Comics Instant Expert Video

We are looking at a split-screen, with slides to the left and a man on the right. The man is fair-skinned, with glasses, a beard, and a fedora, dressed in a colorful shirt with images of buildings and other objects in the background. The slides to the left contain text, headings, and cartoon drawings of comic-book-style speech bubbles, with sections of text in highlighted boxes with various colors.

At the beginning of the video, the title of the slides is “What is this talk about?” This slide lists the topics to be discussed including “A bit about my 25 years teaching Storytelling and Media Arts”, “Why comics is an important medium to teach”, “The basic grammar of comics as visual language”, “Notes on Closure, Action, Pacing, and Dialogue in comics”, “How I use drawing prompts, simple drawing lessons, and collaborative drawing to promote student engagement and help them to practice course concepts”, and “How I structure homework to build skills with project-oriented learning.”

The video then transitions to the next slide. The text at the top says “Who is this Teacher?” Below this is a paragraph: “I am an artist and animator with 20 years of experience. My work has appeared in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, on the Disney show “Greek,” on award-winning video and tabletop games, on robots at MIT, and as Comics in the Boston Globe.” Below this is a smaller photo of a young person drawing while an adult looks on. The text below the paragraph reads: “I’ve been a teacher even longer: in 1995 I joined Teach for America and taught High School English and Humanities for 3 years in Inner City Baltimore, and have taught college Media Arts for the twenty years since, including a masterclass at Pixar Animation studios and courses at Harvard and Tufts Universities.” This is followed by another paragraph: “When Covid19 hit, I wanted to help families seeking positive engagement for their kids, and to raise funds for my favorite comic book store, so I developed a course in Comic Book Design for ages 8+ based on my college course, to offer week-long classes online. “The final line on the slide is “This talk is about this course: Intro To Comics Design!”

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the test reads “Why should kids learn to make comics?”. Below, there is a series of bullet-pointed statements:

1. Comics can be created with minimum supplies or preparation: just paper, pencil, and pen!
2. Comics allow visually minded students to express their ideas more easily than if they are limited to only text.
3. Comics can transcend language barriers (consider airline and Lego instructions) and can be exceptionally effective at communicating emotional narratives.
4. They offer the opportunity for students to create very personal stories, and also to be mindful of their readers’ experience.
5. Comics can provide exciting opportunities for collaboration between peers or in groups.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top is text “You don’t need to teach drawing to teach comics!”. Below this reads “If you are worried about teaching drawing, thinking that students need to draw well to make comics, they do not! Comics as a visual medium can take many forms and styles. Some very popular webcomics feature stick-figure art, and comics can be made by editing together photographs, clip art, or even attaching googly-eyes to bottle caps and adding word bubble.”. There is a small comic book illustration on the side of children with a cartoon flying saucer. The next paragraph reads “Teaching comics does not need to include teaching drawing, but drawing is the most immediate way to plan and implement a comic. I suggest encouraging your students to draw, but focus your feedback on the storytelling and structure of their comic pages.”

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “So what do students need to learn to make comics?”. Below this, the text says “What IS helpful for students to learn is how comics communicate story, both in what makes them similar to other media (like the use of cinematography) and unique to comics (page design to manipulate story time and space).”

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Intro Page Design”. Below this, there is a paragraph “An introduction to making comics should include A discussion of how to read them. Here are some important TERMS:” Below this is a list including definitions and images:

1. a) a comic PAGE: Usually contains multiple panels, often designed to present a story “beat” (an idea, an interaction, a moment in the story)
2. b) a comic Panel: is a single image that presents a character, place, thing, or action. Panels are composed to focus reader attention, and meant to relate to other panels on the page.
3. c) The Frame: is the border of a panel, to help visually distinguish it from the others.
4. d) Speech & Thought Bubbles: Contain words spoken or thought by a character.
5. e) The Gutter: is the magical space between panels where the audience performs Closure by deciding what occurs.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Intro Page Design”. Below this, there is a paragraph “A comic page in the Western World is read starting in the upper left corner, then moving to the right until reaching the end of the row, and then starting the next row on the left and continuing until ending in the lower right corner. This may seem to create a very linear mode of storytelling.” Below, it reads “BUT: A reader’s ability to LINGER on any given panel, and to let their eyes wander around the page at any moment, creates a story experience unique to comics; one where any moment within the story “beat” of the page is simultaneously available, and the reader can make connections between panels that are not adjacent.”

Below this text is another sentence “Imaginative creators can use this power of reader-lingering and wandering to create exciting layouts!”. There are geometric shapes with colors that border the left side of the slide.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Intro Page Design”. Below this, there is a paragraph “Since we can expect the reader to start in the upper right, we can get playful with designs to emphasize character motion. Consider this page from DC’s Deadman series, where the fanned-out panels show the character floating overhead, then diving down when he has made his decision.” There is an image with comic book drawings that are not rectangular.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Intro Page Design”. Below this, there is a paragraph “While most pages are understood to start in the upper left corner, this page starts at the center, and then moves to the upper left, and then down the right! Note how the panel design contributes to the explosion.”. There is an image with comic book drawings with the words “BOOOM” very large and emphasized. The picture draws the eye to the center of the image.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Nonlinear Comics: Weird and Magic!”. Below this, there is a paragraph “Here for example is a 6-panel comic that is NOT intended to be read just top to bottom, left to right.”. Below this paragraph, it reads “We start at the upper left, but when we get to the end of the first row, something strange and marvelous happens!”. There are six different drawings of a person with dialogue in each.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Panel Content: Cinematography”. Below this there is a paragraph that starts “Comics often borrow from the visual language of film, including ideas of framing, angle, and editing.”. There are two bulleted points below, with an image to the right:

1. CAMERA FRAMING is about information. By controlling how much the user sees, we help them focus on a specific place, person, or action (make most shots close or med):

1. a)  Wide = where we are
2. b)  Medium = who is there
3. c)  Close = what they are doing
4. CAMERA ANGLES affect how we feel about the subject.

At the end of the video, the text displays “Note the language of these angles, and how an emotional experience is embedded in the phrasing:” and there are bullet points followed by the types of shots:

*   Looking-Down shot = the subject is less powerful, unhappy, or in trouble.

*   Eye-to-Eye shot = we are at the subject’s level; we are them.

*   Looking-Up shot = the subject is powerful, in command, we are in awe of them.

The background images to the right of the bulleted list are scenes from Terminator 2.

The video then transitions to the next slide. At the top, the text reads “Closure”. Below this, there is a paragraph “Closure depends on the desire to make meaning out of juxtaposed images. The less similar the images, the more work readers put into creating meaning. In this way, the reader is an active participant in creating the story. Scott McCloud discusses 6 types of closure:” There is also a list of definitions here, along with images:

1. a) Active shots promote a sense of linear time: Action to Action (like preparing and hitting a ball) and Subject to Subject (cutting from one thing to related other) are common in Western comics.
2. b) Moment to Moment shows small movements and Aspect to Aspect shows many views of a place to give us a sense of the whole. Both slow down the story to explore a time or a place.
3. c) Scene to Scene cuts jump forward or back in time.
4. d) Finally, Non-Sequitur cuts run the risk of breaking the reader’s ability to create meaning, and thus breaking the flow of the story.

Another slide focuses on action in comics, emphasizing that action doesn’t always require a punch. It also offers alternatives, like jumping, dancing, and pushing, along with stick figure drawings to illustrate anticipation and action.

Later slides discuss pacing and how bigger panels, image repetition, and the presence or absence of text affect pacing.

As the presentation progresses, the gentleman explains that text bubbles can enhance the character’s voice or intention, and how comics use onomatopoeia to add sound. He concludes his introduction to comics design with a discussion of homework and drawing. He also gives suggestions of what could be good things to draw when he can teach comic courses in person.

All of this is set against a light background with the “CapCut” logo prominently displayed at the top.

We see slides titled “Homeworks” and “Homework: Intro Comics Design,” revealing the curriculum’s practical aspects. The speaker elaborates on the rationale behind the homework assignments, emphasizing their intent to explore ideas and promote the development of longer stories, all while relating to industry examples. He mentions that each project is meant to engage thought and personal reflection.

These homework assignments break down into specific tasks: to tell the story of your first time completing something, in a 1-2 page comic. Another assignment asks for an explainer comic, and then an action comic. The homework culminates in the student story prep and the final story.

The accompanying visual features examples of student work, in the form of the “First Time I Ever” stories, drawn in simple styles, but expressing the experience of his students, in topics like quarantine and getting a concussion. The slide offers a glimpse into the practical application of the lessons taught, all set against the backdrop of the presentation.