“SETTING+ACTION+RESULT” Demo: The Intolerable Acts

Here’s a demo project I’m working on as part of a residency @ the Well School (Peterborough, NH). I’ll update this post with each stage of the project, so you can follow along in the creative process.

(A big thanks to my students & co-creators for their feedback & help as we all make “Comics Timeline” pages about the American Revolution together!)

JUMP TO: Template / Research / Layout / Pencils (Draft #1) / Pencils (Draft #2) / Inks / Final Comics

START: The “SETTING+ACTION+RESULT” Template:

Here’s a basic 3-panel page template I’ve used since the very first Comics Camp I ever taught!:

RESEARCH: “The Intolerable Acts”

(Click on any of the images below to view @ full size in a separate tab.)

LAYOUT:

First I’ll set up a basic 3-panel S+A+R page:

Next, based on my quick research (above), I’ll select a SETTING (with actions in it), an ACTION (in a new setting), and a RESULT of that action.

Without taking any time to CARTOON these ideas, I’ll just block it out in my panels:

PENCILING (DRAFT #1):

Now I’ll rough in the basic shapes of Parliament & the colonists:

Hmmm, I think the colonists will all have those 3-corner hats… But what about Parliament? (Time to look for some paintings or drawings from the time!)

(EXTENSION: If I have time, I might do another page that shows the specific EFFECTS of the Intolerable Acts…)

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ALSO, now I’m looking for READER FEEDBACK before I can ink my work… Please feel free to comment.

• What do you notice?
• What’s confusing (or unclear or missing)?
• What decisions do you think the artist made, and why?

PENCILING (DRAFT #2):

After some reading & reflection, I’ve penciled a DRAFT #2 to make 2 key changes:

1. I’m extending my comic to 2-3 pages, allowing for LESS to happen in each panel. (I hope this more spacious approach will make the comics more readable!)
2. I’m drawing Parliament as LIONS, and colonists as… some kind of BIRD. (Eagles? Chickens? To be decided…)

Some of the spoken text on p.1 is adapted from this primary source quote:

The Americans have tarred and feathered your subjects, plundered your merchants, burnt your ships, denied all obedience to your laws and authority; yet so clement and so long forbearing has our conduct been that it is incumbent on us now to take a different course. Whatever may be the consequences, we must risk something; if we do not, all is over.
~ Lord North / 22 April 1774 [wikipedia >>]

WORK IN PROGRESS ~ More to come! Stay ‘tooned…