Let’s Make Comics (1): What’s Behind the Door
Hi! My name is Jess Smart Smiley and I make rad pictures with my bare hands.
I have written and/or illustrated 18 books for young readers and created a variety of work for DisneyPixar, DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, BOOM Studios, and more. Through in-person and Skype visits to schools, libraries, and bookstores, as well as writing/drawing/comics/books events, I have helped thousands of children, teens, and adults to create their first comics!
My newest book is Let’s Make Comics! An Activity Book to Create, Write, and Draw Your Own Cartoons.
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Let’s Make Comics is packed with incomplete comics for the reader to complete by using a variety of different comics-making methods and techniques, including writing, drawing, character design, and storytelling.
The idea is that creators from all skill levels can flip open to any page and make a comic in fun and unique ways.
No need to fear the blank page—I’ve already started writing and drawing on each. All you have to do is finish the comic! Forget about messing up your precious drawings—this book is packed with my crummy drawings, and you can choose to exaggerate the characters’ cutesy-friendly looks, or turn them into salivating fire hounds. Did I mention the pages are all 8×5 x 11? This makes photocopying easy for classroom and group settings, and also allows creators to do the same activity over and over again in different ways.
Enough preamble; Let’s make comics!
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What’s Behind the Door?
Meet Peanut (turtle) and Bramble (bear). They are our guides throughout Let’s Make Comics, and they love it when people make comics about them.
In the What’s Behind the Door? activity on page 2, we see 3 separate comics, where the last part of each comic features an empty open door (opened by Peanut and/or Bramble). These comics are missing their endings, and that’s where the reader comes in. Grab a pencil, pen, or a marker and draw something in the opening of each door. (You can even take turns with a friend if it helps.)
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For Classes & Groups
I’ve used the What’s Behind the Door activity page to help teach the following:
The importance of a beginning, middle, and ending in a storyHow each panel can build tension and push it all onto the last panelHow each panel tells a unique part of the story that none of the other panels coverHow body language and facial expressions can add to the storyHow comics use repetition in interesting and helpful ways. All 3 comics feature borderless panels—that means there isn’t a shape drawn around each part of the action to separate it from the rest of the story. Instead, we understand when a new part of the story is introduced because of the placement of the repeated doors, and/or because of the characters’ places relative to the doors.
I love watching people turn these comics into funny love stories, alien invasions, and gruesome horrors.
Did you find this activity helpful? What would you draw behind your doors? How do you use comics in your classroom/group? How else would you use this activity page to teach others about making comics?
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Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to check out my comics activity page, What’s Behind the Door? This activity page is one of more than 60 comics activities featured in Let’s Make Comics! An Activity Book to Create, Write, and Draw Your Own Cartoons by Jess Smart Smiley.
