Student Comic Strips

A veritable cornucopia of creations: some selected excerpts from the strip assignment where everything from beavers and bunnies, cheese-headed drunken babies and their malicious kitties, dates between frogs and robots, vampiric angels, horrific oranges, shapeshifting deer and God himself appear. Student characters entertain, amuse and in a few cases horrify the reader with a smorgasbord of scenarios spanning from romance to adventure, from comedy to completely insane. I personally am enjoying the hell out of the cumulative and spreading presence in the department's hallway showcases - gives the random passer-by something completely different, if not disturbing, to see enshrined and wonder just what the hell is going on in this class.

For the critique I had each student come up to the front of the room where all the strips were posted and do a "reading" of a different student's work. In this way we can quickly ascertain the relative effectiveness of the comic by how well it communicates meaning. Many times the interpretation is entirely different from its intended point - but is that the problem of the viewer or more the fault of the creator? 

Some further experimentation with different media, shading and texture is still going on; plus incorporating some conventional elements of design and composition along with basic legibility issues become more of a prominent concern at this stage. Deadlines are strictly adhered to - punctuality is an expected part of not just professionalism in the industry but a common courtesy well wort remembering when stuff is due at the appointed time. There's always the inevitable cajoling a couple students to bypass the bullshit and get over any mental hangups about how the work looks and just get it done. At the opposite end of the continuum are the few who could always use some more attention to detail and invest a bit more effort into their work. Then there's the ones who are doing just great enough as it is.

*Related post here.

"Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly.

It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become

ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self-conscious expostulation 

and the desire to join battle." - Walt Kelly