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The comics drawing line in the10th century
Drawings from the Book of Deer (Scottish Gaelic: Leabhar Dhèir) (Cambridge University Library, MS. Ii.6.32) is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It contains the earliest surviving Gaelic writing from Scotland. (wikipedia)
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Compbook Scrapbook
One thing I love about the composition notebook is its casualness. It’s different than a sketch book. There is something about the lined paper that already lets me know this isn’t that critical. And when I use it for both drawing and writing, it feels not like a thing, but more like a place I can ride around, like a roller rink. If I stay in motion, I get somewhere
It’s easy for me to paint and draw and write on compbook paper or old file folders like it’s easy to sing when I’m alone in the car. It’s a bare-handed way to catch and re-conjure so many different parts of the day. I like seeing what will show up on its when I have my compbook open and hands in motion. I know that writing and drawing at the same time is never a bad idea. And I know that making things without knowing what they are or are for is also never a bad idea.
The images below made their way into the world somehow.
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Word Bag Comics
This comic was made by a student who pulled the word “Stairs” from their Word Bag. In our class, the word bag is an envelope filled with little pieces of paper that have nouns written on them. This exercise asks you to start by drawing eight quick frames in your composition notebook, and then pull a random word from your word bag, and then you have about 40 minutes to make a comic about your relationship to that word. You must make the entire comic in one sitting. You’ll have about three minutes to write and draw each panel, and about fifteen minutes to add some quick color.
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Character Jam Characters in Color
Student work from pandemic time online class in 2021.
This exercise uses the quick line drawings we made early in the semester while we were together on Zoom. Each student came up with the name of a character and we all had less than three minutes to draw it while I played music and counted down the time. Then we all held our drawings up to the camera. Later we used them during our first week of water color.
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Struck by Cupid’s Arrow
Two Three minute student attendance card drawings during Valentines week. Assignment: Draw yourself being struck by Cupid’s Arrow. Draw Cupid.
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Lesson Plan
First day of Making Comics 1 and there is a lot to remember. I write down the different steps on individual cards and lay them out on the counter at the front of the class. When we complete them I put them on the pink chart. There are always cards left over at the end of class, things we didn’t get to that I’ll save for the next class.
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Comics Pantoum 2016
This poem is made from copies of children’s war drawings and a pantoum created from a quote from a teacher in a war zone. (Click image to enlarge)
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Marlys in Color
She showed up one day when I was making a comic about some cousins who got sick on cotton candy at a parade. It was the first time I saw the characters that I would spend the next 30 years with.
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Collage in the time of trouble
When I’m stuck on a project or not knowing what to do, collage always helps. White school glue, scissors, old magazines, my composition notebook and an old movie playing while I work
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Exercise: Minnie the Moocher’s drawing lesson.
Materials: black Flair pen, copier paper folded into quarters, a timer, about 45 minutes of uninterrupted time.
Watch the beautiful black and white cartoon Betty Boop in Minnie the Moocher.
Set a timer for one minute, close your eyes, draw one of the characters from memory. Repeat this three more times. Make sure to draw whole bodies.
Set a timer for two minutes, keep your eyes open, and draw one of the characters from memory. Repeat three more times
Set a timer for four minutes and draw yourself dancing with one of the characters.
Repeat but draw yourself having coffee with a different character.
Repeat, draw yourself with a third character and you’re both fishing.
Last frame is the fourth character surprising you with flowers while you are at the stove cooking.
Make sure you draw entire bodies and don’t include any words. These should be silent drawings.
If you’re doing this in a classroom or with a group of people, it’s good to stand up and walk around and look at everyone’s drawing.
The value of this exercise is there are so many different kinds of drawing going on. You’re using the same pen, paper, and characters drawn from memory, but the characters show up in a completely different way when you are drawing them with your eyes closed. When you draw with your eyes open, the line really changes and the type of concentration you experience also changes. When you come to the third part of the exercise and draw yourself with a character dancing, your drawing has to include interaction, you have to imagine the place where the scene is happening and what might be in that place. What kinds of things do you need draw to show that you and a character are having coffee together or you’re out fishing? The thing that’s surprising is that if you just start drawing yourself with a character, the scene seems to unfold by itself. This is a very good thing to experience. This is very good for you.
Drawings made during class by a student in Making Comics 1, UW-Madison
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Round Robin Juxtaposition: Giving a Body to Worries, Wishes and Needs
This is an exercise that begins with writing for five minutes in your composition notebook about the things that concern you: things you have to do, things you’re worried about, things you wish were different. The next step is to fold a piece of copier paper into quarters and divide the spaces by running your flair pen down the fold lines. Set a timer and draw any animal in 90 seconds. If you are doing this exercise with others, pass your paper and then draw another animal in the next box. Repeat this until all four spaces contain a drawing of an animal.
Pass the paper again and look at the piece you wrote in your compbook. Find a worry, wish or need and write it in a speech balloon as if the animal is saying it. Pass the paper and repeat. In my classroom this results in a page that eight different people have contributed to.
What happens when we give a body to a concern? This is one of the things comics can do.
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Exercise: Solid Black, Patterns,Moody Characters
Your assignment: Divide a piece of copier paper into 16 chambers but folding it twice long ways and twice short ways and then draw your Flair pen down the creases. Choose a character from the Face Jam exercise and copy it into the first panel on the left. Change the characters mood into its opposite in four frames. Repeat this with three other characters, getting all your simple line work done first, then go back and add patterns and solid black. This will take time and it is very good for your hand to practice making good solid blacks with a Flair. Don’t be tempted to get your solid blacks done faster by using Sharpie or a fatter black marker. The idea is to give your hand the practice it needs to do this with just a Flair pen. This is a good time to listen to some music or a podcast or playing a show in the background while you draw.
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Two stages of a 20 minute black and white Daily Diary drawing.
When I teach comics, one of the things I want my students practice right away is using a timer to get their simple line work done in about three minutes. I want them to draw something in the foreground, midground and back ground thinking about what is the closest to the viewer, what’s furthest, and what’s in the middle. Having a short amount of time to do this keeps our hands moving. The line work for a single frame three minutes. The most important thing is to concentrate on the line work and keep your hand in motion and asking yourself ‘what else could be the picture?’ Stop when the timer goes off and move on to the next frame.
Get the line work done on all four panels before adding tones. This should should be done in two minutes for each panel.
The assignment is to draw yourself as Batman in four scenes from your day in 20 minutes for seven consecutive days. You have to draw your entire body, head to boot. Batman is a good character to use because the silhouette is strong and the cowl, cape, gloves, little bat drawers and boots are all black, so they automatically give every panel something strong.
By setting the amount of time you have to draw each panel, you start to develop a pace, \. You learn how to move your hand to fit your drawing into the time and space you have. This is very good for you!
Materials: timer, composition notebook, flair pen
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Exercise: Round Robin Monster Funeral 2023
Each of these images contain drawings by at least eight different people. We began this exercise by making a scribble and trading with a classmate and then we turned the scribbles into monsters. We did this several times and then chose a scribble monster to work with. We drew six scenes from the monster’s life, ending with the monster’s funeral.
We drew the body and some of the setting and then we exchanged drawings and added mourners and furniture and lighting and kept passing the pages until original drawing returned to us. Our homework was to color the drawings.
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Exercise: Close Your Eyes and See Me
One of the fastest ways for me to get a feeling for a student’s drawing style and natural line is to have them draw with their eyes closed. This exercise requires three markers in primary colors and a timer. Students are asked to close their eyes for one minute and draw a full human skeleton with a yellow marker. I count down the minute outloud every ten seconds. I have them hold up their drawings so their neighbors can see them, and then close their eyes again and repeat this with an orange or red marker right on top of the yellow drawing, show their neighbors, and then do it again with a blue marker. These drawings took three minutes and somehow they always look good. Most people cWhen I look at them I get a strong feeling for someone’s natural line and drawing style. If you try this exercise with a group of people, it’s very important that you count down the minutes every ten seconds and that people show each other their drawings after each layer.
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Exercise: Draw What You Hear
In the Comics Room one our exercises is to write a short scene based on a random magazine photo . We have to pretend we are someone in the photo and write for seven minutes about what’s going on. After we finish, I ask if someone will read their story to the class. Afterward everyone has three and a half minutes to draw what they pictured. When we hold them up to show each other everyone gasps. I’m always amazed by this exercise. Here are the response drawings to a story read by classmate Red Burgundy.
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Drawing Style
When I first started working with four year olds I was so surprised to find that each of them had a recognizable drawing style. After a couple of weeks I could not only tell who made which picture but I could tell who made which scribble. I’m fascinated by how this is possible. How is a four year old able to make drawings that are so consistent enough for everyone to recognize?
The kid who drew this series had many more scenes of “This Guy” who was screaming or crying in different places.
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The Demon Sea-Ma and the monkey who can’t quite bring himself to avoid her
Can the monkey simply meditate his way out of this relationship?
5″x7″, brush and ink, paper, white gel pen, white glue, cat food cardboard
5″x7″, brush and ink, paper, white gel pen, white glue, cat food cardboard
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Disgruntled Girl
This is a picture I often ask students to copy. Buy the fifth week of class together, people’s drawing styles are recognizable to each other. Without seeing a name on the drawing, most of us can say who drew what.This has always fascinated me.What are we recognizing? How are we able to do this without making any effort toward it? What sort of learning is this?
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Compbook Practice Pages
The paper in my composition notebooks is just average lined notebook paper. It helps have a hair dryer to dry down the page so I can keep moving.
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Drawing as a way to wonder about something
I like thinking something over while I’m drawing in my composition notebook with a brush. There is something about writing and drawing brush that helps my mind wander. It allows ideas to step forward.
