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Cultural Comics
Studio I - Grades 10 &11
Irene Haji-Georgi
November 29, 2012

Marjane Satrapi, The Veil, page from Persepolis. Graphic Novel (2003). Iranian.

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION
Title: Cross Cultural Lesson: Cultural Comics Grades: High School, Grades 10 & 11 Class Size: 20 students Length of Project: 5 Class Periods, 45 minutes each Lesson Topic & Description: Taking inspiration from their last lesson which involved bookmaking, students will create a narrative in the form of illustrated comics. Students will explore different types of comics that reference cultural background or heritage to inform the cultural story they would like to relay. During their creative process, students will reflect on their backgrounds and cultural experiences in order to convey an individually specific story through their comics.

STAGE 1: DESIRED RESULTS

A. ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS: Artists reflect on their cultural histories and identities when creating meaningful works of art. Comics often encompass different types of characters, themes, dialogues and stories in the form of imagery and text to create a larger narrative.

B. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: How do artists communicate messages about their cultural backgrounds and identities through their artwork? What is a comic comprised of? How do comics visually tell a story?

C. STATE STANDARDS ADDRESSED: Standard 2. Elements and Principles of Design. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the elements and principles of design. Standard 3. Observation, Abstraction, Invention, and Expression. Students will demonstrate their powers of observation, abstraction, invention, and expression in a variety of media, materials, and techniques. Standard 5. Critical Response. Students will describe and analyze their own work and the work of others using appropriate visual arts vocabulary. When appropriate, students will connect their analysis to interpretation and evaluation.

 D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: The students will examine and interpret works by artists of different cultural backgrounds that create comics. The students will incorporate their knowledge about narrative to visually display a coherent theme and structure to their stories. The students will create at least five pages of their comic to interpret a story based on their cultural backgrounds. The students will experiment with and expand on their knowledge of drawing and illustration. The students will be able to create a successful composition through the careful arrangement of their illustrations and comic panels. The students will visually communicate a meaningful personal dialogue related to their cultural identities using both images Sample benchmark of my own and text. culturally reflective comic, 2012.

STAGE 2: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE

A. PERFORMANCE TASK OR FINAL PRODUCT: The final product will be the students interpretation of his or her own comic, which informs the viewer/reader about the artist who created it. A technically successful example will be a well-designed narrative through the use of visual and literary composition incorporating the use of panels, splash pages and word bubbles over the span of at least five comic pages. It will be created either in a book that the student has made, or in a magazine that he/she has altered. The comic must reflect the students unique identity, background or cultural history through the visual and literary narrative. B. CONTINUUM OF ASSESSMENTS: Students will participate in a class discussion about comics. Students will use their storyboards or sketchbooks to brainstorm and create preliminary sketches which will be discussed with the teacher. Students will answer questions and turn in an activity sheet about three other students work after our final swapping activity. Students will evaluate themselves by writing a one paragraph reflective response to the project and its significance. Students will participate in a class critique upon completion of the project.

 C. CRITERIA: Did the student use the mediums available to expand on his/her knowledge of drawing and illustration? Did the student organize a technically successful composition? Did the student create at least five pages of his/her comic? Did the student (try to) use inspiration from other artists to creatively problemsolve in his or her comic? Did the student create visual and conceptual depth with his/her comic? Did the student make a meaningful visual/literary statement about his or her cultural history, background or identity? Did the student complete the question sheet and self-evaluation as well as participate in class discussion and critique?

STAGE 3: LEARNING PLAN

A. MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT: Students handmade books to work in or (provided) magazines for alteration. Assorted glues & adhesives Scissors Pencils Erasers Acrylic paint Paint brushes Water cups Watercolors Watercolor pencils Colored pencils Markers

Keiji Nakazawa, Detail from pages from Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima. Graphic Novel (2004). Japanese.

B. VOCABULARY WITH DEFINITIONS: Comic Book The term now describes any format that uses the combination of words and pictures to convey a story, and can be applied to both the medium itself and the periodical form. As a result, all graphic novels are comic books, but not all comic books are graphic novels. Panel A part of the comic book page that may be contained by something like a visual frame. Multiple panels put together and arranged in a sequential order tell a story. A panel in a comic is the equivalent of a scene in a movie.

 Word Balloon Also called a word bubble or speech bubble, it is a balloon-like object with the dialogue of the characters inside sometimes having a tail directed towards character who is speaking or thinking . Splash Page A page in the comic where the scene fills the whole page, usually used to make a dramatic statement in the story and often at the climax. Graphic Novel Typically bound books with a longer narrative, may also be a collection of previously printed material. Basically, a larger and longer comic book with a nice cover!

C. VISUAL IMAGE RESOURCES: Andokides Painter and Lysippides Painter, Two-handled jar (amphora) with Achilles and Ajax, (c. 525520 B.C.). Greek, Archaic Period. Ceramic, Red Figure and Black Figure. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (RIGHT) The Antiope Group, Water jar (hydria) with the chariot of Achilles dragging the corpse of Hektor, (c. 520-510 B.C.). Greek, Archaic Period. Ceramic, Black Figure. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ellen Forney, Junior Gets to School, How to Pretend Youre Not Poor, and White/Indian, from The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Illustrated Novel (2000). Keiji Nakazawa, Pages from Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima. Graphic Novel (2004). Japanese. Marjane Satrapi, The Veil, pages from Persepolis. Graphic Novel (2003). Iranian. (Unknown Artist), Two-handled jar (amphora) with wrestlers, (c. 520 B.C.). Greek, Archaic Period. Ceramic, Black Figure. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (LEFT)

 D. TEXT, MEDIA AND WEB RESOURCES Previous visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Text Resources Abel, J. (2006). La Perdida. New York: Pantheon Books.

Alexie, S. (2007). The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Art by Ellen Forney). New York: Little, Brown and Company. Miranda, C. A. (2011). Comic Relief: The boundary between fine art and graphic novels has grown increasingly porous. ARTnews, 110 (9), 92-99. Nakazawa, K. (2004). Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima (Volume 1). San Fransisco, CA: Last Gasp of San Francisco. Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Paris, France: LAssociation. Satrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. New York: Pantheon Books. Web Resources Pantheon Books. (2012). The Veil from Marjane Satrapis Persepolis. Retrieved from: http://pantheon.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/06/30/the-veil-from-marjane-satrapispersepolis/ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (2012) Collection Search. Retrieved from: http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/ E. TEACHER INSTRUCTION: Teacher will introduce the lesson after a bookmaking unit and a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Teacher will recap what the class learned at the Museum and engage the class in discussion about the visit. Teacher will introduce the concept of Cultural Comics and the new project through the use of a PowerPoint presentation depicting comics of artists of different cultures. Teacher will give out sheet of Questions to Consider to aid students engagement in Visual Thinking Strategies during the presentation. Questions will include:

Consider different parts of the story; what happens in the beginning, middle and end? How do we see visual progression happening? Is it linear? Do the frames always have to be square or rectangular? Consider text; do we need captions to figure out what is happening in the story? Teacher will introduce works by artists Marjane Satrapi, Ellen Forney, and Keiji Nakazawa, who have worked in comic format and pose the following questions for discussion: What do you see here?
Ellen Forney, White/Indian, from The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Illustrated Novel (2000).

Is the progression of events clear? Where is this taking place? In what form do we see the text? What kind of meaning or dialogue is created as a result of the images and text being displayed together?

Teacher will show imagery of ancient Greek vases (seen on visit to the MFA) to provide a graphic comparison and to catalyst inquiry and discussion with the following questions: What do you see here? Compared to the works we have just examined, what similarities or differences do you see ? What might be happening here? If there were word bubbles, what might they be saying?

Teacher will describe, in detail, the concept and requirements of the project. This includes materials to be used for the presentation of the comic and the multiple ways to approach the illustration with the various media at the students disposal. Teacher will go over questions that the students may use to begin brainstorming ideas. Students should be able to answer most of these questions as they approach a final product.

Brainstorm Questions What kind of culturally specific stories can you think of related to your background? Have you heard any legends or myths growing up? What are some themes that run through your family?
Marjane Satrapi, Detail from The Veil, from Persepolis. Graphic Novel (2003). Iranian.

What kind of traditions do you participate in?

Narrative Will your story have drama? Mythology? Comedy? Where will the story take place? What is the plot; answer who does what, where, and why? What happens at the beginning, middle and end of the story? What thoughts or ideas would you like readers/viewers of your comic to come away with? Technical Content What kind of materials will you use? How will you set up your panels and break up your pages? How will you incorporate text into your comic? Teacher will check-in with each student after they have had half of a working day to brainstorm on their storyboards in order to guide them in making decisions on their finalized ideas for the comic. Teacher will lead and explain the comic swapping activity after making three color copies of each final product. The teacher will have the students write a self-reflective evaluation about their finished pieces.

 The teacher will lead a class critique where all the students will share their work and get feedback from the rest of their peers.

F. LEARNING ACTIVITY: Students will discuss the artists and works presented to them during the presentation of the new material. Students will use their storyboards to brainstorm ways of displaying their cultural identities, backgrounds or histories using their own form of comic illustration. Students will check-in with teacher about materials and subject matter/meaning of their comics during the first workday. Students will use image and text on a variety of panels over a span of five comic pages. For the final product, students will choose to alter a magazine or to use a book they made in our previous unit. Students will create a unique comic which makes a statement about the students cultural identities or backgrounds. Students will receive three color copies of their comics to participate in a swapping activity during class time. Students will exchange each of their three copies with another students comic and will answer the following questions (to turn in) about the comic they are looking at: What kind of story or legend is represented? Provide a brief 2-3 sentence summary. Is the progression of events clear? Why or why not? How is your classmates comic similar or different than your own? Consider content and composition both visually and literally. What have you learned about your classmates background? Students will get to keep a copy of the comic that he/she reviewed, or they can choose to keep swapping until they have gotten to read all of them. Students will write a self-reflective evaluation or personal statement about their own comics. Students will participate in a class critique. DIFFERENTIATION: Students who are English language learners may create their comic in their first language for a more authentic expression, as long as they provide a translation for their classmates and the teacher to read.