Assumptions of Perception

Treat visual storytelling like sleight of hand

Assumptions of Perspective

This exercise is based on the work of the artist and comic maker, Woshibai.
Woshibai creates short, silent comics that feel like poetic dreams or soft, elusive metaphors. The comics usually depict something simple that, at some point, changes the readers perception in a way that gives me a little spike of pleasure. They act almost the same way visual illusions do, like the “young lady or old woman” or the “rabbit or duck”, even when you understand the trick, it still manages to work. The stories take advantage of assumptions, turn formal visual agreements into plot twists, and they are absolutely the kind of comic I wouldn’t have thought to make until I read Woshibai’s work.

What you need:

Post-It Notes
Paper
Pen
A willingness to treat storytelling like slight of hand

Instructions:

1. Draw a character performing or observing an action or moment.

2. Once that action/moment is established, try to anticipate what the reader thinks about the moment, environment, or where the story will go next and… do something else.

   
   Have your character engage with the action or moment in a way that feels meaningful and/or poetic, but doesn’t go where a reader would anticipate it going.
   

   Look at the assumptions made about the images you’ve drawn thus far. How are you creating depth? What shorthand has been used and could it be misunderstood? What looks far away but could actually just be small? Like, is a cup on a tabletop actually a far away silo? What shapes could actually end up being something else?
   

3. Keep it short and simple and do not use text.