Create, Play
& Explore
Create Your Own
Comic Strip
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Create, Play
& Explore |
Samples of comic strips (Sunday funnies preferred)
Markers or crayons or colored pencils
Drawing paper
Pencil
Ruler
Tracing paper (optional)
Read through the activity.
Display the comic strips.
Set out the supplies.
Comic strips can tell very funny stories. Children create comic strips so that they can tell detailed stories with a limited vocabulary. In just three to six scenes or frames, the cartoon artist uses all the elements of good story telling to make us laugh. Like any story, a cartoon strip begins by setting the scene, introducing the characters, and presenting a situation. The next frames will develop the plot, i.e., the situation, until it reaches a climax or punch line. Finally, the strip will have an ending – usually a frame that looks a lot like the first one, so that it ends close to where it began and the whole story feels unified. Look for these story parts in the comic strips found in the newspaper. Newspaper comic strips are most likely to give you examples of stories in a few frames. The Sunday edition is especially good because the strips are in color. Comic strip artists will combine or spread out the story parts, depending on the story.
In comic strips artists rely on words and images together to tell the story or joke. You can tell where the story takes place and what kind of day it is by the background scene. You can tell who is in the story and how they feel by the expressions and gestures drawn in the characters. You can even tell a lot of the action by the way the artist depicts movement. The words give voice to the characters, adding to their personality. They provide the story line and usually carry the punch line. In the best cartoons, every line, shape and word are essential to the story.
1. Look at favorite cartoon strips. Talk about how the artist sets the scene, tells about the characters, and presents the situation in the first frames. Then how the story develops. What is the punch line? How does the drawing help the punch line? How does the cartoon end?
2. Think of a story or joke. On scrap paper, plan out how to tell it in three to six frames. What shapes, etc. will you repeat from one frame to the next?
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3. Using a ruler, make a storyboard or cartoon strip by drawing three to six rectangles close to each other. The sizes may vary. Or using Word draw or Paint program draw a series of rectangles on the computer and print several to draw on free hand. 4. Draw your cartoon strip and color it. 5. Show others. See if they get your joke. If they don’t, ask them for suggestions, change your cartoon and show them again. Cartoon artists often have a whole staff of people helping them create jokes and stories that the audience will understand and enjoy. |
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How did you begin your comic strip? What was your setting? How did you present the situation?.
How did you use line to express feeling or action?
What did you repeat from one frame to the next? How did you unify your frames and story?
Create another comic strip using the same characters in a different situation.
Create a comic story using the sketchbook and story board in Disney’s Magic Artist.
EnhanceCreate you own TV cartoons. Make a TV monitor out of a cardboard box. Create a cartoon story (six or more frames) on a long roll of paper. Tape the roll to two cardboard tubes inserted through the TV on either side of the “screen” . Wind one tube to advance the cartoon through the TV. |
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Make a picture storybook.
The children:
Created a story with a beginning, middle, and ending.