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Four Panel Drawings with the Invisibles
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11 thoughts on “Four Panel Drawings with the Invisibles”
Four panel is perfect for me. Good artists get it cranked out much sooner in time to talk about it. I have one class that has trouble completing a 4 panel with two artists! Any suggestions?
My students have a hard time getting past the one word image type thing and into the story. Now that we have a bank of characters to choose from whose basic backgrounds are known I think I’m going to start pushing through a 4 frame story.
Of course OWI is just a means to get an emergent story going. If you have a stable of horses ready to run, get one out on the track and start the story. Key is the interest on the part of the class. If they like a character, just start a story, no OWI needed.
I liked doing just the 4 as well. First panel character/ with whom & where, 2nd panel problem, 3rd panel next location, 4th panel last location and solution…
I guess that takes out one of the locations but it worked well with my 7/8th graders and didn’t make it too long. Also, since we already have the main character, there doesn’t need to be a huge focus on drawing it. I agree with Steve that my artists have trouble finishing in time and 4 panels is plenty.
A very helpful post – thank you!
Question: Actors up? If so, at what point?
Don thanks for being such a great host in SF last summer! The answer here is simple. Do it the same old way, i.e. when it occurs to you that you need an actor up. For me this happens as early as the end of the Town Meeting but usually happens toward the end of Questioning Level 2 when we are describing the drawing. If it hasn’t happened by then, it will when you arrive at QL 3, Where?, because you will need to set the “stage” for the story that is about to unfold. Clear?
I must admit I have missed something: what is the Town Meeting?
(It was a pleasure to host everyone this summer. Your workshop went so well that we are hosting a one day inservice workshop with Alina Filipescu on Oct. 10th. It´s so powerful to get people together!)
I’ll get back to you on the Town Meeting by email, Don.
Ill be heading that way Don. See you the 10th.
For these stories I think Ben’s right that you need a character that is exciting. Group has to want to see what happens. Also, you need a group of kids that actually have imagination and can pay attention for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. Not always possible. Still a collection of OWIs is better than 3 chapters in the text book!!
I agree with you Craig and it can’t be said enough. I took like five pages in that new book just talking about the importance of attention to details of color, design, eyes and mouth especially in the drawings of the Invisibles. It is impossible to downplay the importance of a clean, colorful, striking image by a real artist. For some reason, kids and even their teachers have been so infected with the “I only want to know what is on the test” virus that they are accepting crappy Invisibles drawings. Might as well quit them instead. Do major corporations come up with carelessly created images for their logos and advertising campaigns? Whatever their artist comes up with is fine? There is a reason they spend millions of dollars on doing things as minute as testing different shades of the same color. It is what attracts the eye. Better not start with the Invisibles unless we are willing to make sure that our OWI images work, are visually striking, big enough to dominate the room, invite interest to know more.