Do it Yourself Comics

Context
I know that Comic Life is an inexpensive program that comes on all our school's Macs. But using it to really a make a comic strip is another thing. You have to import pictures and then add balloons and text. Not really like a real comic strip. Well, welcome the free online program called Bitstrips. Created by a Canadian cartoonist, Bitstrips allows much more freedom in creating real comic strips. There are a queue of characters to choose from and you can give them different expressions, or you can create your own characters! There are so many options here that I had a great time creating myself and my husband. I want to create so many other characters that can live in my comics.

This is my first character - Honey Husband


How I can use this in my classroom
This is so fun that I almost stopped editing my doc just to create a bunch of characters and then stick them into funny situations. I know that my students will love this! One of the problems that I had with the comic strips we did in the past was lack of artistic talent. Now that problem is solved. I don't know if there are different backgrounds or props, but you can make your characters move into different positions. When I teach the conventions of comics, I have had my students create a comic strip from a story (usually a familiar fairy tale) with a partner. They had to draw it all, but this would help with that. I don't know if you can change camera angles or other cinematic techniques used in real comics, but I guess I'll just have to play with it some more. Maybe after the semester has ended...

AHa

Context. Amy and Sharon have gotten me interested in music videos again. So I have spent about 2 hours looking at videos on iTunes and Limewire. I tried to find the one we watched again in class last week, and it took me over an hour to remember who it was (Phil Vassar, "This is My Life"). While I was looking, I found one of my absolute favorites -- "Take On Me" by AHa. I love the love story they develop and the intersection of animation and live action. I am always so sad for the girl that gets shoved back to life only to read the comic and see the boy get hit with the wrench and then struggle to get through to life again. It's hard to describe, but if you are familiar with the video, you understand.

How I would use this -- I guess I could use this video as an intro to comics. It would be an interesting study of special effects and editing as well. The plot might be used to show exposition, inciting moment, rising action, climax and resolution.

Comics in the Classroom

Context -- I am having my students read a graphic novel for the first time. I chose Persepolis because it's non-fiction (we don't read much of that), it's world literature (Iranian) and it's well-written. I am really excited to teach this book because the movie is out, but not in Utah, which will really create interest for my students.

To prepare them for reading a graphic novel, I had them learn to "read" an image, then to "read" a comic. To really understand comics, they are creating one based on a short story. I have been having them storyboard their stories before really creating the final draft and several websites have been helpful. To show the layout, and to look at a cool technology, I took them to Duke Universtiy Law School's site www.duke.law.edu/cspd/comics.

Today when I logged onto the computer at school I saw an article in NYT about the movie Persepolis that contained a video about storyboarding the movie. It was perfect for my lesson today!
How would I use it -- I already did, as you read in the above. I will probably have the students see the movie as well and write a review. I could use it as an example of adaptation (ala Buckingham) and have them write about that as well.