MANDATORY MEETING! Please RSVP to Jesse ASAP.

Hi all,

Hope all is well with everyone.

There will be an important UREP meeting on Thursday, September 15, at 2:00 pm in our third floor workroom. This is a very important meeting, so please RSVP as soon as possible.

Meeting Agenda:

1.) We will be interviewed as a group (and probably photographed—it is your choice whether or not you would like to be included) by a journalist who wants to write a major feature on the project for The National—one of the leading English newspapers in the Middle East.

2.) After the interview, we will conduct a general meeting to review and discuss all aspects of the project to date.  We have all been away for the summer, so we would like to re-calibrate efforts based on our progress.

General Reminders/Updates:

1.) The blog—if you are not posting, I will find you.  When I find you, it will be ugly, I promise.  I will scream as loud as I can in a highly populated/public place that you are a blog dodger, which is not a nice thing.  There was a nice upsurge of activity at a few points in the summer by a few individuals (well-done—you know who you are), but activity has diminished lately.  So, get back on the blog. I will find you. I promise. And when I do . . . .

2.UREP Money—The ICA forms are at VCU Richmond and are being expedited, so your payments should be forthcoming soon.  We have asked much of you, and it is not fair that you haven’t received your money yet.  Although it is out of our hands, please accept our deepest apologies, and we hope that the funds get to you very soon.  You deserve it.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Jesse

Hi all, some of the new shots here. Not done but coming together. Some need more linework, others need more color, shade/tones...

One thing to mention is that I've decided to use color to indicate the two char

acters, specifically green (tied to Islam in our culture as being the color of the prophet PBUH, color of nature, etc) and purple as sort of a vile, mystic color. It's shown sometimes as large backgrounds where the two oppose each other, or sometimes just in small details like on the witches fingertips as if henna.

More to come as always. Hope all is well with you, early Eid Mubarak. For those going back to school, hope you have a good rest

before the madness starts up again. Good luck!

Inspiration

Some of my favorites:

1- Will Eisner - A Contract with God. I like the controlled sketchiness throughout the whole book.

2- J. M. DeMatteis - Batman: Absolution. The whole thing is done with watercolors. Isn't that amazing? ;D

3- Stephen King - The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. Even though It's done digitally, it has a very distinctive style. The mood and use of silhouettes are wonderful.

4- Marvel Runaways.

5- The Adventures of Tintin.

Um Al Manakhel - Illustration Exploration 03

Illustration of the old lady making orders: using the speech bubble & less emphasized shapes to show her verbal orders: of vessels and trash in the courtyard (VERSUS the actual execution of orders which would be emphasized with the black border.)

Embracing Diversity Through Graphic Novels

Embracing Diversity Through Graphic Novels

By Gretchen Schwarz Gretchen Schwarz is a Professor in Curriculum Studies at Oklahoma State University, in Tulsa, where her research interests include teacher lore and school reform issues as well as media literacy. She previously taught high school German and English for 13 years. Schwarz became fascinated with graphic novels when first a high school student and later a couple of college students shared their enthusiasm for the medium. Now she can’t stop reading them! I was absorbed in my latest graphic novel while eating at a restaurant when another customer walked by and commented, “Aren’t you a little old for comic books?” I should have said, “No one is too old for an exciting new medium like graphic novels.   And you might learn a few things yourself!”  Of course, I never think that quickly on the spot. In fact, a growing number of adults and young people worldwide are reading graphic novels, and educators are beginning to realize the power of this medium. The graphic novel looks like a comic book, but it is longer, more sophisticated, and may come in black and white or multiple colors and appear in many sizes. With a longer history in Europe, the first modern graphic novel in America is usually considered to be Will Eisner’s A Contract with God in 1978 (Mooney, 2002, p. 18). Graphic novels are now attaining general critical praise. For example, Grossman (2003), a book reviewer forTime, says that “some of the most interesting, daring, most heartbreaking art being created right now, of both the visual and verbal varieties, is being published in graphic novels” (p. 56). Library media specialists have been leaders in recognizing the value of graphic novels for reluctant as well as advanced readers. As Mooney (2002) observes, “If you acquire graphic novels, young adults will come… The format appeals to different types of readers and lends itself to a variety of genres including history, fantasy, and education” (p. 18). The graphic novel can be a meaningful learning tool for students who are less than enthusiastic about traditional print textbooks, supporting diverse learning styles. The graphic novel offers stories and information requiring students to think carefully about such topics as culture, racism, and discrimination; the graphic novel can support diversity in classrooms. The graphic novel can also serve as a means to teach media literacy. Following are just a few examples of the potential of the graphic novel. A particularly powerful graphic novel, especially for those who may lump all people from the Middle East together, is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2003).  Satrapi tells the story of her own adolescence as part of an open, well-educated family caught up in the recent Islamic Revolution in Iran. Both the story of a normal teenager who wants to wear the latest fashions and have fun, and the story of a nation undergoing the turmoil of political repression and war, Persepolis is simply drawn in black and white. Yet, the narrative and the nuances of emotion are rich, and anyone can enjoy the humor of the story, as well. This teenaged girl is a very likable individual, full of enthusiasms and doubts, and any young person might relate to her. She is not just some faceless inhabitant of the Middle East, one of “them.” The book offers a more personal and complex view of others in the world than most typical history texts, TV broadcasts, or newspaper articles. Persepolis is also an excellent example of a literary memoir as insightful as any already common in the traditional school canon. Furthermore, Persepolis and similar works can be used to help students develop media literacy as they examine the unique interplay of pictures and words in a graphic novel. Students can learn the “grammar” of the medium, exploring the effects of color, perspective, lettering, and framing. Versaci (2001), a high school English teacher, describes the process: [Graphic novels] facilitate this analysis in a way unlike more “traditional” forms of literature because in addition to making use of standard literary devices such as point of view, narrative, characterization, conflict, setting, tone, and theme, they also operate with a very complex poetics that blends the visual and the textual . . . By combining words and pictures, comic books [graphic novels] force students, rather directly, to reconcile these two means of expression. Important and analytical questions that I pose to my students are “How would you describe the style of these pictures?” “How does this drawing style interact with the story?” “Why these particular pictures?” “How would a different style change the story?” The answers to these questions are not obvious, and by answering them students begin to see themselves as analytical critics working to assemble and uncover the deeper meaning of a work. (p. 64) Graphic novels offer the opportunity to examine the increasingly visual world of communications today while exploring serious social as well as literary topics. As Lavin (1998) observes, the graphic novel can be used “to develop a sense of visual literacy, in much the same way that students are introduced to art appreciation or cinematic criticism” (p. 31). The graphic novel can also “bring home” the costs of prejudice in our own country. An excellent example is the story shown at left, from Same Difference and Other Stories, an anthology by Derek Kirk Kim (2003). This short piece, “Hurdles,” powerfully captures the feelings of an Asian-American in a way that does not “preach.” Students may observe the way the text reads like a poem, the way the coach is drawn with his face hidden, and the way the visual, literal hurdles take on symbolic meaning. “Hurdles” is an example of a new kind of literature in the Digital Age and one that lends itself well to affirming diversity in the classroom. Derek Kirk Kim also maintains an active website, publishing much of his work online, offering another medium for students to explore and questions to pursue such as that of the role of independent, alternative forms of media. Another graphic novel that confronts diversity and has a place in the classroom or library is the strange little book of poems, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton (1997). Weird drawings accompany short and unhappy poems about a series of children who are seriously different, from “Roy, the Toxic Boy” and “The Girl with Many Eyes” to “Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy.” Adolescents, especially middle school students, will love the gruesome character of these poems and their dark, exaggerated humor. In addition, however, such poems and pictures offer students an unthreatening way to grapple with the whole subject of “being different.” Real kids may well feel like the boys and girls in these poems, but they can approach the subject of “being different” from a safe distance here because these stories are so extreme. Following is an example of a piece called “Melonhead” (without the intriguing pictures): There once was a morose melonhead, Who sat there all day And wished he were dead. But you should be careful About the things that you wish. Because the last thing he heard Was a deafening squish.   (pp. 94-95) Clearly, adults would have to use care in engaging students with such stories, and be able to explain their thinking to parents. However, such work as this may prove more than entertaining; these poems in graphic novel format tackle the real issue of “differentness.” Furthermore, Tim Burton is the director and/or producer of such films as the animated The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) and Edward Scissorhands (1990), a beautiful and haunting film about a boy who is quite different. The graphic novel serves as an excellent device for exploring the new connections among the media today and comparing those diverse media. The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other Stories could be compared to Edward Scissorhands. What visual elements are similar?  Different? What is Tim Burton’s view of the world and how does he communicate this? How does a film like Edward Scissorhands move our emotions and make us feel for someone who is “different”? How do still pictures accompanied by text work on readers? What impact does humor have? In fact, the graphic novel-film connection is growing with the success of such films as Spiderman II, The Road to Perdition, and American Splendor, and this connection offers all kinds of classroom potential for media literacy. Graphic novels offer many other benefits in addition to embracing diversity. Graphic novels can apply across the curriculum (see, for example, Schwarz, 2002), and Cary (2004) demonstrates their usefulness for second language learners. Of course, much research still needs to be done on and with this new medium. Teachers and others who work with young people will need to be careful in their choices, as well; many graphic novels are not appropriate for school use. However, graphic novels can teach a diverse group of young people about other peoples, the costs of intolerance, and the value of differences among all. Additionally, the graphic novel fits in well to media literacy, offering teachers one more engaging tool for examining today’s media-saturated world. REFERENCES Burton, T. (1997). The melancholy death of Oyster Boy and other stories. New York: Rob Weisbach Books.  Cary, S. (2004). Going graphic: Comics at work in the multilingual classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Grossman, L. (2003, August 25). “Singing a New Toon.” Time, 162, 56-58. Kim. D. K. (2003). Same difference and other stories. Canada: Alternative Comics. Lavin, M. (1998). Comic books and graphic novels for libraries: What to buy. Serials Review, 24(2), 31-46. Mooney, M. (2002) “Graphic Novels:  How They Can Work in Libraries.” Book Report, 21(3), 18-19. Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon. Schwarz, G. (2002). Graphic novels for multiple literacies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46, 262-265. Versaci, R. (2001). How comic books can change the way our students see literature: One teacher’s perspective. English Journal, 91(2), 61-67.

Graphic Novels in the Classroom

Graphic Narratives: Self and Other

Posted on December 14, 2010 by graphicnovelsandthemiddleeast

This past month the Modern Language Association (MLA) published an edited volume titled “Teaching the Graphic Novel,” an extensive collection of contributor snapshots illustrating use of comics and graphic novels in classrooms of various grade levels and disciplines. While the classroom contexts are on the university level, the sheer range of content topics and methods of integration offer many possible sources of inspiration for the middle or high school teacher.

One of the chapters that caught my eye was M.G. Aune’s “Teaching the Graphic Travel Narrative.”  Master graphic novelist Craig Thompson‘s “Carnet de Voyage,” a graphic travel diary Thompson kept while on a book tour that took him throughout Europe and North Africa, as well as Joe Sacco’s “graphic journalism” in the Middle East, are examined.  Aune uses several panels to guide students through question about how “Self” and “Other” are depicted during travel.  (At right, an image from Craig Thompson’s “Carnet de Voyage”)

Students not only reflect on the content and context of each image, but the ways in which comic artists can play with elements of style and visual communication that subtly influence readers’ responses and reactions to how persons are portrayed.  Aune draws on another of Scott McCloud‘s thesis about comic communication: the relationship between levels of abstraction and reader identification.

(Below: Continuum of faces from Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud.)

McCloud hypothesizes that the more cartoonish or abstract the face, the more readers are likely to identify with it.  An image that contains only symbols of human likeness that are nearly universal to any individual (like those to the right of McCloud’s continuum above) allow the reader to see themselves in any character portrayed on the page.  The more highly specific, detailed, or “realistic” the image, the harder it is for a reader to identify, says McCloud.  The visage on the left of McCloud’s continuum highlights those elements of the individual’s likeness that are particular, and perhaps markedly different from, the reader.

This reminded me of our conversation about Toufic El Rassi’s “Arab in America” and the complexities that readers in our book group felt when viewing the author’s self depictions.

Are any of these insights relevant to Sarah Glidden’s “How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less”?  As an American traveler in Israel, how does Glidden feel both as an insider and outsider?

How many comics or graphic novels explore travel experiences in the Middle East?  How might they be compared or contrasted?

For our last book group session members were encouraged to choose their own texts.  For those who did not read Sarah Glidden’s work, how might you comment on the ways in which the themes of “Self” and “Other” were present in the works that you read, or might be present for students engaging with the book?

What challenges or opportunities do you think graphic media presents for students to encounter identities and experiences that may feel alien to their own?  Is the visual element of this media a hindrance or a help?  Or both?

Like

Um Al Manakhel - Illustration Exploration 02 - Texture. Expressions. Comic/Cutout.

Illustration Exploration 02. Tried to define each object/character with a border to give it an overall comic/graphic novel feel - also make them stand out. Added texture to add dimension to fur, metal, cloth. Exaggerated the expressions in the characters so that kids would understand/see them versus micro-expressions.

Interview with the editor of Trickster

Below is an insightful interview with the editor of Trickster and one member of the project.

Trickster Tales: An Interview with Matt Dembicki and Michael Thompson (Link: http://www.graphicnovelreporter.com/content/trickster-tales-interview-matt-dembicki-and-michael-thompson-interview).

After thousands of years of oral tradition, some Native American tales have found graphic novel form with Trickster. The idea came from artist Matt Dembicki, who made it his mission to create a graphic novel anthology with Native American storytellers. English teacher Michael Thompson of the Muskogee tribe is one of those storytellers, having retold “Rabbit and the Tug of War” for the book. Dembicki and Thompson told GraphicNovelReporterabout the creation process and the importance of keeping Native American stories alive.


How familiar were you with Native American tales before this?

Matt Dembicki: Not very familiar. I was a fan of Ken Kesey and I came across one of the books he wrote. It was called Little Tricker: The Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear. When I read that, I thought it was a really neat story, and I enjoyed the trickster concept. So I went to the library and did some research on it. I came across a prose anthology on the trickster stories and collected a bunch of trickster stories from across the country. A lot of them were kind of bawdy. As I was reading them, I started to think it would be an interesting exercise to illustrate some of the stories. Now, initially I thought of doing all the illustrations myself; as I was doing them, it started to dawn on me that this would be a really cool concept for a collection of comic stories. That’s how I got into it, and I contacted Native storytellers. It was an educational process for me in terms of getting the background for their particular stories and tribes.

Michael Thompson: I was pretty familiar. I’m a high-school English teacher and I’ve been teaching 32 years. In my early career, I taught at Haskell Indian College in Kansas and I had worked in Native theaters. I now teach in New Mexico and about 40 percent of my students are Navajo. I’m the department chair, and we’ve done quite a bit of work at my high school at trying to incorporate some awareness of the oral tradition and the whole history of literature and storytelling. It’s an area I’ve been looking at for a while, through the lens of the teacher and not necessarily as a storyteller. But in my own personal, private life, my wife is Navajo and my stepchildren are Navajo. We observe a lot of traditional Navajo ceremonies and we have relatives who are part of the Native American Church. I also participate in some sweat lodge ceremonies and other kinds of ceremonies in the summertime that are part of my own spirituality. I know stories from having been around ceremony. I’ve enjoyed Native stories for a long time.


How did you find the writers for it, Matt?

MD: I scoured as many sources as I could. I called colleges and universities that had Native American programs. I called Native American Centers. I called various tribes to see if they had any storytellers who’d be willing to participate. There were a couple of Native American storyteller groups—I contacted them. Some of it was word of mouth. It came about a year and a half to two years to find the group of storytellers. They all have different backgrounds. Some of the storytellers do it professionally, or they do it on weekends as a hobby or to promote their own tribal activities. Other folks do it for their own tribes or their own families.


How did you get involved with this project, Michael?

MT: My wife was a previous editor of the publication Tribal College Journal and I had done some writing for them, mainly some reviews. I ended up writing a feature story on the oral tradition being taught in English classrooms in the tribal colleges. So I interviewed a number of different professors at the tribal colleges about how they felt about teaching stories and oral tradition. I guess Matt had read the article I had written and he was looking for one or two more stories to complete the set. He called me up and asked me if I would be interested in working on a story. Although I’m not a traditional storyteller, I was familiar with a number of stories from my tribe, the Muscogee Creek Tribe. I thought that would be an interesting challenge and told Matt I would be interested in doing it. I talked to some people in my tribe and they felt the stories were okay to develop.


Why did you pick “Rabbit and the Tug of War”?

MT: I’ve always had a fondness for Rabbit as a trickster. In my tribe, Rabbit is the primary trickster figure. I had seen a couple of different Rabbit stories and there are other animal figures in the Muscogee story tradition that involve Alligator…and there’s a creature in Muscogee tales called the tie snake. The story attracted my attention in part because of the buffalo. It’s kind of an unusual story for a southeastern tribe because it has two buffalo in it. That just tells me a long, long time ago, there were still buffalo in the southeast. I like the idea of Rabbit having this interaction with Buffalo. And the second part of the “Tug of War” story involves borrowing the shoes of the deer. There’s another old legend that’s told in some Powwow circles about Deer Woman, a kind of woman figure, but she leaves deer footprints. I was intrigued by the possible connection between this old, old trickster tale and the legend of the Deer Woman.


Are any of the illustrators Native Americans?

MD: Yes, about four of the illustrators are Native American or come from Native American lineage. I was hoping to get a few more. One of the issues of the project was it was kind of a project of love. I didn’t have the money to pay them up front to participate in the project. Some people didn’t necessarily want to participate unless they would be paid up front. It was the same thing with the artists. Some of the artists said, “It’s a great project, but right now I’m focusing on projects that pay the bills.” When you work in comics and make an anthology, as a rule of thumb, about 25 percent of the artists will, for one reason or another, bail out of the project. That happened here, too, so I factored that in. I actually contacted a lot more Native American artists, but for one reason or another, they couldn’t commit.


Had you ever worked on a graphic novel before, Michael?


MT: I had not. I have had some talented students and relatives who have an interest in graphic books and doing graphic art. It was all new territory to me. I was happy that Matt was thorough about his insistence of having Native people working with all the artists. It was important to me that there was a lot of credibility and authenticity to the story part. It was nice to have someone who had some expertise and connections to artists. When I looked at the finished book, I told Matt, “To me, it reflects the diversity among Native tribes in the United States.” Sometimes, I think, people believe Natives are all the same type of tribe, that they’re more similar than different. I think the very visual differences and the different voices in these stories reflect how diverse Native people really are. It was a very unexpected thing; it surprised me and pleased me at the same time.


Do you know what Native American reaction has been?

MD: There have been a few articles written in local Native American papers that seem positive. It’s still permeating out there, but it seems so far people have been receptive to it. Initially, a lot of the storytellers wanted to run the idea past some of their tribal elders to make sure they were okay with it. It was interesting, because initially some of the storytellers were somewhat skeptical that the elders would be okay with it. When they got back to me, they said, “You know, surprisingly, the elders are all aboard.” I think they felt that some of these stories could be lost because these days there are so many things competing for kids’ attention that there isn’t much interest in the oral storytelling tradition. So they were concerned that so many stories—once some of the storytellers pass away—might disappear. I think that they felt the comics venue could be a popular way to reach out to Native American kids and non-Native American kids and make them aware of the stories.

MT: I haven’t spoken with any large white audiences, but I know maybe two dozen Native people who have seen the book at this point. Some of them are teachers I work with. They are very excited about it. I also work with a number of English Language Learners teachers, who have Native students. They were pretty excited about it because one of the primary needs of English Language Learners is text with high visual support. This kind of book might be helpful for people in all different areas.


Is there anything you want people to take away from reading this?

MD: Just to enjoy the stories and their different styles. Coming in, like most folks, I was familiar with tricksters being Rabbits and Coyotes, because they’ve been popularized by cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Wiley Coyote. But, for me, one of the interesting aspects was learning about the other trickster beings, whether they’re in human forms or nonhuman. I enjoy the Racoons and I really enjoy the stories about Ravens. I think folks will enjoy the wide variety of artistic styles. That was another way for me to make sure the storytellers were okay with working on the book; I don’t think any of them had any background working on the comics format. When I read their story, I came up with three or four different artists I thought would do a good job rendering the story, and let the storyteller pick which artist they wanted to work with. I wanted to make them comfortable, and they felt involved in the process as they went through it. I think the different artistic styles reflect the storytellers’ different personalities.

MT: One of the things they’ll see—what I mentioned earlier—are different perceptions of different kinds of tricksters. I think that’s reflective of the trickster tradition. Trickster figures can be almost deadly on the extreme end, and they cause catastrophe and disaster sometimes. And sometimes, on the milder end, they can be mischievous and humorous. A lot of tribes do consider trickster characters like Coyote a kind of holy figure, the whole idea of the sacred clown. I would encourage the readers to enjoy the stories on multiple levels. The drawings themselves are entertaining and beautiful. The stories in some cases are very, very humorous and in other stories there are deep and meaningful messages on how we behave with one another. Some of these stories can easily become teaching stories for right actions. I think readers will find one or two stories that particularly speak to them. There’s a story for almost everyone.

Anything else you’d like to add?

MT: If there are Native people who are willing to continue to share our storytelling traditions, I would really encourage that. We want our young people to learn to continue to tell stories. We want parents to share stories with their children. I hope this book can help promote that idea.
-- Danica Davidson

Um Al Manakhel - Illustration Exploration 01 - Medium, Features, Clothing.

Illustration Exploration: Medium. Pencil: My first attempt at creating the characters features and expression. Later decided to try my hand at Digital illustration as my approach involved a more graphic novel feel; at the end of this process I hope to achieve a cleaner, more vibrant result. Features. To show envy/anger, innocence/tolerance. I have been studying expressions to apply them to the key characters in the story. And the range for every character, since it shows their thought/personality/nature. Clothing. I've been hesitant at illustrating their outfits/costumes, because of the variety involved in terms of the arabic dress/outfit, every region has it's own clothing. So for now I'm just working to keep it simple/general yet portray the characters' modesty, age, exuberance etc. through their clothing.

Trickster Feature on NPR

As I've mentioned before, Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection, is an anthology very much like the anthology we're creating.

National Public Radio in the US featured this book and a video presentation of one of the stories. 

Please take a moment and check out the NRP feature and video. The address is below the photo.

Paste this address into your browser:

http://www.npr.org/2010/06/06/127483926/native-american-folk-tales-take-a-graphic-turn

And again, I remind everyone that there are copies of this book in our work area. I think it's important that everyone has a look at this anthology. We can learn much about what to do, and not do, with our own anthology of folk tales.

Jouha Counting the Donkeys

Jouha Counting the Donkeys

Collected by Abdulla Al Kuwari
Edited by Patty Paine
Illustrated by Abdulla Al Kuwari

One day, Jouha went to the city and bought nine donkeys. On his trip home, he rode one of the donkeys while the rest of the donkeys followed him.

Along the way, Jouha stopped to make sure all the donkeys were still behind him. Jouha started counting: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight."

"Where is the ninth donkey?" Jouha asked himself.

He jumped off his donkey and began searching for the missing donkey. He looked behind trees, and he looked behind rocks, but he could not find the lost donkey. He returned to the group of donkeys and counted again. This time there were nine donkeys. "He must have come back while I was searching," Jouha thought to himself. He climbed back on his donkey and rode off.

Later, Jouha stopped again to count his donkeys. Again he counted only 8. He climbed down from his donkey and searched for the lost donkey, but again he couldn't find it. When he returned from searching he counted again and found that there were 9 donkeys.

Jouha saw his neighbor on the road, and asked him for his help.

Jouha said to his neighbor: "It's confusing. I find eight donkeys when I count them from the top of my donkey, but I find nine when I count them on my feet!"

The neighbor laughed and said: "You are wrong Jouha. There are actually ten donkeys!"

"How are there ten donkeys?" Jouha asked.

The neighbor replied: " I see eight donkeys behind you, and as for the ninth donkey: you are riding it!"

"Of course!" Jouha said. "Oh, my God. Silly me."

Jouha set off again with stupid smile on his face, but then he called back to his neighbor. "What about the tenth donkey?"

The neighbor replied: " The tenth donkey is on top of the ninth donkey!"

I had to share this one

One of my favorite drawings - shows so much character and emotion just in this little scene.
If anyone gets the chance to flip through this, it's been a classic since the 60's - Where the Wild Things Are.

:D

Sequential Art versus Illustration

Although illustrated art is sequential, there are substantial differences between sequential art and illustrations.

Sequential art, the art we most associate with comics and graphic novels, is very generally defined as a series of images deployed in a sequence. The hallmarks of this type of art are the use of panels, gutters (the space between panels) and thought, speech, narration and sound bubbles.

Here are examples of sequential art:

In sequential art the artist can render the story in great detail moving from gesture to gesture, or they can depict large sequences of time. For example, a single punch could be rendered across many panels showing each movement of the fist through space. On the other hand, a large passage of time can be portrayed in a single panel by showing pages flying off a calendar, or the hand of a clock spinning wildly. In comics, the action of the story and the artwork are very closely linked.

Illustrations, on the other hand, tend to evoke a more general scene or mood, and rather than using panels they tend to be full page single works of art. Illustrations generally don't use any bubbles of any kind, and they rely heavily on text to move the story along. The text that accompanies the illustration can usually be read without the illustrations and the story will still be clear. This is not the case with comics.

Here are examples of illustrations:

So, your task is this: go online, or into your own library, and look at examples of sequential art (comics, graphic novels) and also look at examples of illustrations. Report back on the different ways they go about telling a story. Then look at the stories we're working with. Which do you think lend themselves to being rendered sequentially, and which might work better using illustrations? Why?

Textures

Found these, maybe they'll inspire you too.
Khadija, the line drawings with the blue water color is the one I meant specifically. I was thinking, particularly where the witch tries to cast spells, the background can transcend reality a bit and become more mystical where it changes to something like this.

Hi guys, here are some of the WIP's. I'm trying to work page by page, so setting up a series of panels together.

Looking at them now, they need to have a lot more depth in the color. I'd like to work in greater contrast in light and dark, adding a bit more of a darker edge to them at certain times to make them appear more devious or cunning.

Definitely planning on redoing the first shot of Hadeedo (I was testing if I could make itlook like the witch opened the door and cast light on Hadeedo, not very successful so far.) Also, the in the image of the witch shining her teeth and hadeedo throwing the sack in to the fire, I realized that I had given the witch too much cheek so I need to redo that. Also, the ground is a bit wonky so it needs repainting regardless. For the images that don't have backgrounds yet, I'm planning on incorporating them later via photoshop. (I'm too scared to finish the whole backgrounds by hand in one image :S!)

Layout Team

Hello Layout Team.
I've been traveling a lot this summer, but checking in on the blog from time to time. I've also been reading through recent activity on the blog and emails. How is everything going? Felicity mentioned the idea of pairing illustrators with layout designers. Did this happen yet? Before I left for the summer I worked with the layout team to develop guidelines for layout and grid systems. The system was very flexible, but provided enough structure for consistent layouts. However, many design elements were not resolved... typography, page number systems, titles, etc. I think the design for these elements will emerge as the layout team starts to actually design the sections.

Have we lost anyone from the layout team? Added anyone? Is everyone working remotely and using dropbox?

If you have immediate questions, I will check in on the blog and email over the next few days. From August 8th until the 20st I will not be in touch since I will be in many remote areas without access to the web. I will be back in Doha on August 21st attending meetings, however, I should be able to answer questions and/or meet with anyone as needed.

Jesse and Patty, if any layout/design related questions come your way, please feel free to direct them toward me and I can help out. I noticed we have some deadlines approaching, so I want to make sure we are all on track. I prefer to help direct and answer questions, but if needed I can help with the actual layout of pages as well.

Thanks all.

The Wonder Tree Arabian Folk Tale

Has anyone heard this folk tale? If so, how is the version you heard different from this version?

I have a question for the layout team - how large a scale should I be working in based on the size of the page that Michael sent out in the template and the panels I've sketched out already...

Lately I've been painting on about half an A4, turning it either way to suggest a landscape/portrait orientation.

I found some interesting research for collage illustrations, compostions for example within a solid shape and adding textures.

Abdulla's Latest Work-Jouha Counting the Donkeys

Here are some samples of Abdulla's latest work. He is done with his story, and will begin coloring.

These images were created from screen shots so they're not the highest quality, but I think you can get a good sense of what Abdulla is doing in terms of telling his story sequentially. He has varied his panel size and type to match the action of the story, and he makes good use of exaggeration and facial expression.

Pairing up the teams?

Hi Everyone,

I was surfing through the blog the other day and was really inspired by Zoe's paintings, and began thinking about how the text could be incorporated with her style and some of the ideas Zoe had about orientation. I was thinking I could start doing some research into hand generated text and different options.

I began thinking maybe it would be good to pair one of us from the layout team with an illustrator, so that there could be a really collaborative progress between the layout/text and the illustrations, and we could get started on at least parts of some stories, rather than the illustrators handing over the finished product and then the layout team dropping them into place? I know the illustrators are no way near finished and polished, but we could work with roughs, concepts and progress together. Emailing back and forth between illustrator and layouter (?) rather than everything running through the whole team.

Just a thought.

F.

Dubai and the Limits of Multiculturalism

Dubai debates the limits of multiculturalism - Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune
By Hassan M. Fattah

DUBAI — South Asians call it "the best-run Indian city," Arabs celebrate it as a model of Arab accomplishment and Westerners have embraced it for its endless sunshine and luxury lifestyle.

With more than 150 nationalities and almost as many expressions of culture, Dubai is one of the most diverse cities in the Middle East. But after decades of selling dreams to foreigners, this Gulf emirate has begun debating the limits of multiculturalism.

Tensions burst into the open in early October when an English-language newspaper published an article decrying the growing disrespect for Muslim customs here during the holy month of Ramadan, setting off a rare public debate about Dubai's cultural identity.

"Too much flesh on show is wrong in a Muslim country at any time - but offense is being felt especially during Ramadan," said the front-page editorial in 7Days, a free daily tabloid.

The article included photographs of women walking in sleeveless tops and shorts at a shopping mall under the headline "Show Some Respect." 7Days, which is run and edited largely by Westerners, advised its readers to "please remember that this is a Muslim country and many of us are guests here."

Within hours, the newspaper was flooded with e-mails and telephone calls, many praising the paper for acknowledging the sensitivities of Muslims but many others lambasting it for seeming to toe an official line.

Soon the entire emirate was talking.

"We fear that the expatriate is going to impose his culture on us," said Maya Rashid Ghadeer, a columnist with the newspaper Al Bayan who writes about the local community. "Most locals are afraid that they are losing their basic identity forever."

For decades the emirate, part of the federation of seven principalities that make up the United Arab Emirates, sought to broaden its economy by welcoming foreigners and their dollars, turning itself into a shipping hub, a business hub and, more recently, a tourist hub with luxury hotels and resorts.

The city's openness has helped produce dramatic economic growth and development, with wide swaths under construction and more projects in the works. The boom has brought big-city problems like inflation, rising crime, higher divorce rates and traffic.

But beyond that, it has taken a toll on local culture as many young Emiratis have begun looking abroad, abandoning many traditions and even marrying foreigners. With only about 200,000 local citizens, the demographics are daunting, said Abdulkhaliq Abdallah, a professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University.

"Usually minorities assimilate into the majority," Abdallah said. "But we don't want to assimilate into the majority. We want to preserve the localness, the Emiratiness of this city."

At the same time, Dubai is famous for offering a kind of Disneyland fantasy to its tourists. In December, luxury hotels set up large Christmas trees, and it can be hard to orient oneself. Many outsiders say that is what makes Dubai stand out in the region.

"Hello, this is 2006, not 1666," wrote one critical reader of the article in 7Days who demanded to know what was wrong with the clothing styles. "Does Dubai want to move forward in time where women are no longer regarded as second-class citizens?"

Dubai has implemented strict rules about public behavior - a man and woman kissing in public can be arrested; it is an offense to dress inappropriately during Ramadan; altercations with locals can land expatriates in jail.

But with millions of tourists passing through here, few of the laws are actually implemented. Ramadan, which ends this weekend, is a month when Muslims fast during daylight as part of what is supposed to be an intense focus on spirituality, then eat at night. This Ramadan, however, stores stayed open throughout the day and many restaurants continued to serve during fasting hours.

"This is still a salad platter with a tomato and cucumber that don't mix," Abdallah said, stressing that Dubai could never be a melting pot because foreigners are ineligible for citizenship. "It is a massive experiment in social tolerance, and it should be promoted as such. But being tolerant should not come at the expense of the local and national identity."

At least part of the tensions stem from the deep cultural divide here. For the most part, locals tend to live apart from expatriates and rarely interact socially with them. As in many Gulf states, Dubai's ethnic groups also exist in clearly defined socioeconomic stratifications. Locals are typically owners, Westerners earn the top salaries and South Asians do the menial labor.

Seizing on that division, the Sheik Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding, financed by Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has invited expatriates to locals' homes for dinner and organized tours and meals throughout the city. Inside a local shopping mall this month, Khulood al-Atiyat and other college students have manned a booth inviting shoppers to meet and speak with an Emirati.

"This is a place where they can come and talk to us and ask questions," Atiyat said. "We are proud of who we are, and we intend to stick to who we are."

Nada el Sawy contributed reporting.