Crying Girl, Roy Lichtenstein (1963) - Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

Roy Lichtenstein, one of the Pop Art Movement’s big names, took his inspiration from comics and comic printing techniques. The evenly-spaced dots shown in many of his works reference Ben Day Dots, which are named for the printer who developed this process. Dots would be cut from transparent overlay sheets, which were then applied to a relief-printing process. The size and spacing of the dots would create the effect of tonal shading. While physical comics relied on this inexpensive mechanical printing process, Lichtenstein applied his dots by drawing them, then projecting them onto his canvases, exaggerating the effect with another element of Pop Art the we dove into last week - SCALE!

COMICS AT THEIR CORE

Many people still think of superhero sagas in this particular style when it comes to comics, but today the options are wide open! At their core, comics are less about this narrow subject matter and graphic style, and more about story-telling. ANY story. We all have stories to tell, and telling them in a comic is about how to get your reader to come with you on the leap from one panel to the next. If you’re feeling intimidated by how long your story is, ask yourself what your story really boils down to! Can you tell a whole story in one image? Two images? Four? Six? It’s OK for things to happen in between the images, your reader will discover what has happened in the next panel!

One Panel Comics by Todd Purse of Create Magic Studios

MAKING COMICS AT HOME:

You don’t need much to try your hand at making a comic at home. Do you have one piece of paper, a drawing utensil, and a pair of scissors? Then you can make a comic!

Goblin Life, a One-Page-Comic by Todd Purse

Zine Collection, featuring Golbin Life, a One Page Comic by Todd Purse

STEPS TO FOLD YOUR OWN POCKET COMIC BOOK:

Take your piece of paper and fold it in half long-ways.
Take that long, narrow piece and fold it in half and in half again.
Open up your paper completely.
Fold your paper in half to create a 2x2 grid, and cut along the fold, only the depth of one panel.

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEPS 3 & 4

STEP 4

5. Open up your paper completely, then fold it in half long-ways as you did in Step 1.

6. Push the panels toward the center, allowing the end points of the cut section to meet up with one another. You should now have a plus shape, with each side comprised of 2 layers of paper.

7. Two adjacent sides will be your front and back covers. Fold/collapse the plus to create your book! No staples necessary.

STEPS 5-7:

Now that you have your book shape, you can start drawing! This book shape will create a 6-panel comic with a front and back cover, a 7-panel comic with a front cover, or an 8-panel comic with no covers. In our workshop, most participants used an 11x17 sheet of paper to create slightly larger panels, though an 8.5x11 sheet of paper will work just fine.

MY EXPLORATIONS

I really took the “ANY story” notion to heart when I decided to make my comic. Mine has no words, and focuses on one of my favorite ways of simultaneously supporting and annoying my friends - Hydration! Staying hydrated can be a struggle for us all, and staying hydrated as an artist comes with its own set of challenges. This comic was inspired by my own struggles in hydration. Hastily drawn in colored pencil on a folded 8.5x11 sheet of paper:

*At an art retreat with Liz Lidgett Gallery and EttaVee, I was the number one paintbrush in drinking water offender. Making the drinking glass a different color, adding lemon, you name it - nothing seemed to save me from the dreaded paint-in-drinking-water phenomenon. Such is the struggle of an artist. It was fun making this little mini comic, and I have a feeling this exercise will pop back into my creative doodling sessions as a way to let go and see what stories unfold when the pressure is off.

Creating Comics!

Documenting Your Travels

Pop Art and Scale