The Network surveyed the field recently, and found that you wanted more arts content, so Shawna’s answering the call with this month’s PD Bite. She explored the first two activities in the Making Comics! Mizzen collection. A collection with 7 different parts, making it an easy to implement curriculum. 

The first activity, Making Comics Part 1: Characters and Setting focuses mostly on brainstorming your character, thinking about what kind of characteristics they would have and what type of world they would live in. Shawna started by watching the resource video provided, Kids Make Comics, and drew this cute little guy.

Then she started doodling on her own and figuring out what her character would look like, toying with different faces and shapes, struggling a bit with drawing something she felt confident in. She knew she wanted an afterschool hero, someone who uses data to improve quality. 

She eventually found a style that worked for her and created the character Delphine, who you see in after school with her trusty clipboard.

Making Comics Part 2: Splash Page builds on the work you’ve already done in the first activity. Now that Shawna has thought through her character, it’s time to make a splash page. Splash pages are meant to show off the character and sometimes also the important scenes in the story or the setting. Shawna polished her original sketches and created Data Girl, an afterschool quality advisor who visits programs with her trusty clipboard to help improve program quality.

 

Shawna had a lot of fun creating her own character and hopes you get a chance to do these activities with your kids too. If you happen to implement any of these activities with your kids, feel free to share their creations with us either by tagging us on social media or emailing us, so we can possibly highlight the cool work you’re doing.