Graphic Novels

We're working on graphic novels in my 8th grade Foundations II course. This is my class example. I'm way into this, and what's better? My students are blowing me away with their work. Photos of both mine and their finished work to follow.




Character Development Drawings (5 Drawings: Close Up, Full Body, Action (front), Action (back), Action (side))--as you can see I don't have time to finish my examples.

Rough Draft (Rules: Draw off the page, Black and white, 50/50)--Cut them apart and work out the sequence

Transfer to a nice piece of paper using light table, graphite powder, or transfer paper; Ink with sharpie, and add color with watercolor flat washes--I also photographed this and tweeked it on Photoshop. We may or may not do the last step in class.

For the student who isn't so visually inclined we read Robot Dreams by Sarah Varon; Wrote narrative for one chapter of the story; Interviewed the characters in Robot Dreams to get to know them; Created 10 interview questions for our own characters and interviewed them; Chose a story style (historical, fiction, myth, fairy-tale, personal experience, etc.); Mapped out our stories (Setting, Problem, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution); Cut apart Sarah's story and put it back together like a big ol' puzzle; Watched a video documentary on the life of a cartoonist; and, Read from this months edition of the Scholastic Art Magazine (which is stupendous and has a contest my students can enter their work in to win $200 worth of Prismacolor art supplies). It's been pretty labor intensive, but I think everything we did was worth it.

P.S. One of my fabulous 8th Graders already won a statewide art contest (Make Your Mark) earlier this year. So, my ego is successfully inflated, and I'm pretty sure I have at least 5 students whose novels could win this thing--for REAL.