - Collage Comic

So, we talked about Comics Activism a little bit this week, and that’s what my piece is trying to speak out to. The confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh hits hard, and the fear and pain I’ve seen from women around me these past few weeks is enough to break a heart. My sequential aspect of this piece is the maintaining of a central figure, the girl to woman character, as she navigates these stories, these movements, and the comments from people in her life. 

I utilized a lot of interesting techniques within this. The images of the woman were drawn separately and transferred on to my final page with consideration of the arrangement of all the pieces. The piece in the final right hand corner actually has burned edges, because fire is what is needed right now. This piece is angry, no doubt, but there is hope at the end. A thank-you to Dr. Ford, a reminder to vote, and the quote in the final corner is from Emma Gonzalez, one of the Parkland High School survivors. 

If I were to do this piece again, I would probably try to arrange the articles a little better and not start gluing before I had everything settled. Ultimately, though, I’m extremely happy with this piece. I put a lot in to it, and I think that the result is what I want from my comics in general. I want to say something, something worth saying. 

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

More student collages. 

And a taste of “comics activism,” a subject we’ve only just started to test out in my Rhetoric of Comics course.

[jrichtmeyer]

Discovery Task #8

In this task, I really enjoyed being able to let my creative side out. I really enjoy scrapbooking and creating, so being able to create something was really fun. I decided to do a dictionary page, I chose the one with love on it. Then I created one of my favorite scenes from my favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. When I think of love, I think of those movies, especially this one, since Ariel gave up her life essentially for love. I feel that while I can get the message across easily and that I love this style of comics, I don’t think it’s a form that I would use a lot. I feel that it’s very specific to the time and what you want to express. However I didn’t struggle with it at all, I really enjoyed making it!

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

And, as a contrast, here is a very different sort of comics collage (an erasure comic with a found object, perhaps drawing inspiration from Lynda Barry?).

An absolutely gorgeous final product.

[comicsarehard-blog]

Discovery Task #8

For this discovery challenge I used one of those annoying pre qualified credit card offers everyone gets in the mail. Personally, I can’t stand them. They never come with just one. It’s always 5 different “offers” in my mailbox at the same time.

I stepped out of the typical left to right, top to bottom order I usually do. I wasn’t feeling the most creative this weekend(stress am I right?). My character is starting to become consistent but still not perfect. We’ll get there… maybe.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

Students in my Rhetoric of Comics course experimented with collage comics this past weekend.

Here is one student talking back to a credit card mailer, something we’ve all likely wanted to do at one point or another.

[elbakramernu]

Discovery Task #7

My conversation was our group literally going to someone and making a conversation happen. They seemed polite enough to oblige our conversation requests, which was a list of random question, but wasn’t amused with being a part of our work. It was funny to be there and be a part of it. I feel my comic does a pretty good job of displaying the scene which took place. I took small liberties in how to convey our dialogue, as well as the quantity of dialogue, but think this representation appropriate. 

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

Another take on a comic-ed conversation...

[ziggyisonthetrack]

Discovery task #7

So this task took the longest to make. My group decided to listen to one of the tables out side the building talking about the SGA election. This drawing took about 7 hours in a course of 3 days. I think this style of drawing and pen medium really suits me. the way I planned it out really helped map out what I wanted to do. If it was looking at an object or a zoom in on the face and how I wanted to put the words. I think for future works this is the path I am going to take in creating my comics .

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

Comics journalism: my students listened to conversations, then adapted them to comic.

Here is the first example. Amazing work, with a great variety of images, and incorporation of other documents.

[jrichtmeyer]

Discovery Task

For this task, I wanted to portray what it’s like to not be able to see without glasses. I have been wearing glasses since third grade, half of that time being with what I used to call “grandma glasses” or bivocals. I feel that a lot of people have bad eyesight, but for those who don’t, it’s hard to conseptualize what it’s like to only see with help. I used a lot of pencil in this one, I felt that it was the best way to show the blurriness, but to also draw a lot of things since most of my room is black/grey. I really liked the 9 panel comic, I felt that it gave me a nice structure to build my comic off of. I do think that trying to come up with things to look at while I could see was hard, since I wanted to go for a black/grey to a color effect, everything I drew is particularly not that colorful. I also felt that the drawing of my house is horrific, but I left it in because it’s a part of my vision and it’s growth. I came up quite easily with what I actually wanted to draw though, that being my lack of being able to see. It’s something I’ve always had, but don’t think of that much. Overall this task was very easy and I enjoyed it.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

One last graphic medicine comic for the morning!

[comicsarehard-blog]

Discovery Task #6

For this comic, I chose to show what it’s like to live with glasses/have really bad eye sight. I wanted to show the little things that bug me like the glare while driving at night, and people asking stupid questions. The flow of the comic is the standard left to right, top to bottom format. I probably could’ve been more creative with the flow but I spent a lot of time picking what to make the comic about.

At first, the idea of drawing nine panels felt a little intimidating. Once I was able to let go of focusing on making everything perfect, the images just happened. I’d like to get better at drawing bodies and smaller versions of my character. I should probably work on consistency as well.

I’d say my comic is pretty accurate. It’s not really a how-to, more of a here’s-what-it’s-like. People take your glasses without permission, I have to pick between seeing or walking around with sunglasses that make my vision worse, and picking new glasses is fun yet repetitive.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

More practice with graphic medicine.

[comicscoffeeandcrying]

Discovery Task 6 : How To Live

I decided to do a comic about living with depression as a step-by-step guide. I’m extremely open about my depression and anxiety, because I think the stigma surrounding those conditions contributes to them. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by my ability to complete this task, but I am surprised that I was able to, I think, communicate how depression feels within certain panels, particularly seven. 

I really liked the nine-panel grid, but I’m glad that I turned the template on its side because the narrow vertical wasn’t working for me. I wouldn’t say I necessarily maximized its potential, but I certainly made it work for what I wanted to accomplish. Defined gutters have been missing from my hand-drawn comics, and I think they definitely add something to this comic. Beats in between each step, maybe? 

Panel Seven is my favorite by far. I wanted to invert the colors and use negative space to show how topsy-turvy things can get. I don’t think any images fell flat, but panel six could be stronger to show human connection as a need for progress. 

Depression is different for everyone. This comic is an accurate representation of how I live with it every day. I also touched on some key pieces of advice for people with depression, such as manageable goals and finding reasons to keep going. Living with depression is a process, a constant work in progress. That’s why step eight is really step infinity, because you have to repeat it every day and choose it, every day. I feel this comic was accurate. 

[janes-dreams]

The original flyer that I had found for the UCF event is a drawing of a woman singing. For my adaptation of ¡Sabor Latino!, I thought I would try to make it more appealing for the audience. I drew an audience, will all different types of hairs to represent diversity; all students are welcomed to come and watch the performances, the audience is not limited to the Latinx students. I incorporated a Puerto Rican flag in the audience to demonstrate the audience’s support for the culture. Then I drew two performers on stage to demonstrate different talents that can be performed. And finally, I drew an MC to explain what the event was so that the reader can understand what the flyer adaptation is regarding. 

As you can see, my comic was very different from the original head-shot of a woman singing. The only two things that the original flyer and my adaptation shared was that we both had a female singing. I was trying to add more people to seem more inviting for a crowd. Our text was similar except, I added the date and time to my adaptation to make the event’s happening easier to spot for the reader. And they were also both a single panel comic. I didn’t want to add multiple because I felt that concept could be seen as telling a story, and this flyer is about an event that is yet to be unfolded, so a single panel was appropriate to my belief. 

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

More student adaptation work!

Make sure to read the reflection .

[allisonbohncomics-blog]

It came out similar to how I had hoped. I originally wanted to draw the centra care building but sacrificed that. I took the original tone and made it more exciting and kind of kid friend since children often contract the flu. I used a similar cartoon face to ones I’ve used in class before.

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

More student adaptation work. We need more flu comics!

[elcomelibrostoabajeno-blog]

Discovery task #5:

Being my first adaptation comic, I think it turned out pretty good; the only problem was that my roommate’s light panel broke, so I had to draw, erase, and modify everything on the same paper. In other words, the comic does not look as clean as my other ones do (for the most part). Aside from that, I re-imagined the tone to be way more ironic than the original tweet; the only problem is that the reader will not know that this comic is an adaptation of one of Donald Trump’s tweets (unless they are up to date with his tweets). It is pretty hard to allude to the fact that this comic is an adaptation (a skill I hope to quickly hone by the time I have to do the adaptation project). Other than that, I had a great time making this short adaptation comic. I did borrow some strategies from my previous comics though; for example, the first two panels of this comic were taken from my discovery task #3 comic where my character was checking his phone and the next panel was a close up of his face. Another strategy I used was the “reveal” panel, where I reveal the irony or the joke the comic alludes to at the final panel, that was used in discovery task #3 and #4. After doing this comic, I was amazed by how in the span of a few weeks I was becoming faster at developing my ideas into comics; what started out as 10 hours of work, gradually started to shrink into just 3 hours of work! I’m very glad that I am starting to see some creative progress within myself!

[rhetoricofcomics-blog]

More student work!