Welcome to this brief introduction to WR120: The Graphic Self, a First-Year Writing Seminar in Boston University's Arts & Sciences Writing Program. In this course, which currently holds an ESL designation, students read four graphic memoirs and engage in conversations about the blurry boundaries between fiction and non-fiction, past and present, public and private, and about how images can communicate the invisible (emotions, concepts, the senses, etc.). Throughout the semester, students receive regular opportunities to establish their own "graphic self" and to adopt some of the unique visual strategies employed in each of the memoirs we are reading, ultimately culminating in the creation of their own short graphic memoir at the end of the semester.
Continue below to see a sampling of students' creative work in this course. *Note: All student work is featured with permission from the students.
In-Class Exercise: Two-Minute Self-Portraits
At the start of every class session, students complete a 2-minute self-portrait on an index card, which is an activity inspired by cartoonist and professor Lynda Barry. Sometimes I offer no guidance, and students depict themselves in whatever manner and situation comes to mind. Other times, I use specific panels and visual strategies from our graphic memoirs as inspiration for how they will portray themselves on their index card. This routine brief exercise at the start of class focuses students on the course topic and on visual communication, and it gives them opportunities to employ some of the graphic techniques used by the authors/artists to establish multiple versions of their own "graphic selves."
The image above employs a technique used repeatedly by Marjane Satrapi in her graphic memoir Persepolis, which features the protagonist, Marji, looking directly at the reader with her finger raised and making a declaration.
Below is an assortment of student index cards portraying a variety of graphic strategies discussed in the texts we read throughout the semester.
In the selection of index cards below, students were asked to communicate an internal conflict, depicting themselves as torn between at least two options. This technique was also inspired by a panel from the graphic memoir Persepolis.
Homework Assignment: Graphic Reading Responses
Once students are more than halfway through a graphic memoir, I assign what I call a Graphic Reading Response. These assignments allow them to enter into important conversations and debates about the narratives in a low-stakes way. After their response to the text, I ask them to make a connection with a past experience of their own, and then draw (by hand or digitally) at least one panel conveying that experience while adopting the graphic style of the graphic memoir they've been reading. In this way, each Graphic Reading Response combines a textual response and a visual (graphic) response, which offers students more practice in visually communicating personal experience and emotion, while also preparing them for the short graphic memoir they will need to create in the last module of our course.
To the left is a student's response to the graphic memoir Stitches, adopting author David Small's graphic style to convey her own experience. See more samples of student work below.
Below is a selection of student graphic responses adopting the graphic style of Art Spiegelman's Maus, portraying themselves as animals in a situation in which they experienced guilt.
Below is a selection of graphic responses conveying students' own experiences in the graphic style of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, using the sharp contrast between solid black and white and portraying a memory in which they experienced cultural stereotyping:
Below is a selection of graphic responses conveying students' own experiences in the graphic style of David Small's Stitches, emphasizing Small's shifting use of perspective and grayscale to portray how they coped with difficult situations when they were younger.
Below is an assortment of student graphic responses to Allie Brosh's blog/web comic, Hyperbole and a Half, which asked them to depict a past issue with self-control, and it finally gave them the opportunity to experiment with color!
Drawing & Memory Exercises
As students transition from Module 2 to Module 3, I have them complete several different drawing and memory exercises to get them critically reflecting on potential experiences that they may want to convey in their graphic memoir, and what graphic strategies they could use to communicate their experience most effectively. Some of these are homework exercises (particularly the memory brainstorming); some are in-class activities (particularly the drawing exercises). We spend a great deal of time focusing on narrative structure, dissecting the short narratives of Hyperbole and a Half as examples. We also discuss color theory and they get practice coloring in spaces solid black or using warm vs. cool colors to see how it changes the mood and adds to what they want to communicate.
Final Project: Short Graphic Memoir
At the end of the semester, students showcase what they have learned about how images communicate, and about narrative voice and structure, and they create their own short graphic memoir of at least 12 panels. The personal nature of this assignment logically makes it very meaningful for students, and they take great care in their narrative and graphic choices as they confront many of the issues we were discussing all semester (especially questions of authenticity and fiction vs. nonfiction). Most students draw by hand, though some students with tablets choose to create their graphic memoirs digitally. In the end, this project ends up being much more work than students first anticipate, but their personal investment in it makes the entire process (which can get supremely frustrating at times, having to re-create panels or entire pages!), gratifying and enjoyable.
Below are three sample graphic memoirs from my pilot WR120 course in Spring 2018.
Graphic Memoir Sample #1: "The Truth About Pablo"
Graphic Memoir Sample #2: "Meow Meow"
Graphic Memoir Sample #3: "The Flight"
If you have any questions about my course or any ideas for assignments, please feel free to contact me at layoder@bu.edu
THANK YOU!
Credits:
All images are taken from student work completed for class, with their permission to share.