Suzanna Wright
Winter, 2012
Grade 11/12 École Secondaire Panorama Ridge Secondary
Unit Plan: Comics and Sequential Art
Approximate Timeline
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / FridayJan 30
First day of semester welcome
Lesson 1 / Jan 31
Lesson 2 &
Lesson 3 / Feb 1
Lesson 4 / 2
Sketchbook A / 3
Sketchbook B
6
Sketchbook C / 7
Sketchbook D / 8
Sketchbook E / 9
Sketchbook F / 10
(Transition to Artist Trading Cards?)
13
Summative assessment / 14
Summative
assessment / 15 / 16 / 17
Rationale
Students will become familiar with storytelling and communication through images alone or in combination with text. Students will become familiar with a range of comic and graphic novel styles.
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
- Examine the relationship between the use of particular image-development strategies and intended mood and message
- Create 2-D images that demonstrate a relationship between image-development strategies and art processes
- Analyse how particular elements and principles are used to create meaning and effect in 2-D images
- Manipulate selected visual elements and principles of art and design of an image to achieve a specific purpose and alter the meaning or effect of images
- Demonstrate competent use of techniques specific to selected materials, technologies, and processes
- Demonstrate the appropriate preparation, clean-up, care, and storage of materials and artworks in all stages of development
- Demonstrate self-direction in selecting image-development strategies to create 2-D and 3-D images to achieve a specific purpose
Instructional Objectives (See lessons for specific objectives)
- Students will consider the ways in which visual media communicates
- Students will consider how text can work in combination with images
- Students will learn how to manipulate space and time in art through visual pacing and the careful use of perspective and composition
- Students will consider how our minds create ‘closure’ when observing sequential art
Prerequisite Concepts and Skills
- Familiarity with drawing
- Some practice with drafting ideas through images and text
- Some familiarity with comics, flipbooks, animation, and other forms of sequential art
- Experience with a wide range of storytelling techniques
Materials and Resources
(See lessons for specific requirements)
Organizational and/or Behaviour Management Strategies
At the beginning of each class, students settle into their seats. In a typical class, I wait for silence before explaining the shape of the day. We start each day with a short activity, so I ask students not to get out their projects until afterwards. When I am teaching a project lesson that involves the projector, students will bring their chairs to sit closer to the front. If our lesson involves a discussion, then we will sit in a circle. When working, students may sit with whomever they wish as long as they stay on task. The last 5-10 minutes of every class will be dedicated to clean-up.
Assessment and Evaluation
Formative assessment:
· Constant one-on-one dialogue (How is the project going? Are you encountering any challenges? What are you enjoying?) and encouragement as I walk around the class and speak to every student.
· Reflecting to the student what I see in their work.
· At the beginning of every class asking where students are in the progress of the project
· At the end of a lesson (just before students begin their independent work), asking the students to review the next steps
· Peer appreciation gallery-walks, half-show-half (mid-project and near completition)
Summative assessment:
(A student-approved rubric? A discussion on criteria? Individual critiques? Small group critiques?)
Evidence of careful consideration of at least two of the following:
- Mood (setting the scene) (lesson 2)
- A range of frame shots (lesson 2)
- Panel design (lesson 3)
- Pacing (lesson 3)
Extensions
Students are welcome to think beyond comics and comic strips into the realms of flip books, animation, storyboards, zoatropes, thaumatropes, etc!
Comics and Sequential Art
Lesson 1: Introduction
Instructional Objectives
- Students will become familiar with a range of sequential art styles
- Students will begin to consider how art and comics can tell stories
Materials and Resources
- Colour photocopied images of Zoom by Istvan Banyai and the book itself
- 30+ examples of comics and graphic novels of all sorts from the SFU library and from my own collection
Assessment and Evaluation
Formative assessment:
- Reflecting on students’ input in discussions
- One-on-one and small-group dialogue while students look at examples of sequential art books. Asking students if they find these examples inspiring and if they are beginning to form ideas for their own projects.
Lesson Activities
** (The first 30 minutes or so of this class will be used for welcoming students to the new semester and introducing them to the course)
15 min / Students are seated in a circle at the centre of the classroom.Teacher hands out colour photocopied images from the book Zoom by Istvan Banyai. Each student receives one and the order is mixed up.
With minimal explanation, the teacher asks the students to mill around the classroom and to put their pages in order.
Students return to the circle at the centre of the classroom.
Teacher explains that the images come from Zoom and asks the students if they have any thoughts on the images or the activity.
Teacher explains that our first project is on art and storytelling and/or sequential art. Teacher explains that today we are becoming familiar with this art form and tomorrow we will begin drawing and creating.
10-15 min / Students return to the circle at the centre of the classroom.
Teacher goes over the expectations for circle discussions:
- Speak so that all can hear
- Listen respectfully
- Only one speaker at a time
- Everyone’s ideas are important and valuable
Teacher facilitates a discussion on the following questions:
- How can art or images tell a story?
- How might images be better than text at telling a story?
- Which visual media is best for telling a story?
Remainder of class / Students return to their table groups on the outskirts of the classroom.
Each table group has a collection of graphic novels and comic books of all sorts.
Students are asked to read silently for 10+ minutes (depending on time)
Afterwards, teacher asks students to partner up and discuss the following:
- How would you describe the style of your book?
- What do you like and/or dislike about your book?
Teacher visits each table group, keeps their discussions on task, and lets them know when the class is coming to an end.
(This time is also to be used to start learning names)
Comics and Sequential Art
Lesson 2: Words Into Images and Setting The Scene
Instructional Objectives
- Students will begin to think about how oral and/or written ideas can be transformed into images
- Students will consider composition and perspective in comic panels
- Students will consider how to set a scene in comics
- Students will observe and identify wide angles, close-ups and medium shots
- Students will observe the similarities in frame/panel composition between film/TV and comics
Materials and Resources
- Two+ very short poetic descriptions of a setting and a character
A: Gregory is my beautiful grey Persian cat. He spends most of his time indoors watching television and growing fat. His familiarity with cat food commercials has led him to reject generic brands of cat food in favour of only the most expensive brands. Gregory is as finicky about visitors as he is about what he eats, befriending some and repelling others. He may snuggle up against your ankle, begging to be petted, or he may stain your favourite trousers. Gregory does not do this to establish his territory, as many cat experts think, but to humiliate me because he is jealous of my friends.
Source: Unknown
B: Uncle Mick’s apartment was large but almost empty. He had a TV, a battered plaid sofa that smelled mouldy, a kitchen table with some crates in place of a missing leg, a mattress on the floor and a dresser with all the knobs broken off. The only new thing was an eight-track, which would have been great if he’d played anything but Elvis.
Source: Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson page 51-52
- Sketchbooks and/or loose paper
- Pencils or any other drawing medium the student wishes to use
Assessment and Evaluation
Formative assessment:
- Observing students’ work during the drawing exercise to see if they are listening for the details mentioned in the text and to see if these are reflected in their work
Summative assessment: (As the students’ work develops in the coming classes…)
- Students’ work should show evidence of considering how to create an environment, mood or setting
- Students’ work should show evidence of considering a range of angles, close-ups and medium shots
Lesson Activities
** This lesson will most likely be combined with lesson 3 for a 80 minute block
5 min / Students are seated at their table groups.Teacher describes the shape of the day using the whiteboard.
Teacher asks students to take out their sketchbooks (there is loose paper for anyone who has forgotten) and a pencil.
Teacher explains that we are going to begin to think about how to SHOW stories in images. For the first 10-15 minutes we are going to practice conveying a setting and a character through words.
15 min / Teacher asks for silence.
Teacher reads the first passage slowly (TBA) and asks students to draw what they see. She reassures them that this is just practice, and that she understands that some of us are more comfortable with drawing than others.
When the teacher is done, she asks that students remain silent while they finish up their drawings, and she passes out printed copies for those who may benefit from reading over listening.
If students seem confused and are interested, the teacher can read the passage again.
Teacher reads a second passage that is much different from the first and repeats the same process.
15 min / Teacher explains that before we start drawing our own stories, we are going to learn about some of the stylistic characteristics of comics.
Students bring their chairs and their sketchbooks to the front of the classroom where the projector is set up.
Teacher shows an example of a comic page that establishes a scene.
Why might an artist dedicate so much space to images that don’t necessarily advance the plot?
Teacher asks the students to consider how the scene is set in movies and TV shows. Often a short clip of the setting or a “zoom-in” occurs.
Teacher shows a movie/TV example of this and then an example where the same process is used in a comic page.
Teacher shows examples of mid-shots and close-ups in comics and explains how a variety of angles allows for visual interest.
Teacher asks students to think of the panel as a window frame. The artist controls what the reader sees and what the reader knows/does not know.
Teacher shows a few examples and asks the students what they are seeing: wide-angle, close-up or mid-shot.
Teacher explains that tomorrow we will learn about panels and how to divide the page, but for now we are going to start brainstorming ideas for our projects. (See lesson 3)
Many hardcopy graphic novels and comic books are also available to students at this time.
Students return to their table groups.
Teacher visits each table group, keeps their discussions on task, and lets them know when the class is coming to an end.
Teacher continues to learn the names of the students at this time. Teacher draws a map and seating plan of the classroom for her personal records.
Comics and Sequential Art
Lesson 3: Brainstorming and Idea Organization
Instructional Objectives
- Students will begin to think about how to organize their ideas into a comic format
Materials and Resources
- Slides of examples of brainstorming techniques
- Slides of examples of drafting techniques
- Bucket of story prompts
- Sketchbooks and/or loose paper
- Pencils or any other drawing medium the student wishes to use
Assessment and Evaluation
- Observing students’ work to see that they are making brainstorms and drafts before beginning a good copy.
Lesson Activities
** This lesson will most likely be added to lesson 2 for an 80 minute block
Students bring their chairs to the front of the classroom where the projector is set up.5 min / Teacher shows 2+ slides of brainstorming techniques that can be used for prompting story ideas including mind maps (in words and in images) and word lists.
5 min / Teacher shows 2+ slides of drafting techniques for comics including the grid format and the rough storyboard format.
Remainder of class / Teacher asks students to go back to their seats, get out their sketchbooks (or loose paper) and begin sketching/writing out ideas.
Teacher has a bucket of story prompt ideas that she can distribute to students who may feel stuck.
Teacher visits each table group, keeps their discussions on task, and lets them know when the class is coming to an end.
Teacher continues to learn the names of the students at this time. Teacher draws a map and seating plan of the classroom for her personal records.
Comics and Sequential Art
Lesson 4: Panels, Pacing and Closure
Instructional Objectives
- Students will observe a variety of panel designs and will consider what format they might choose for their own work
- Students will begin to grasp the concept of “closure” (what the mind creates in the absence of images) and the SPACE = TIME equation (pacing) in comics
Materials and Resources
- Presentation of comics that use diverse panel styles and that demonstrate closure in comics
- Print outs of panel templates (displayed on the board)
- Computer and projector
Assessment and Evaluation
Formative assessment:
- Observing students’ work during the drawing exercise to see if they are listening for the details mentioned in the text and to see if these are reflected in their work