Our group first analyzed our article, Is Google Making Us Stupid by Nicholas Carr. Then we brainstormed on potential stories to use in our comic. After, we came up with the old generation, portrayed by an old man, and the new generation, played by a young man, to be featured in our comic having a debate with one another. We split up the panels evenly and really helped out each other with any difficulties we had in Bitstrips or Comiclife. It was very easy to work in a group when we were all sitting together in the library. One of the most useful skills that I contributed to my group was thinking of ways to make the comic more humorous and comedic. I really enjoyed ending off the comic with the young man transforming into a robot. I thought this brought a lot of humor to the story. I also loved the facial expressions of the old man throughout the comic. Bitstrips definitely helped a great deal with the facial expressions and characters. I have never used Bitstrips or Comiclife before but I really enjoyed the experience. I quicky learned how to use Bitstrips. Comiclife was a little more difficult to use but after our group learned how to take each individual panel and change it’s shape, the process become much easier and more enjoyable.
I really enjoyed reading “The Safety Delusion.” By not using Bitstrips the group was able to create a more realistic comic. I thought the pictures of real kids off of the internet made the topic more relatable to the reader. I think they did an incredible job of portraying their message through their choice of pictures. I also was impressed by their use of graphs and effects in their panels.
After learning about how to read and grasp comics from “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud, I definitely payed more attention to every detail while making my comic. I was very aware of the specific panel shape and how it would affect the reader’s interpretation of the comic. Specifically, I adjusted one panel by shifting it sideways. I remember Art Speigelman using this technique in Maus. By shifting a panel, the author alters the reader’s perception of the story. Learning these skills helped me portray my message much more clearly and more creatively. Creating the comic allowed me to take the skills I learned from each specific graphic novel in class and apply the teachings to my own project. The final project really enabled the class to utilize the skills we learned throughout the semester.
Follow this link to see our project! ->http://davidmorgen.org/comic4/
