Reading interviews of Marjane Satrapi , I happened upon a drawing assignment by Satrapi herself.
It's a way of practicing the kind of visual perception and autobiographical attention needed to produce a work such as Persepolis, Satrapi's graphic memoir which my Contemporary Rhetoric class is currently reading.
To do this assignment, think of an event in your life. Write a sentence or two about it, and, at the same time, think of an image that goes with it. Stretch this into a string of key moments, each with its own associated image. Once you have a string of significant images in mind, draw those images in a series of 6" x 6" boxes. The result: a visual story of your remembered event. Add speech balloons to taste, et voila!
1 comment:
I have been practicing a similar idea with my poetry. Being horrible at drawing, I try to limit myself to words to tell my story. I have recently begun to think about small moments in my past. A particular day, for instance. I then try to remember each and every significant detail of that day. I then write a short line or two describing the most significant hour of that day.
From that point I continue to verbally explore the following events until they reach an apex point. This has lead me to write some very strong pieces of poetry, and I think has helped me to become much more graphic in my poems, if that makes sense.
So, even if a student is not good at drawing, or feels they are not good at drawing, a similar exercise using words instead of drawings can prove beneficial.
I wonder if a similar exercise could be done with a camera to reach the same conclusion as the drawing exercise does? I think it could.
Persepolis is a great book, btw. I especially remember the Kim Wylde scene where the main character is rocking out to Kids in America...I have never listened to that song in the same way since. It has a much more revolutionary feel to me now, like it could be the catalyst for real change in the world...
P
Post a Comment