One Small Topic, Lots of Panels

Subject plus form over time

---

One Small Topic, Lots of Panels

This exercise was inspired by the beautiful, whimsical comics of Gizem Vural. If you are not familiar with her work… oh man, you’re in for a treat.

---

What you need:

Pen or pencil or other drawings materials
Paper
An interest in abstraction and formalism
The will to power through overly complicated instructions

---

Instructions:

1. Step one, read the rules for this exercise (below).
   These are the rules for this exercise:

   1. Your comic should only be one page.

   2. Your comic should focus on only one experience or topic.

   3. Your comic should represent a set amount of time. In other words, once you know what your comic is about, decide for yourself how much time passes from the first panel to the last.

   4. Keep your visuals simple enough that your panels read as a single, overall composition or pattern first, and a comic second. This last rule is really the goal here, so even if you rudely ignore my other brilliant rules, stick to this one.

   Now you have read the rules, we can move on to step two.
   

2. Step two, draw yourself a grid with lots of panels.
   

3. Step three, make your comic. Use one (or more) of the three approaches below (below).
   Here are the three different approaches mentioned above (above):

   1. Find the topic of your comic first.

      Pick a topic and think about how one action or moment occurs over time. How does experiencing your topic look or feel? Is it a complex and varied experience or one that doesn’t change much over time?

      Try to be as specific as you can, like, if you choose eating as a topic, is it a single meal or the way you eat throughout the day? Is it about gum and how the flavour disappears over time?
      

   2. Try to see your panels as objects.

      What might each panel represent? A grid of parked cars? Windows? Desks in an office? Could things move in front of, or behind, them? Could you stack them like money (or, in my case, bills)? Do they break or bend or shatter like the windows of a building?

      You could also pick a topic and then trying to see your panels as objects, like, remember that gum example? Well, if gum is your topic, maybe the panels become the underside of a table and you show the amount of gum stuck to it increasing over time? See what I mean?
      

   3. Experiment with materials and visual rules.

      Using whatever material feels right, create a single abstract composition that is divided up into panels. Or, perhaps create a progression in your marks from the first panel to the last? Or think of a feeling and try to capture it through mark making? What about if things get darker or lighter or more dense over time? What if every panel gets one more mark than the last one? What if the same drawing gets smaller in every panel over time?

      Then, look at what you’ve made, and reverse engineer a title that is specific and adds meaning to the comic. Like, if a drawing is getting smaller every time, could that be about gum losing its flavour over time? I dunno, you tell me! I don’t chew gum. It’s a disgusting habit.
      

4. Step four, the fourth and final step. Add a title to help contextualise your comic.

   I love looking at abstract comics, but I always want them to MEAN sometime. Adding a title really helps with this because, if the title is specific and clear, it acts as a lens through which the reader sees the work. A good title will transform your comic from an aesthetic exercise into a story.

   
   And that’s it! You did it!
   

5. Genuinely, no more steps. That was it.
   

6. Dude… for real.

---

---

---

---

Thoughts:

I had so much fun coming up with the comics for this exercise, letting myself play with the grid structure and finding stories in a new way.

Unfortnately, I had very little fun trying to write out the instructions. I made them so complicated! If I were to rewrite them in a simpler way, they might look something like this:
Using a comic grid, represent a single topic or experience over time in a way that is visually surprising to you. Then give it a title.

Unfortunately, too much work went into writing the longer version of this exercise and now you and I have both been cruelly abused by sunk cost.

Let me know if you try this exercise!
I’d love to hear what worked and what didn’t. I’m just making this up as I go along and any and all input is welcome. Promise.

Love you all!

f