Author: India

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRtW86xVJ5mn-rH1JktieRXm9nceCIyy9Lb8hbc-uZaYI6vMsCqcOR_hd7JZNcktCe0MTL_jzDFcTMU/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=10000

This assignment was somewhat difficult for me, especially since there were no really clear guidelines on what to do. I wasn’t sure if I was completing it correctly, and struggled with what I wanted my presentation’s bigger picture to be. However, I did enjoy the change from our typical essays that we have been doing in class. I chose to structure my argument by laying out my claim in the 1st slide and just breaking down the evidence I had in each slide to support it. Personally, I wanted my presentation to be all visuals, so I used pictures from each comic book so that while I made my argument, the audience could compare the 2 texts. This is definitely different from how I would structure written work because usually you can’t put pictures in essays; however, I could describe the images. Going through this assignment, my analytical thinking was not much different, I would say, because while creating the piece, I had a thesis that I based everything on. I learned that practice is everything and that many unexpected things can happen throughout your presentation. Personally for me, I had practiced a lot on my computer, but when it came to presenting on the projector, the screen would flicker, making me think the slide had already advanced. This presented a problem for me because I thought I was going too slow; however, it was just a glitch. What I noticed about my classmates was the use of the comics’ images in the slides, and that’s what made me want to incorporate them into mine. I think that I could have definitely looked up more in my presentation; however, I was already a little flustered from the technical difficulties.

I chose to create my mixtape about a beach day. I wanted to add songs that make me feel relaxed or remind me of being at the beach, something I can listen to whether I’m actually there or just want to feel like I am. I mostly used songs I already knew, and that are on playlists I listen to often. Personally, when I want to relax, I like having songs I know well and know what to expect from. I think this mixtape conveys that the beach is a place I love to go, especially when I want to relax and have fun. By playing this tape when I’m not at the beach, I’m hoping it can still give me that same feeling.

This literacy narrative has helped me mostly with visual thinking and my writing process. As I’ve been creating this piece, I’ve been writing with the intention of eventually turning it into a comic. That means I’ve had to think about how my words will translate into drawings and short blurbs, and how to visualize what I’m trying to say. This process has really pushed me to think differently about storytelling and how I communicate ideas.

It was definitely hard to return to work that I had already spent so much time on, but my approach was different this time. After creating the comic, I started thinking more about how my writing could eventually be turned into images. I tried to keep that in mind as I revised, making sure not to add too much unnecessary detail and focusing instead on what could be clearly visualized later. I see the story I’m trying to tell now more like a summary with specific details about my journey learning how to read. During this revision process, I made sure to include more about my present self and how I look back on these experiences now. My analytical thinking was a bit different too, I focused more on the bigger picture and what the story means, not just what happened.

I decided to track conceptual issues that are relatively easy to think about. I started by choosing five things I wanted to track: Happiness, Productivity, Confidence, Stress Level, and how fast each hour went by on a scale from 1–10, with 10 being the quickest. Being in a new environment, college, I thought this would be a helpful activity to see where I’m at and to get a better understanding of how I feel on a day-to-day basis. Nothing in my data stood out too much, but I think the factor that changed the most was my productivity. While the others mostly stayed consistent, productivity was the one that could shift from an 8 to a 4 in just an hour. Since the data represents the mean taken from each hour of each day, I still think it’s difficult to see drastic differences. What I struggled with most was deciding how to rate my feelings throughout the hours. I didn’t want to be too repetitive, but I also wanted to be honest about how I felt. I chose to visualize my data in a bar graph because I wanted it to look good while also clearly conveying the information. I also chose to use different colors for each category to make them eye-catching and easy to differentiate. I would say that the visualization represents my life as pretty busy, especially becasue, when you take the mean of a whole week, the only consistent sleep I’m getting is from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. If I were to do this project in the future, I would probably choose to use an Excel sheet because of how long it took to calculate the mean for each hour and each category. I tracked my data on both my computer and phone but ended up handwriting it to do the math. While that made it easier to visualize, it took much more time. I also don’t think I would measure every hour again, because I found that hard to keep up with. Although I’m satisfied with the final product, I don’t think I would use this method again as a self-analysis tool. I’m sure there are plenty of other apps that would be more accurate and easier to use.

Creating my comic presented many challenges as well as new learning experiences. Unlike my literacy narrative, which had a lot of imagery in the writing, my comic was able to be much shorter because I could use visual context. The drawings in the comic helped convey meaning without needing as many words. Once the visual components were added, I had to think about how to incorporate words into the comic. I started off by adding narration to the top of some panels, and within the images, I added speech bubbles for the characters’ interactions. I realized that the dialogue in the speech bubbles needed to be more casual and couldn’t use the exact wording from my literacy narrative. Although this process wasn’t difficult, it took time and thought. I had to consider what would happen in the next panel when deciding what to include in the current one. Throughout the process of making my comic, I had to add and change aspects that were either originally part of or completely new to the story from my literacy narrative. Specifically, at the end of the comic, I added more about what it was like to go to a specialized middle school for dyslexia and where I am today. As a result, I took out some parts about seeing the school specialist in second grade during social studies. The hardest part of this comic for me was creating the characters. Since there were so many panels, I couldn’t make the characters too detailed because it would take too much time. Therefore, I made my characters somewhat stick figure like, mainly focusing on their faces and hair to show who they were. The way I formatted my panels was somewhat strategic. I started by placing them right next to each other with no gutter space, but then I realized that’s not how comics usually look. So, I took screenshots of each panel and reorganized them on a new page in a way that made more sense visually. Throughout this process, I took some inspiration from Spinning and Stitches specifically with the Winter and Fall panels in my comic. I needed to show a change in time without actually writing it out or having my characters say it. If I were a better artist or had someone illustrating for me I think I could have shown the seasonal changes more clearly through the imagery. One part of my comic where I had a clear sense of what I was trying to accomplish was setting the scene. More specifically, the panels where I illustrated the different schools I attended. I thought this was a good way to show the setting rather than explicitly saying where I was. For each school, I made sure to include the name so the reader could clearly understand which part of my life I was representing. Overall, this process was fun, and I enjoyed turning my writing into images.

Creating my comic presented many challenges as well as new learning experiences. Unlike my literacy narrative, which had a lot of imagery in the writing, my comic was able to be much shorter because I could use visual context. The drawings in the comic helped convey meaning without needing as many words. Once the visual components were added, I had to think about how to incorporate words into the comic. I started off by adding narration to the top of some panels, and within the images, I added speech bubbles for the characters’ interactions. I realized that the dialogue in the speech bubbles needed to be more casual and couldn’t use the exact wording from my literacy narrative. Although this process wasn’t difficult, it took time and thought. I had to consider what would happen in the next panel when deciding what to include in the current one. Throughout the process of making my comic, I had to add and change aspects that were either originally part of or completely new to the story from my literacy narrative. Specifically, at the end of the comic, I added more about what it was like to go to a specialized middle school for dyslexia and where I am today. As a result, I took out some parts about seeing the school specialist in second grade during social studies. The hardest part of this comic for me was creating the characters. Since there were so many panels, I couldn’t make the characters too detailed because it would take too much time. Therefore, I made my characters somewhat stick figure like, mainly focusing on their faces and hair to show who they were. The way I formatted my panels was somewhat strategic. I started by placing them right next to each other with no gutter space, but then I realized that’s not how comics usually look. So, I took screenshots of each panel and reorganized them on a new page in a way that made more sense visually. Throughout this process, I took some inspiration from Spinning and Stitches specifically with the Winter and Fall panels in my comic. I needed to show a change in time without actually writing it out or having my characters say it. If I were a better artist or had someone illustrating for me I think I could have shown the seasonal changes more clearly through the imagery. One part of my comic where I had a clear sense of what I was trying to accomplish was setting the scene. More specifically, the panels where I illustrated the different schools I attended. I thought this was a good way to show the setting rather than explicitly saying where I was. For each school, I made sure to include the name so the reader could clearly understand which part of my life I was representing. Overall, this process was fun, and I enjoyed turning my writing into images.

For this comic strip I found it a lot easier than the triptych because I had more room to tell a story. However, like the triptych, it was really hard to think of an idea. Like last time, I went on the internet in order to take some inspiration from other stories. Although I didn’t find anything specific, I was able to come up with an idea. I chose to make a character playing basketball and shooting a shot. The story starts with him asking for someone to pass him the ball. Then him receiving it, then him shooting it and making it. I told this story because it made the most sense to me in a comic strip of only 4.

The Thesis of my essay talked about the two main characters’ relationships with their mother through images in the graphic novel and through their actions and words. My argument was that the mothers and their behaviors were very similar, especially when it came to emotional manipulation, after finding out their children were different from others. 
Before writing my essay, I think I would say I had the most trouble with picking my pages. I would find an interesting page in one book, but when having to look for another one that had similarities, I struggled with finding another one. Therefore, I started thinking of themes that we had discussed in class about Stitches, and then flipped through Spinning to hopefully find a match. Things that helped me through this process were looking at similarities within the images on the pages that I was planning on using to compare.   Personally, I am used to writing a comparison essay where you talk about the 2 books in the same paragraph. However, this was my first time using ABT for my thesis at the end, and I would say it was somewhat difficult. I had trouble putting my entire essay into just a few sentences and making sure it would stick to the proper format. Doing this assignment allowed me to do a deep dive into the images of the comics. Specifically, I think the biggest thing I notice was that in Spinning Tillie’s mother was represented with light, while in Stitches, David’s mother was represented with shadows. Light played a big role in contrasting the child from their mother in emotional times throughout the text.