Think through the process of drawing a diary comic with Whit Taylor by taking into consideration not only the content but its intended audience and strategies for effective storytelling. You can pick up a copy of Whit’s book Ghost Stories from our friends at Bookshop, where proceeds will help benefit The Believer and independent bookstores.
Watch the video of the livestream below and follow these steps to create your own diary comic.
For this workshop, you will need paper and something to draw with.
Questions to ask yourself when thinking through a comic:
1: Why make this comic?
2: Who is my audience?
3: Will it be published? If so, are there formal guidelines/considerations I need to know?
4: How autobiographical is it?
Process questions to ask yourself when thinking through a comic:
1: Is the comic chronological, or thematic?
2: How can I show more and tell less?
3: Where are the beats in the story? Is it paced well? How’s the storytelling rhythm?
4: Does it have a mood?
5: How can I use visual shorthand?
6: How can I end this story?
Creating a four-panel diary comic:
Panel 1: Describe an experience you had this week.
Panel 2: How did it make you feel? Try to show this feeling through your drawing.
Panel 3: How did you respond to this feeling?
Panel 4: What insights/takeaways/thoughts resulted?
We’d love to see your diary comic! Post it to social and tag @believermag and @whitltaylor.
This workshop was supported in part by Zappos.
