The Secret Language of Comics

Tag: reflection

Halfa Kucha Reflection

Student Posts

I took a different approach from most of my pieces of writing when I began constructing my argument for this Halfa-Kucha. I tried to combine aspects from previous assignments namely the tracing pages assignment and the second part of the literacy narrative. Like the tracing pages assignment I tried to build this from the ground up. Because I have digital copies of both Kindred and Stitches, I began by screenshotting various scenes that were related to trauma or recovery, and then I annotated each screenshot. Using the annotations I chose a related Judith Herman quote and began drafting up the structure of the argument. Here, I took inspiration from the second part of my literacy narrative where I try to represent my flow of ideas in an abstract, non-linear way. I drew arrows, concept maps, and webs. Finally I linearized this representation into the series of slides we see above.

For the slides I took a minimalist approach due to the nature of the presentation being just under three and a half minutes. Due to the short time, my words would be dense and important so I did not want to draw attention away from the argument by having ornate slides. Writing the script for this Halfa Kucha was challenging because I did not want to speak fast, because comic panels are already dense and the audience’s’ attention would be split. I tried to take a minimalist approach with my words, and I timed how long it would take to say each slide at a moderate pace.

Overall I liked this presentation style because it forced you to be minimalist, making sure every choice I took served a purpose. I also think the way I went about constructing this argument was more aligned with how I think, so I will definitely be using a similar method in the future. One thing that I might change in a different setting is getting rid of the timing and making it just slightly less scripted to make have a more conversational tone for certain audiences.

Halfa-Kucha Reflection

Student Posts

Constructing an argument to present to the class felt like creating a compressed essay, in a way, yet not quite. It felt as if I was typing an essay while I typed my script but a big difference was the way my script was much shorter—only 2 pages long—compared to my essays which are usually 3-4 pages, largely due to the fact that I wasn’t going into extreme detail presenting my argument. In an essay, I’ll spend lengthy paragraphs trying to prove whatever I’m arguing, however constructing my argument for this format forced me to just cut straight to the chase and share my main points within the time limit. I think the way I decided to organize my presentation is something I could make use of in my written work, mainly because I started off my planning as if I was writing an essay: presenting my argument and pointing to specific evidence supporting it. Because I was sort of stuck in this mindset of crafting like a mini essay to then just translate into a visual presentation—this was very much comparable to my process in my seminar class last semester in which I had to write a research paper and make a powerpoint presentation—my analytical thinking process generally did not feel any different. For the visuals of my presentation, I decided to go with the basic setup of literally presenting what I was saying. I know for me personally, if there’s no words on a presentation, I can keep up and remain engaged if I can see the connection between the oral argument and the visuals presented, so that’s why I went with that decision for my presentation.

By giving this type of presentation, it helped me realize how important it is to choose appropriate and significant visuals and to decide what are the most important parts of your argument to emphasize on within the time limit of the slide. Because there was time constraints per slide, it made me organize much more specifically what I said and when; if I had to say a bit more about a certain topic I extended it out for at least 2 slides but otherwise I tried to stick to “one thing per slide”. This presentation also made me stick to a very concise script—I couldn’t go off on tangents or if I stuttered I had to recover immediately because the clock was ticking on the current slide. While I had to stay synchronized with my automatically switching slides, I also had to be speaking slow enough so my peers could comprehend and keep up with what I was saying. Previous presentations I’ve done only have an overall presentation time limit so I chose how long I got to spend on certain slides—which unfortunately sometimes made me include too many things per slide and most likely minimized the engagement and focus of my audience. One thing I noticed in some of my classmates’ presentations was including specific quotes on their slides. Although we all stuck to mainly images, I realized that emphasizing specific quotes allows the audience to capture the significance of it—I think if I had included the quotes I cited orally it would’ve definitely helped emphasize my argument.

Halfa Kucha Reflection

Student Posts

The writing process for my halfa kucha was similar to writing a paper. I brainstormed preliminary ideas about how trauma and recovery were portrayed in the two books I chose. I started with one book and then it was easier for me to directly compare the other book to those points. After I had my main points, I wrote a script for what I wanted to say in each subsection. There were two big subsections, the two themes about society’s view of the characters’ trauma, and within each subsection there were three detailed section, one for each book and one related to the quotes from Herman. I went back through, timed myself, and cut down significantly on the script so that each “paragraph” only took up 20 seconds or less. I normally write a lot of fluff because it sometimes takes me a while to get to the point depending on the writing piece I’m working on. I was surprised I didn’t have a lot more to take out when editing.

I chose visuals after writing my script. It was easier this way because I only had to look for frames that aligned with what I had written. I think it would’ve been personally harder to do it vice versa. I tried to choose scenes that the audience would recognize and wouldn’t take too much time to read. I overall didn’t mind this style of presentation. The time limit helped me cut down on what I wanted to say in order to get to the point and be concise. While giving the presentation, I didn’t like the time limit because it felt rushed and naturally, I ten to take a longer time to think about what I want to say before talking. There were points in my presentation where I had to forgo important points that I wish I had time to bring up or clarify. I liked how other people’s presentations were even more concise and really easy to follow although I think it would take a lot of time and editing for me to cut down further in my writing.

Literacy Narrative Part 3 Reflection

Student Posts

The comic that I drew in the second part of the literacy narrative was very different from my written narrative in part one. The second part of literacy narrative felt more true to my experiences than the first part. I stated in the reflection from part one, I felt uncomfortable writing that narrative and the effect is that the writing feels distant and less personal. In this third part of the narrative I return to the written medium after the comic. Because the comic was so different, most of the narrative is new to match what occurs in the comic. In the end, I think that the third part felt more personal and simpler because I started from the comic. Writing it felt less analytical, and it felt more like I was telling a story. Taking all three parts into consideration, I think this whole collection really demonstrates that my mind doesn’t really work in terms of words, and that I have to translate ‘images’ in my mind into those words. The first part of the narrative felt uncomfortable because I went straight from my thoughts to writing. The comic as a medium in the second part was a better representation of my thoughts because it combined images and words, which felt more comfortable to me. The comic drawing process was almost like an intermediate step of converting my thoughts to words, because I was not limited to only using words. Once this intermediate step was done, it was much easier to fully convert the narrative into words because part of the work was already done. This lead to the more comfortable feeling of this third part.

Literacy Narrative Part 3 Reflection

Student Posts

After completing the entire process of the literacy narrative, it—first and foremost—feels relieving but also I have definitely gained a new insight on the writing process and helped me meet the learning outcomes for this class.

By first writing the alphabetic literacy narrative, I created the foundational “script” to then craft my comic. When I was writing my alphabetic narrative I was mainly focused on writing in the most descriptive way possible without going overboard either. However, once I was crafting my comic I became more concerned with what parts of my alphabetic narrative I should transcribe into a visual representation in addition to textual information and how to do so in a manner that the narrative would remain clear for my audience. When drafting the format of my comic, I looked back at the past readings we have done to see how the authors implemented their choices of moment, image, word, and such as Scott McCloud represented them in his Making Comics text.

This entire literacy narrative project really emphasized the concept of the writing process being long and including multiple revisions and drafts. I made at least two drafts for Part 1 and it still felt rough; I roughly sketched out a couple different possibilities for the format of my pages; I went back to Part 1 and sort of completely redrafted it, changing the organization and adding some details. After having worked in the visual medium then returning to a text narrative, it’s what helped me reorganize my timeline as well as encouraging me to use photos in my post that also added to the narrative as it’s being read. That being said, while my comic is definitely full of more visuals than this final copy of my literacy narrative, I think I do fall short in some of the visuals in my comic simply because I don’t have such high artistic skills. Having worked in the visual medium before returning to text once again made me think of more ways in which I could be more descriptive—areas in which I thought my comic’s visuals themselves lacked detail.

Literacy Narrative Part 3

Literacy Narrative Part 3 Reflection

Student Posts

As a whole, the literacy narrative project has helped me achieve many of the learning outcomes for this class. The process of transforming my written literacy narrative into a comic allowed me to write across different genres and formats. I used technology for the large majority of the process, more so in making the comic version. I published the different formats of the narrative to my website, a digital platform. I used an app to create my comics, with the use of typed text, images from the Web, and other technological elements. Overall, the process involved the repetition of research, drafting, editing, and reflecting. I went through multiple drafts of the written text to make sure it sounded good and the comic in order to see which format of frames I liked the best. After getting feedback from classmates and other peers, I implemented changes so that my comic would be a better experience for readers. As I edited the comic, it inspired me to make a few edits to the written text as well. I was then able to rewrite the narrative back into text form based on my final comic.

It was interesting to return to the alphabetic narrative after finalizing my comic. I think the comic was really helpful in that it helped me simplify my narrative. This is meant in a good way – I was able to get rid of unnecessary details and make the actual story shine through. In my first drafts of the written narrative, I included a lot of fluff and I honestly didn’t have a clear path for the story to follow. After reviewing the comic, I decided to focus specifically on my public library experience rather than talk about my experiences outside of that realm. I am glad I made this shift because it made me feel more grounded and I could actually analyze the effects the realm has had on my perceptions of reading and writing. Also, I think it has a positive effect on readers in that they don’t have to go between distinct, vaguely connected ideas. In the earlier drafts, it seemed like certain parts of my narrative went along with different “thesis” statements, which could be confusing. My views of these memories has also been focused in a way. Instead of a general comment about how reading and writing is no longer fun to me, I now think about how these activities are still fun to me, it’s just my perspective changes depending on the setting. At school, I dislike them because it feels forced and stresses me out. However, at the public library, I am relaxed because to me, it symbolizes freewill and exploration based on past experiences.

Link to narrative rewrite: https://selazzioui.wordpress.com/literacy-narrative-part-3/

Literacy Narrative Comic Reflection

Student Posts

To be honest, this comic assignment was a challenge for me. When I first knew that there is an assignment that I have to draw a comic, I was so panicked, since I am not a good drawer and I was not confident to convert my written task about my experience that shaped my writing skill into a visual comic. At first, I was struggled with this, since I felt like I was losing a lot of the details and it was hard to choose the right frame that fits a page and goes well with my drawing. I had some useless spaces left on the page, because I could not pick a perfect frame. Also, showing the atmosphere of the situation and feelings of that characters through my deficient drawing skill. It was annoying to have a clear image and specific vision of what I wanted my drawing to look like, but it was not possible to actually realize it due to my lack of skills. However, the more I drew each page, I could feel that I was improving my skills of choosing the right frame and showing a clear storyline on each panel. 

After I struggled and finished my comic with the peer feedback, I realized that the details are just shown in a different way through the process of arranging and editing. Since the main events and important parts of my writing were in my comic, there was no problem understanding the story and message, even though there were fewer descriptions. Through drawing a comic, I could even have a better understanding of my own literacy narrative. Also, I could find some unnecessary parts that I have to get rid of and significant parts that I have to focus more on when I write my literacy narrative 3. I have been taught to easily find the main important parts from my essay and compose written texts in a comic. This assignment was a rewarding experience, even though there were challenges that I had to overcome. 

My final Literacy Narrative Comic

Comic Reflection

Student Posts

Writing my literacy narrative as a comic was a challenging but rewarding learning experience. Writing out the narrative was something that I had done before, so it was familiar. While translating my writing into a comic was new and came with its own set of challenges. Some difficulties mainly were about what angles I wanted to include and how to get the main point across. When I created the draft for my comic, it was challenging to choose what words I wanted to have and how they helped develop the story. The first draft of my comic had an issue with wording, and it took away from the primary goal of the story I was trying to present.
Translating my Literacy narrative into a comic allowed me to understand the time and energy of creating a comic. The different choices that authors make allow their story to progress excitingly. In my literacy narrative, many of the details needed when you write a story translate a little differently when you are writing a comic, like time. When you show the progression of time in a written narrative, you can time jump and use ellipses to show change, but in a comic, you can use more panels and perspectives to change how the reader perceives time. Time perception is crucial because it can help the reader understand the importance of certain events and memories in the narrative.
In my comic, I choose to include color on some panels to show emotion or lack thereof. On the classroom panel, I decided not to color it because I wanted the reader to understand that reading in school was a dull experience. While in other panels, I choose to include pale colors and bright colors to show a change in emotion. On other pages, I had many panels on the pages that all offered a different perspective of the same image. This setup goal was to show what I imagined in my head before zooming out into reality on the next page. I don’t think I got many different perspectives in my comic because it was challenging to draw the different stances; I wanted to be straightforward to the reader. Overall, drawing my comic was fun and a little scary because I represented my writing differently.
After I completed my comic, I felt that I could add a lot more to the pages, but I did not have enough time to do so in a way that would be the best representation of my work. My comic could be more in-depth in certain scenes, but while creating it, I felt that if I added more pages that only centered on a specific moment, the comic would not have been clear.
So I sacrificed the length of my comic to have more detailed panels with more color and emotion. The colors and emotions they evoke are essential to the story because it allows the reader to have a more personal connection to the work. Also, the colors make the pages more vivid and entertaining for people who are reading.

The final Comic

Literacy Narrative Comic Reflection

Comic Reflection

Student Posts

Writing my literacy narrative as a comic was a challenging but rewarding learning experience. Writing out the narrative was something that I had done before, so it was familiar. While translating my writing into a comic was new and came with its own set of challenges. Some difficulties mainly were about what angles I wanted to include and how to get the main point across. When I created the draft for my comic, it was challenging to choose what words I wanted to have and how they helped develop the story. The first draft of my comic had an issue with wording, and it took away from the primary goal of the story I was trying to present.
Translating my Literacy narrative into a comic allowed me to understand the time and energy of creating a comic. The different choices that authors make allow their story to progress excitingly. In my literacy narrative, many of the details needed when you write a story translate a little differently when you are writing a comic, like time. When you show the progression of time in a written narrative, you can time jump and use ellipses to show change, but in a comic, you can use more panels and perspectives to change how the reader perceives time. Time perception is crucial because it can help the reader understand the importance of certain events and memories in the narrative.
In my comic, I choose to include color on some panels to show emotion or lack thereof. On the classroom panel, I decided not to color it because I wanted the reader to understand that reading in school was a dull experience. While in other panels, I choose to include pale colors and bright colors to show a change in emotion. On other pages, I had many panels on the pages that all offered a different perspective of the same image. This setup goal was to show what I imagined in my head before zooming out into reality on the next page. I don’t think I got many different perspectives in my comic because it was challenging to draw the different stances; I wanted to be straightforward to the reader. Overall, drawing my comic was fun and a little scary because I represented my writing differently.
After I completed my comic, I felt that I could add a lot more to the pages, but I did not have enough time to do so in a way that would be the best representation of my work. My comic could be more in-depth in certain scenes, but while creating it, I felt that if I added more pages that only centered on a specific moment, the comic would not have been clear.
So I sacrificed the length of my comic to have more detailed panels with more color and emotion. The colors and emotions they evoke are essential to the story because it allows the reader to have a more personal connection to the work. Also, the colors make the pages more vivid and entertaining for people who are reading.

The final Comic

Literacy Narrative Comic Reflection

Literacy Narrative Part 3 Reflection

Student Posts

I think the overall literacy narrative project helped me meet the learning outcomes of this class. By creating both a comic and an essay, I expressed my thoughts and ideas using different modes. I also went through an entire process of editing and revising my literacy narrative, which helped me improve it drastically. Overall, this project allowed me use all aspects of my current skills, and pushed me to develop more skills such as web-design and drawing.

After drawing the comic, I felt that it was easier to return to the alphabetic literacy narrative. When I was creating my comic and revising it, I realized areas where I need to emphasize more and areas that were unnecessary. This helped me gain a better perspective on my essay as I understand it better from the readers’ viewpoint. After working on my literacy narrative in a visual format, I also found that both the visual and alphabetic format has their advantages and drawbacks. It is easier for the readers to understand what I am saying in a visual format, whereas I can use the readers’ own imagination about the words that I write in an alphabetic format.

Now, I see the story that I am trying to tell more cohesively. Before, I feel that it was a bit fragmented. With some pieces not adding up or being at the wrong place in the story. Now I think I have improved the flow of the story, which makes it easier for the readers to follow along.

css.php