My original idea for my comics class was to have the first few weeks worth of class exercises to be completed in quickly assembled booklets. This would give students the practice of pamphlet assembly, the experience of thinking and reviewing work in paginated sequence, and the ability to quickly disassemble their booklets & run it through a photocopier to share quick zines with each other. After working with these students, I’m moving on to Bristol board penciling and inking sooner than I’d initially planned because they’re eager and ready to make real work. But! This week’s exercise was the booklet I was most excited to see completed! After a lecture on the balance between the specifically observed & the intentionally abstracted in comic art (with some poetry diversions about the value of close looking—The Summer Day and Musee des Beaux Arts), I sent the students down the hall and into the Art Institute museum for an observation exercise. This exercise was inspired by a Marie Howe assignment I heard her talk about in On Being—the specific time escapes my quick recollection, but she assigns her poetry students to go to the museum and sit and look at a painting for something like 3 hours, without writing, to learn to work through the discomfort of really looking at something, unfiltered and undistracted.
This exercise could work anywhere: a park, a coffee shop, a library, a forest. I’m eager to see the stories that emerge from an hour of close observation.
Diary Comics:
Have a great week!
xox m
What a great comics exercise! I really enjoyed reading all your diary comics too.
What a great exercise! I love the idea of focusing on looking for a solid chunk of time, thanks so much for sharing! Your diary comics are brilliant too!