All Levels

How to Draw a Comic

O
ver the summer, I had dents offered their ideas and grasped erase. This stage of a comic is actually
the pleasure of teaching the reasons pretty quickly. called “penciling.” It helps to remind
cartooning workshops at My favorite student response was, students to draw lightly to make eras-
the Art Center for Kids “Because your first idea isn’t always ing even easier.
in Pasadena, California. I created your best idea.” Rough sketches help
this instructional comic to teach my cartoonists to see their ideas and Inking Cartoons
students the step-by-step process by improve upon them before they com- “Why do cartoonists ink their draw-
which they could create their own mit to more detailed work. Panel four ings?” Yes, it does make it look better,
comic strips. is basically a checklist that helps stu- but it usually takes some prompting
I distributed the “How to Draw dents plan their rough sketches. to get students to the professional
a Comic” comic at the beginning of I gave students rulers and triangles answer: Ink drawings are easier to
each workshop. I used with which they could reproduce than pencil drawings.
each panel of the comic I like to teach draw their own frames, Encourage students to be careful
as the introduction to a or panels. This is the when they ink. Remind them not to
new cartooning lesson.
through questioning step students needed trace their pencil drawings but to
In our first classes, for whenever I can. the most hands-on improve their pencil drawings. This
example, we discussed help with. I circled the is a great time to introduce advanced
how cartoonists and comic book art- room to provide it, but, for the young- students to shadows, shading, stip-
ists come up with their ideas. I pro- est students, I also provided comic pling, or hatching.
vided students with a list of “story strip templates with four, six, or nine For a professional presentation,
starters” to get their creative juices panels already printed onto it. have students erase any visible pencil
flowing. lines and whiteout any smudges or
Comics don’t have to be funny, of Words Before Pictures spills.
course, but I did challenge my stu- “Why should you write your words If you have the time and resources,
dents to write a joke for their first before you draw anything?” This it is fun to collect the cartoons and
comic strip. To that end, we also was the most controversial instruc- teach students how to copy and bind
discussed several joke-writing tech- tion on the list, but it was praised by them into their own comic books.
niques. Some of those techniques professional cartoonists that I know. Each of my classes created, published,
include surprise endings (or “gags”), To coach my students towards the and finally bound their own anthology
juxtaposition, exaggeration, list mak- reason, I relied on a demonstration: by the last day of each workshop.
ing, and schadenfreude (or “pleasure Draw a panel on the board, fill it with If you are curious, you can see
at the misfortune of others”). a drawing, then try to add words and a some of my students’ comic strips and
In later classes, we discussed story speech balloon. Students will see that comic books on my Sunday Funnies
structure: How to create a comic the words will not fit legibly once the Flickr set at www.flickr.com/photos/
with a problem, complications, and a drawing is complete. ramahughes/sets/72157619643494099.
resolution. Students wrote or doodled By writing the words and drawing
their own ideas in a sketchbook or on the talk balloons first, students will
loose sheets of paper. have an easier time drawing around Rama Hughes is an art teacher and an
illustrator who lives in Montrose, Califor-
the lettering. This is a very important
nia. [email protected].
Teaching Through Questioning lesson for students because, in their
I like to teach through questioning own work, they will be reluctant to
whenever I can, so I tried to present erase a finished drawing to make
each new panel with a question. “Why room for their text.
should you plan your comic with “Why should a cartoonist do all Go to schoolartsonline.com
rough sketches?” I asked when we her drawings in pencil?” Students are for reproducible comic strip
began our work on panel three. Stu- quick to answer that pencil is easy to templates from this lesson.

WEB March 2010 SchoolArts

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