Trying to think of an idea to complete this comic took me longer than expected. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to compress a story into only 3 panels without overcomplicating it. I looked up 3-panel comics on the internet in order to get inspiration and realized that the comic could be pretty simple. For my comic, I made it somewhat simple. In the first panel, I have a man walking down the sidewalk with a dog off to the side behind a fence. Then, in the second panel, I have the man petting the dog. And then in the 3rd panel, I have the man walking away, ending the story. Creating this was very different from the past assignments we have done in this class. This is because, for this assignment, you had to be more consistent with your drawing since you are creating a story.
Upon making this triptych, I knew I wanted to make something that followed the beginning-middle-end storyline but was also ironic. I don’t know why but a mouse getting tricked into eating cheese came into my mind. Then I thought, that’s not really ironic or clever, so how about we add another character, a mouse’s greatest enemy. But in this case, the mouse and cat are friends who mutually love cheese and are sharing. After making the triptych, I realized this could relate to real life where friendships form and exist unexpectedly and humanity needs to stop making assumptions.
For this weeks sketch we were asked to make a triptych comic which is a three panel story. I was pretty stumped on what to do for this one for a while. A three part story was hard for me. Not enough to develop a super in depth backstory but still enough to get in a comedic or weird aspect. I also took my hand at drawing which Ive been doing more of as Ive been trying to create my comic so this was a double trouble situation for me. I dislike the mornings and that feeling when you first wake up so thats where the idea came from. Then I decided to just have fun with it. I gave the kid a weird dream scenario. Somethings off from the beginning but you cant really tell and then boom the reveal. This one was a lot of fun in the end. Very different from what I usually do but I liked that.
Link to original assignment: https://engrd101f25.davidmorgen.org/sketches/sketch-5-triptych/
When doing this assignment, the biggest challenge I faced was thinking of what I could make that could be replicated more than 3 times and still tell a story. Another struggle I faced was the making of the image itself because I have limited experience with digital drawing. Despite having limited experience, I still choose to go forward with making this digitally because I feel it would add more to the story since I can add detailed backgrounds and objects into the drawing. I decided to set this story at a school and show how miscommunication can be spread very easily. Crafting this comic strip is different from other writing I’ve done this semester because it is very repetitive. In writing I try my best to not repeat phrases or ideas because it can get redundant, but in this strip I did the exact opposite. Despite the strip being mostly repeated actions, a story was still able to be seen.
In How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels, Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden carry out an extended discussion of comics through repeated analysis of the single Nancy strip by Ernie Bushmiller from August 8, 1959 (at the top of this post — click here to embiggen). They explain that “one of the least tangible yet most significant implements in the cartoonist’s toolbox is the varied use of rhythms.[…] One repetition makes a pair. But add another and the repetitions have become a series, the basic building block of all rhythm. A set of three has the smallest number of elements that can establish a pattern (as well as violate it). Three implies more to come” (134).
For this week’s sketch assignment, create your own triptych comic. As you compose your triptych, I most want you to focus on creating a story with a very clear beginning, middle, and end. Your story can be minimalist, impressionistic, comic, dark, weird or whatever you want it to be — but make sure that each panel of the triptych moves that story forward from beginning to middle to end.
You can draw your triptych, or create one using photographs, maybe along similar lines as the webcomic A Softer World, which ran weekly for about twelve years starting in Feb 2003. Emily and Joey published 1248 comics in that time, each consisting of three panels with photographs and words superimposed on them – often it seems to be a single image cropped into three panels, but sometimes it’s three photos taken as a series – and then the title of the comic appears when you hover your mouse over the comic (creating space for a sort of fourth panel or commentary). The comics tend to be quite dark.
I’m looking for compact and playful storytelling through both images and words. It’s an opportunity for you to play with irony, humor, and/or wit.
Add a paragraph reflecting on your triptych comic. What choices did you make in crafting your narrative? Describe the composition process a little bit. What was challenging about this assignment? How is crafting this sort of comic strip different or similar to other writing you’ve done this semester?
