chmielewski 04 F

Classics in the Graphic Novel

Draw with Daniel Chmielewski
a short course in creating comics

episode four

Our imagination lets us create and imagine
anything we want,

but let's use the tools that we have to
help our imagination.

In this episode, I'd like to look at how
we can use a simple camera,

our cellphone camera, really,

and our own bodies, to improve the ideas
from our storyboard and create something

that will let us make the final version of
the comic.

[soft, upbeat music playing]

Let's come back to the situation from
Szymborska's poem.

We have a mother entering the apartment,
she's carrying groceries.

So let's set up our camera and imagine
this woman carrying bags full of groceries

Except our storyboard says we only have 1
panel to show her opening the door.

So we could give her just 1 bag, and she's
opening the door.

But then we need a long panel and, for an
Instagram comic with square panels

we should do more of a close-up, ideally
an American shot or medium shot

so that we can show emotion on her face,
the hand opening the door and the groceries

So a hanging bag is out of the question.
Let's go American: paper bag full of stuff

She's holding the bag, opening the door,
smiling. Let's think...

If we embody our characters... Just like
with writing dialogue, let's not think it

but actually say it out loud. Similarly,
if something is happening in the comic,

let's try to stage it - even if we don't
film or photograph it, it will let us see

how the body actually works, how different
objects work.

So we have our mom holding a bag, opening
the door. Okay, she enters the apartment.

In the second panel, she sees her daughter
- it's good to have the girl's room near.

If the camera is here, it's good for the
mom to move right to left along this line.

We shouldn't turn the camera at strange
angles. If the daughter's room is here,

and the girl is sitting on the bed, for
instance... Let's put it here and

the bed will be on the side so that we can
see her sitting with the phone, crying,

while the mom is walking with the bag and
sees - through a door here - the daughter.

We can also use our own apartment, our
neighbourhood, right? To set up our panels

That way we don't need to make up the
space, like I'll be doing here, focusing

on characters. But I could just as well
film this in a regular apartment and use

the layout to help me understand how
things move.

So, we have the mother seeing the daughter
- okay, now she enters the room and has to

do something with the groceries, right?
She's holding this bag, so again...

To put it on the ground... Let's instead
have somewhere to set it down comfortably.

Again, if I now turn my back to the
camera, you won't be able to see the room.

Perhaps it's a good idea to change the
angle.

Now we're inside the room,

and here's the daughter on the bed,
suddenly seeing mom coming inside and

putting the groceries on the chest of
drawers - that way we see the mom,

the chest of drawers, the groceries being
set down, and in the foreground, we see

the daughter looking up from her phone to
her mom.

Okay, next one: mom sits next to daughter.

We have the daughter sitting here, right?
There's the door. Mom went in, put down

groceries and... Again, actions like
sitting, jumping, moving, drawing weapons,

are all complex things. To make them look
right, dynamic, realistic,

it's good to use photos. Or even better
than photos: film! For Antigone,

I record films instead of taking photos.
That way I don't need to set the self-timer

and pose - "3, 2, 1." I just record a film
and casually walk and sit, then

select the one frame that fits perfectly.

This uses a little more space on my PC or
camera, but really speeds up my work,

because I can choose exactly the frame I
need.

Let's imagine I'm recording a film,
playing a mom sitting next to her daughter

The daughter was holding a phone, so maybe
she'll put it away to give us as much

visual information per panel as possible.

Okay, she's put her phone away - let's say
the bed continues here, so there.

And they hug. Mom holds her daughter. If
you have family or friends who can help you

and especially stage interactions, be sure
to use their help, because you'll get

much better scenes than just posing by
yourself.

If you ask 2 people to hug or fight, you
avoid situations where you're posing alone

Instead, you can say, "Okay, imagine this
guy is doing an uppercut and he's blocking"

And if these people really interact,
you'll get something really interesting

that you can use as building blocks for
your comic. So you have a storyboard,

an idea - someone hitting like this, the
other person blocking - but you'll see

your friends staging the scene will add a
bit of life, of realism that

your imagination can't quite think up.
We'll see this later with Antigone, when

there was an interaction between Antigone
and Ismene where one pushes the other and

Ismene falls on her back. When I was
filming, Creon was standing in the back

and just as Antigone pushed Ismene, here,
her arms formed a frame for Creon's face.

So suddenly we see something that I didn't
make up for the storyboard.

Use photos.

Of course, it's easy to look up photos on
the Internet, especially for when you

suddenly need to draw a running horse or
a lion attacking a zebra -

yes, that's easier to find online, but
some things that especially humans do

aren't as easily found or they're not at
the right angle for you.

If you draw characters and look through
your notebooks, and you find them

standing straight in hieratic poses, arms
along the sides, try to photograph yourself

in a natural pose, like hands on hips,
or... any other pose, right?

And based on that, maybe trace it, maybe
just look at the screen and copy,

try to draw a figure who's much more
dynamic than this very stiff.

You'll see how this completely changes
your approach to drawing when

you understand how your characters
actually move.

Next episode, I'll show you how, using
photos and my experience of staging

the whole mother-daughter interaction and
recording actors for Antigone,

I can create the final drawings.

TO BE CONTINUED