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"Telling Stories with Pictures"
By D. Swartzentruber

 

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Comic book store owner, Nick Kelly, shows examples of original sequential art from his personal collection.

When you are in the bay area don’t miss the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. After exiting the museum stroll down Mission Street and there you will find a little hole-in-the-wall gallery called The Cartoon Art Museum. In this space you will see some familiar toons that may not have experienced since childhood. After the nostalgia has passes spend some time examining the skill in which these artists handle an inking brush and tell these playful stories. 

The history of telling tales with drawings can be traced back to Lascaux cave paintings. When one picture was too restrictive to communicate the story, a series of sequential images were required. This process was used by the Roman’s on columns, Egyptian’s in hieroglyphics, the Myan’s, and even  medieval monks played no small part in illuminating the art form. The Yellow Kid was a benchmark in the format when it hit newspapers. Comic books started as small joke books morphed into different literary and artistic styles internationally. Often the word comic book is viewed as being limited to super heroes. While they are extremely popular in the States there is a literary and artistic style for anyone’s taste when readers do a little shopping.
 
Currently Warsaw High School’s Drawing II students are submersed in a sequential art unit where they are developing a two or more page story that they will communicate with a series of drawings. The students can collaborate with a writer, use public domain material, or craft their on short story and incorporate their own styles, as realistic or whimsical as they wish. The primary focus is for the artists to develop solid storyboard skills and communicate a sturdy narrative. They are not required to even have humans in the story. Local comic book artist Sally Scott demonstrated this to the students by drawing and inking a two page spread of a squid and shark fighting.

Nick Kelly, graphic artist at the Papers, was a guest speaker. In addition to his layout and design work he is also the owner of Chimps Comics in Warsaw. Nick arrived with a portfolio of original artwork from numerous professional artists and an arm load of published books. Students asked questions about the cross over of comics to film. Many confessed that comics seemed complicated to read. Mr. Kelly suggested that the average reader breezes through a book in under 20 minutes. He showed published work that defied the stereotypes; novels created using paint and watercolors, books without any words, etc. Student’s who do recreational reading out perform nonreaders in academics. Reading comics is a way to bridge reading and viewing in a way that some find more fulfilling then when separated.

Sally Scott,
Artist of Darkness Aftermath: Eye of the Storm
critiquing a students storyboard.

Sally Scott Comicbook artist



















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