-
Drawing Toys
In my classroom at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, our drawing tables have toys on them. In the Comics Room are toys everywhere, on all of the shelves and in all directions. Casually drawing toys is something I have my students do when I introduce a new element, like drawing with ink and a brush, or trying a different sort of pen.
There is something about translating a three dimensional toy into simple line work that allows us to use the new tool in a steady way. I always have students work within a time limit: four minutes or less, and I announce the minutes remaining as they pass. This helps people keep their hand motion in a way that naturally invites the kind of personal line comics are made from.
Without a time limit, people either concentrate on trying to perfect one little part of the drawing or they give up. Most of my students can’t recognize the original character of their own line at first. Classmates usually recognize someones line work before the person making it does.
What I want to do is to find ways to keep my students drawing so they accumulate enough line work to recognize and accept their natural style. Even people who are certain they can’t draw have a specific line that will easily bend itself into comics. My goal is to keep them drawing long enough for this to happen.
-
Preschool Lines
The kinds of line we use to make our comics are very much tied to some of the first lines we make as children.These are by a four-year-old. There is a steadiness in the curving shapes that disappears once people become self conscious about their drawings and begin to draw with a hesitant series of feathered short marks. The line in this drawing is the one I call a skating line. It’s a sure line made by a hand that stays in motion for the entire gesture.
Four year old drawing with confident lines. 
One of the reasons I’m so interested in the lines made by four year olds is because drawing and writing haven’t yet split into two different things. When we make comics by hand, one of the things we have to re-learn is to write our words with the line we use to draw our images. When we letter something, we’re drawing the letters, paying attention not just to their shapes, but also to a feeling of creating individual characters. This doesn’t mean perfection in the look of the letters, but rather a feeling for them, for their aliveness. Handwriting has a voice. Adults tend to automatically dislike their own hand writing in the same way they dislike their drawings. If we take away the option of liking or disliking these lines that make words and images, what might we find?
-
Ancient Comics
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/22569 The types of lines we use when we make our comics are very old. These characters were drawn nearly 2,000 years ago but somehow look completely contemporary. What makes this possible?
-
I was working with some preschoolers and a student drew an ill person, they threw up and they pooped!
