Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: Ch 1, Activity 1

Not too long ago, I wrote a review of Matt Madden & Jessica Abel’s excellent cartooning textbook, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures.  In it I note that although the book is designed for in-class use, the authors have set up the curriculum to accommodate those working alone (“Ronin” as they refer to them) and those working as part of an online group (“nomads”).  I’ve taught plenty of cartooning classes, but not taken any since back in the dark ages when I was in art school, so I was delighted to find exactly such a “nomad” group over at The Comic Forums preparing to tackle the book.  I’m pretty tight for time these days, but they’re doing the thing at half-speed–30 weeks instead of 15–so I thought I’d give it a go.

I’ll be posting my assignments here throughout, and all such posts will be in the “Drawing Words & Writing Pictures” subcategory.  Here’s week one’s activity.  You can find the assignment listed here on the DWWP site.  In short, it’s all about showing motion; first, five objects in motion, then three motion-filled single-panel scenarios.  I often draw in several different colors, building up my final drawing with successive “passes” in increasingly dark colors, so I’ll post them both as they really appear in my sketchbook as well as with the underdrawings dropped out via Photoshop: