1. Comic Activity
Create a three to four-panel comic strip that depicts an event that took place over your break. Choose an event that turned out differently than you expected. Be sure to include captions and speech bubbles to make the action clear.

2. Graphic Novel Terms

3. Same format as comic books
Text AND illustrations present information
Medium, not genre
Book-length, usually contain one story

4. How to Read a Graphic Novel Page
Graphic novels are read left to right, just like traditional texts

5. Dialog Balloons
dialog balloons are read left to right or top to bottom as is appropriate. 1 4 2 3 5

6. Sometimes it can get a little more complicated…

7. But the basic left to right rule still applies to panels2 1 3
But the basic left to right rule still applies to panels 4

8. and dialog balloons as well2
and dialog balloons as well 1 3 4 5 6 7

9. Figures—things to note
Faces
As with real people, appearances—especially facial
expressions—are important.
Portraits – depict individual people
Iconic – represent an idea or group of people;

10. Figures—Hands and Feet
Hands/Feet positioning can express what is happening, for instance:
Hands raised with palms out might suggest surprise
Wringing of hands suggests obsequiousness or discomfort
Hands over mouth might depict fear, shame, or shyness
Turned in feet may denote embarrassment

11. Size of text
The size of the text and the font can also have an impact on the message.

12. Caption vs. Speech Balloon

13. Text
Special-effects lettering – method of drawing attention to text; it often highlights onomatopoeia and reinforces the impact of words such as
Boom!

14. Pages consist of a variety of elements
A Graphic Novel Page
Pages consist of a variety of elements
Dialog Balloons-contain communication between/among characters
Thought Balloons-contain a character’s thoughts
Captions-contain narrator’s information about a scene or character

15. Layout
Panel – a distinct segment of the comic, containing a combination of image and text in endless variety
Spatial arrangement allows an immediate juxtaposition of the present and the past
Transitions are instantaneous and direct but the exact timing of the reader’s experience is determined by focus and reading speed.
Frame – the lines and borders that contain the panels

16. Layout Gutter – the space between framed panels
Bleed – an image that extends to and/or beyond the edge of the panel

17. Panel, Frame, Gutter, Bleed

18. No gutter….why?

19. Layout Foreground – the panel/visual “closest” to the viewer
Midground – allows centering of image by using natural resting place for vision.
The artist deliberately decides to place the image where a viewer would be most likely to look first.
Placing an image off-center or near the top or bottom can be used to create visual tension but using the midground permits the artist to create a more readily accepted image.
Background – provides additional, subtextual information for the reader

21. Layout
Graphic weight – describes the way some images draw the eye more than others, creating a definite focus using color and shading in various ways including:
Light and dark shades; dark-toned images or high-contrast images draw the eye more than light or low-contrast images do

23. Summary
Ideally, you’ll glean the most from a graphic novel both by reading and looking. A good exercise to strengthen both skills is to examine one page several times, breaking it down into separate parts.

24. Pass out blank Persepolis Page
By only looking at these pictures, can you figure out what is happening? Fill in the blanks to this page—the captions and the dialogue balloons.

26. What can you see and learn?
What do you learn from reading just the boxes of text and dialogue balloons, without looking at the pictures?
Now put them back together and look for connections and disparities between the pictures and the text. When do the pictures illustrate the words, and when do the words clarify the pictures? Does the combination of what is shown and what is told change the meaning of each individually? Can you spot any visual puns?

27. Page 3 con’t How do the frames and gutters match the mood?
How many panels? How are panels the same? How are they different?
What do you learn from the captions?

28. Look at the second panel where the author is sitting with a group of little girls all wearing veils. The caption reveals that we can see only a little bit of the author’s arm.
What is the significance of this caption to the other captions on this page?
What do you think the author is foreshadowing?

29. Look at third panel that shows a number of people protesting.
How does this panel compare to the others?
What does darkness symbolize?