#1165. Comic Strip

Art, level: all
Posted Tue Jul 13 12:34:02 PDT 1999 by Tara Brennan (tp.brennan@sympatico.ca).
Golden Valley School, Val d'Or, QC
Materials Required: Tape recording of radio show such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still" or "The Shadow", pencils, paper
Activity Time: 1 hour
Concepts Taught: Listening, visualizing, drawing

Explain to students that before there were television programs and VCR's to entertain people, they listened to the radio. Explain that Orson Welles' "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was so popular because people believed it to be real. Have children listen to recording. Teacher should use hi/her own discretion in choosing material to be used. Give each child a sheet of drawing paper. They may fold it so that there are six or eight frames. Sketching in pencil, have children re-create what they heard in a comic strip. They may choose to focus on one particular part of the story instead of re-creating the entire story. Using a black felt tip pen, have children trace their sketches. Encourage children experiment with different methods of creating value, such as stippling (many tiny dots), or cross-hatching (drawing lines intersecting to create illusion of shadow).