Paper Debate

Never let an argument die... if it would be interesting on paper

Okay, wait. WAIT! Before you judge me as a parent… let me explain how this exercise works.

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Paper Debate

Revisit a real argument in comic form.

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What you will need:

Paper
Pen or pencil
Post-It Notes
A good natured grudge
A indulgent friend or family member

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Instructions:

1. Jot down some notes on a few REAL disagreements you had recently with someone you’re close with. Ideally, you are looking for a disgreement that isn’t still a sore subject.
   

2. Pick one and draw a short sequence in which you and the person you argued with act out your argument. Leave some space for dialogue BUT DON’T ADD DIALOGUE YET! Draw your argument as if we are watching it with the sound turned off. I know comics don’t have sound… you know what I mean.
   

3. When you are done, show your comic to the person you had the argument with and let them write their OWN dialogue. You write for you, they write for themselves.
   I’d suggest not drawing on the actual comic but rather follow the comic image by image, write the dialogue together on another piece of paper, and then add it afterward.
   

4. Bring it all together. You may want to redraw panels, slow things down, add reactions, etc… I didn’t in my example, but every comic is different and it’s rare that a comic (or any project) gets finished using the same rules that it started out with.

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My comic before text.

Text and word bubbles drawn seperately on Post-It Notes, scanned, and assembled digitally.

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Thoughts:

This exercise started out as something different. It was meant to be an exercise that explored voice and perspective, in which a comic is made about two people and then narration is applied to the same comic twice - once from one person’s perspective, and once from the other person’s perspective (shout out to the wonderful Holly O’Neil for her help with that). I still plan to make that exercise soon, buuuuuut this one took on a life of it’s own.

After I drew the images for this comic I asked my daughter Elodie (seven) if she wanted to write her own dialogue. She said yes and then… wrote super innapropriate dialogue for herself.

She really doesn’t swear all the time and she has never called me a “mother fucker ass”.
I’m a good Dad! I swear!
I mean, I don’t swear! I never swear!
I promise!
FUCK!
It’s not my fault!
My daughter is just… awesome. And ahead of her time.

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If you try this exercise… let me see it, pleeaaaase.

Lots of new stuff coming soon!

Sincerely,
Mother Fucker Ass