Heather Velez

Collecive Storytelling: Hourly Comics

I purposefully chose Saturday to do the hourly comic exercise. I had plans beyond going to school. It seemed so promising. What I hadn’t anticipated were the variety of conditions in which I would have to draw. I didn’t have a problem in the morning at brunch – but I did encounter some difficulties while in the barely lit wine bar I went to for a farewell party. I made quick sketches from that point going forward and I would expand upon it the following day (breaking the rules, of course).

I played around with format. What worked best? 1 frame? 3? 6? In the end, I went with 1 frame but I don’t think it works. Is there any story? What am I trying to share with the reader? Is it at all interesting?  Maybe if I added text it would be successful –  I could rely on words to build out the story. I’m sure that there’s some reluctance on my part to rely solely on the visual given the lack of confidence I have in my drawing skills. Reading Will Eisner’s chapter on Writing & Sequential Art was essential to me understanding where deficiencies may lie in my work and more broadly, what makes a comic or sequential art work successful. I found this exercise useful for a number of reasons:

1.) Audience. How I address and engage the audience is paramount to the success of a project. If I don’t find my comic particularly interesting or informative than how would someone that doesn’t know me enjoy it?

2.) Incorporate action. Instead of relying on words to move a story forward, use illustrations. But it’s important that the illustrations are actions, not just scenery. Sequences of 3-6 frames would be particularly useful here (although I’m sure I could capture action within 1 frame as well).

3.) Size. I like to work small, very small and encountered issues of scale when I decided to go with the single frame. I didn’t know how to fill in the negative space. How can one use that most effectively? When does it work and when does it not?