Comics Workshop @ HDMS

Sample sequence of a virtual residency week (March-April 2021):

This sequence of resources & activities guided students in creating their own original Civil War comics projects. As a demo, I worked on a page from my graphic novel-in-progress, Freeman Colby Vol. 3.

JUMP TO: RESEARCH | DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4

RESEARCH: PRIMARY SOURCES

• Wikipedia.org = A starting point for dates, names, & basic facts. See especially:
  • External Links >>
• LOC.gov = The US Library of Congress has lots of primary source documents. See esp.:
  • MAIN READING ROOM: Selected Resources
  • “The Civil War in America” (Exhibit)
  • Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints
• …

Harper’s Weekly Volumes:

Collected newspapers, 1861-1865 = Excellent source of primary source news & images.

Godey’s Lady’s Book

DAY 1 NOTES:

F.A.S.T. Visual Storytelling Toolbox:

Doodling together to explore our options:

DAY 2 NOTES:

Comics Pages

Today we set up a basic 3-panel “Setting-Action-Result” page & a demo Splash Page too:

MORE PAGE LAYOUTS >>

Here’s how we begin to craft comics about student-selected topics:

DEMO PAGE:

Here’s a page Marek started penciling with the group:

Marek’s sources for details about the Battle of the Wilderness:

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Visual Source: “Skirmish in the Wilderness” (Winslow Homer)

Video Series: Drawing Winslow Homer’s “Wilderness” >>

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Visual Source: Marek’s Visit to Wilderness Battlefield

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A penciled draft page:

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How to Draw Freeman Colby / Demo “Splash” Panel:

NOTE: I’m drawing this page WITHOUT penciling — Don’t try this at home, unless you’ve already drawn an entire 300+ page graphic novel as practice!

DAY 3 NOTES:

Next steps in our P*I.E. Process:

CONFERENCE DEMO:

Marek’s artwork, pre-conference:

Post-conference, w/ markups & pencil edits:

Inked (& patched):

An alternate 4-panel approach to the same page — Drawing LESS:

RESEARCH DEMO:

Soldier’s Rest, Alexandria Virginia” (LOC.gov)

DAY 4 NOTES:

More inking & edits: