WORKSHOP OVERVIEW:

Students will learn to create and

design their own one-page comic
books addressing social issues
relevant to them. Afterwards,
they can turn their work into ani-
mated short films using Mozilla’s
free online video editor, Popcorn
Maker.

LENGTH:
5-6 hours or a full day.

MATERIALS:
#2 pencils (HB)
white paper or card stock
erasers
black and blue pens
black markers
rulers, tape and scissors

TECH REQUIREMENTS:
computer with internet access
and web-browser
scanners or phone cameras

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Creating comic books is an ideal
and creative way to reach teen-
agers. This workshop engages
young people with digital media
and allows them to create charac-
ters and stories that address social
issues relevant to them and their
communities. This curriculum fits
easily into school and after-school
programs and also can be used at
community center and NGO pro-
grams.

SKILL LEVEL: Beginner

Priya’s Shakti
 PART 1: WHY?
Students receive an overview of
the workshop. Social issues
relevant to the students are dis-
cussed, along with how comic
books can creatively express
their points of view and develop
awareness.

LENGTH:
60 minutes

STEPS:
1. Instructor gives overview of the workshop and describes expectations for student work.
2. Instructor leads a breathing and stretching warm-up and an ice-breaker activity to get stu-
dents relaxed and engaged. Students introduce themselves to each other.
3. The entire group brainstorms some social issues in their schools and communities. The in-
structor writes the topics on the board or on a piece of chart paper with the question “Why are
these issues important to you?”
4. Each of the students picks one social issue he or she wants to explore in his/her comic.

POSSIBLE SOCIAL ISSUES TO DISCUSS:

Gender equality, representation of women in the media, bullying, domestic and gender-based
sexual violence, AIDS education, racism, gun violence in schools, “isms” and similar topics.

DISCUSSION:
Comic books are very diverse.
Some have superheroes like
Batman, Superman or Wonder
Woman, while others focus
on real people like a little girl
who comes of age against the
backdrop of a revolution in the
graphic novel, “Persepolis.”

All comic books have illustra-

tions, a story and a central
character.

QUESTIONS:
1. Who is your favorite superhero and why? Why would you create a superhero to fight people’s
problems?
2. Can comic books be about regular teenagers? Give some examples and why they are unique.
3. Who is the main character in your comic book? Is it you? What issue will you focus on? How will
your character overcome or address the problem?
DIFFERENT STYLES
OF COMIC BOOKS:
There are many different styles
of telling a story in comic
books. Popular genres range
from Japanese manga (left) to
simple stick characters (below)
by Teel McClanahan III. All tell
a story using panels. Comic
books are visual stories, so
there are interactions between
the different panels on each of
the pages.

FUMETTI:
Comics do not have to be
drawn with pencils on paper.
Today, lots of comic books
are created with computers
using software like Adobe
Photoshop. Some comics
are a series of photos or
movie stills with speech
balloons One classic exam-
ple is Star Trek (next page).
These comics are called
fumetti (Italian for “little puffs
of smoke”) after the speech
balloons.
PART 2: Who?
Students explore character de-
sign and learn the basic tech-
niques for drawing figures.

LENGTH:
60 minutes

STEPS:
1. The instructor leads a simple lesson on drawing the human body (See the module below.).
2. Students are broken up into pairs, and each student draws another. If time permits, pair stu-
dents with different partners and continue the exercise.
3. Have the students draw different facial gestures to add range to the expressions represented.

How to draw a person

By Carlos Gomes Cabral

Step 1:
We will start by building the head and body with rounded
shapes. Proportion is the most important factor to consider in
building a cartoon character. The artist should keep in mind the
relative size of the body parts, because, based on them, we’ll
define the structural features of our characters. It’s common
practice among designers to use pear shapes--or similar ob-
jects--to build the body’s structure, because of the association
that generates inside everybody’s head. Along with the propor-
tions, we added a few directional lines throughout the charac-
ter to guide us in relation to his bodily stance.

Step 2:
We will then add the lines that simulate the joints of skeleton.
Notice here that we’ve drawn a common posture for a cartoon
hero where the body weight shifts to just one leg. It’s import-
ant to mark the hip area in the format of a bowl, because it
is easier to see the movement. This movement in the hips is
essential to add dynamism to the posture.
Step 3:
Finally, we will include the details of the face and the muscles
of our character. To build the muscles you’ll need to have some
basic knowledge of anatomy. Otherwise it will be difficult to add
the right amount that the character needs. The gestures and
physical characteristics of your characters must be clear even
without any dialogue or scene orientation.

Step 4:
Once you’ve defined the whole person, we will add some cloth-
ing. By adding the costumes and ideal accessories, we have
achieved a great final result. Keep a sketch of the character
because he or she will need to be replicated in different pos-
tures and movements throughout the comic book. Later we will
go into inking and removing the sketch’s lines.

PART 3: How?
Students practice the basics of
storytelling from scripting the
comic book to composing each
panel. They explore the following
questions: How many panels do
I draw on each page? How do I
connect each panel to the oth-
ers? How do I get to the point of
my story quickly? Students de-
sign the panels using movie-style
concepts like close-up, long shot,
and placing backgound on the
page simply and easily.

LENGTH: 60 minutes

STEPS:
1. Students write out their script before drawing. They determine how many panels are required
to tell the story as well as what each panel will reveal and the dialogue for the panel (See the
module on the next page.).
2. Students draw the panels with a ruler and do rough sketches of the story in each panel with
their pencils.
 Writing a comic book Script
Before drawing their comic books, the students need to script their stories. Consider: What will
each panel tell us? How will the panels connect to tell the entire story? If they have personal sto-
ries, those are best and will be easier to script.

The first panel normally sets up the character and environment. In Jade’s comic book (below),
we learn that she is a teenager uncomfortable with her looks who is sulking in her bedroom. The
middle panels go further into the story and the problems she is dealing with in her daily life. In her
case, it is the unfair representation of women in the media. The last panel shows the results or
conclusion of her problem and how Jade will or will not address it. Below are her comic and script.
Notice how the captions and speech bubbles are presented in each panel. If possible, text should
be reduced or used sparingly. Let the visuals tell most of the story.

After their scripts are written and approved by the instructor, the students can begin by drawing
their panels using their pencils and rulers before roughly sketching the story in each panel.

Panel 1: Panel 2:
Medium shot: Jade is her bedroom look- Point-of-view: From Jade’s view, she is look-
ing into a mirror. She is displeased with ing at some fashion magazines.
her looks. Her shirt is rolled up to reveal
her hairy arms. Voice Bubble (Jade): I wish I looked like her!

Caption: When I was a young, I hated my Caption: I was conditioned into thinking Euro-
olive skin, hairy body, and big nose. pean features were the standard of beauty. I
wished I had white skin and a slender nose.
 Panel 3: Panel 4:
Medium shot: Jade is her bedroom looking Close-up: Jade pinching her nose. Her eyes
into a mirror again, but this time she is com- are cross-eyed.
fortable with her looks.
Caption: I still struggle accepting my nose. I
Caption: I had to learn how to love myself. My wax my brows, shave my legs, and try to fit in
brown skin and hairy arms. as much as I can.

Panel 5: Panel 6:
Medium Shot: Different fashion magazines Medium Shot: Jade hunches in a corner with
and a beautiful singer on TV. her head between her knees, looking sad.

Caption: If only people showed all races are Caption: Then thousands of girls, including
beautiful. If only we had more representation me, wouldn’t have hated the color of their
in the media. skin.
 PART 4: Wham!
Students finalize their comics
and discuss the techniques need-
ed to finish their work: lettering,
balloon placement, darkening the
lines and erasing pencil marks.

LENGTH:
120 minutes
I am a
Speech
balloon

STEPS:
1. Everyone is given time to work on their comic books.
2. Add captions and voice balloons. A caption is drawn in a box and provides additional in-
formation that the drawings is not conveying, while voice ballons are dialogue spoken by the
characters. Example is shown.
3. Thought bubbles are internal dialogue -- what the character is thinking. They are usually
drawn like clouds. Example is shown.
4. When the comic book is finalized, use the black marker to trace over all of the lines and text
to make it permanent. Then remove the pencil marks with the eraser.

I am a
thought
balloon

SURVEY &
ASSESSMENT:
Students complete survey ques-
tions, and the instructor assess-
es the outcome of the workshop.
These questions can be posed in a
formal written survey or informally
as a discussion.

LENGTH: 15 minutes

What did you like best about today’s workshop and why?
What did you find challenging and why?
What was something new that you learned today?
What did you learn about the social issue that you depicted?
How will use your comic book to educate your friends, family and community?
Do you have any suggestions about how we might improve today’s workshop?
Optional: What is your opinion of Mozilla’s Popcorn Maker?
 PART 5: Wow!
Using Mozilla’s free video editor,
Popcorn Maker, students turn
their comic books into animated
films and share them online with
their friends and family.

LENGTH:
60 minutes

STEPS:
1. Before teaching Popcorn Maker, become familiar with its capabilities and play around with
it. It is lots of fun and easy to learn.
2. Scan or take a photo of each panel in the comic book. Plan ahead because it might take
some time to scan all of the images.

STEPS:
3. Login to Mozilla’s Popcorn Maker:
[Link]
4. Copy the links that were generated
in step 2 into the “Create New Media
Clip” window, and the comic book
panels will appear in the time line.
5. Save the images online in a free
cloud-based service like Dropbox,
Microsoft’s One-drive or Google
Drive. Generate links for each image
by right-clicking the image and select
“share” or something similiar.

Credits:
This curriculum and lab were made
possible by a grant from the Hive
Digital Media Learning Fund in The
New York Community Trust. The
project is administered by City Lore
and Rattapallax. The lab was held at
Art and Design High School (M630) in
New York City. Special thanks to Ram
Devineni, Lorraine Liriano, Ivan Velez,
George Zavala, Jade Weaver, and the
students who participated in the lab.
More information can be found at
[Link]