My introduction creating a Comic Book Strip

I'm excited about my new creative venture in digital writing.  This time, I'm to tell a story using a comic book strip.  This concept was daunting to me at first as my only connection with this medium was reading Archie Comics as a child.  After some research and looking at the different styles used over comics long history, I'm intrigued.

Here is my first attempt at a comic book strip.  This was created during my introductory tutorial, created in 20 minutes without any planning, prior research or even consideration so please excuse the simplicity.

I know, I know.... amateur.  But, don't be a hater.  This is my first strip ever much like a baby's first steps.  The bright side is, I can only improve from here right?

Well, step one is to use the power of google to help me research.  Sadly, I don't have any classic comics lying around the house for the purpose of research so that is my starting point.

I've stumbled across some interesting sites which have given me a lot of inspiration.  The first is a site about the composition and layout of comic strips.  Composition and Layout is a great article about the fundamentals of creating the comic book strip emphasising the importance of composition to "keep your readers interested by maintaining their eye on your work and dialogue." The evolution of comic storytelling evolving beyond the boundaries of the standard grid is intriguing.  Naturally, the advanced layout techniques shown are beyond the scope of Strip Generator and I look forward to experimenting with these concepts as I explore Adobe and other programs whilst creating future comic strips.

Of course, my venture into the realm of Comic Strips wouldn't be complete without exploring classic comic strips such as Peanuts

or Dilbert.

But my research just wouldn't be complete without returning to an old faithful from my childhood - Archie (and the spin offs like Betty & Veronica).

Google Map Short Creative Story

Yet again, I am amazed at my ability to learn.  My patience was tested, a lot of time was dedicated and finally I am relieved I can say, "It is complete."Sure, there are changes (actually - improvements) I would like to make but I'm satisfied with the result.

The Hunt for Cino-The-Cav is about a serial killer motivated by social media fame and the authorities are working strategically to capture him.  The central character stars my beautiful little boy Cino who was happy to comply with the entire filming process.  I chose to position Cino as the central character as one of the directives was to include three videos, as well as still images we owned.  The videos of Cino were shot using my HTC mobile phone and placed on Youtube to be linked to the individual Google Map articles.  The photos were also shot with my phone and placed on the Digital Writing server to be linked to the relevant stories as well.

The next step was creating customised icons for the page.  After many, many, many (did I mention many?) hours playing with various concepts in Photoshop, I chose to stick to the simple star icons and add body outlines for a little spice.

The next stage was reformatting the font and repositioning the images to add variety.  I first repositioned the images and then found that when I reformatted the font... the images disappeared.  I wasn't a happy camper but it appears that all is repaired now and hopefully when you follow the link, those videos will still be there.

I hope you enjoy the short story.  I enjoyed creating it and hope to experiment with more Google Maps in the future so watch this spot!

View The hunt for Cino-the-Cav in a larger map

An Exploration of Three Digital Writings

The Electronic Literature Directory is full of many intriguing (and some wasted energy) of creative digital writing.  With so many works of art, it was difficult to choose just three for discussion. 

9:05 by Adam Cadre

This interactive narrative was intriguing in description and reminiscent of interactive books I read as a child in which a story was told and the reader was given options to advance the story.

In this piece the character wakes late for work confronted with decisions.  Unfortunately, communicating those decisions proved to be quite challenging for me and after 15 minutes of trial and failure, I succumbed to my frustration and gave up.

The use of interactive narration was entertaining and the simple narration encouraged use of imagination.  Sadly, my story didn’t continue beyond the introduction (albeit the character’s front door) and my character may never figure out how to have a shower let alone anything else.

This is not a Poem by Alan Begelow

This poem was genius.  The simplicity of the CD with ‘Tree’ written within it became exciting as I started interacting.  Flicking the words to the outer edge of the disc was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the amended poem being read minus the words I had removed.  The new text (albeit the original minus some words) presented a new poem, and in effect a new perspective.

I was then further entertained on completion of that activity when I realised I could flick the literature back onto the disk, repeating the process.  Once this was done, the imbedded image of the robot attacking a tree gave a new perspective on the activity.  Recycling became the central theme and I realised that activity was exactly what I had participated in.  It was a hidden message rewarding my participation.  Fabulous!

Blueberries by Susan Gibb

This hyperlink narrative was an interesting vehicle for storytelling.  Each page served as a short story in itself and the hyperlinked associative words presented an extension of that story.  When I reached the end, I was intrigued by the character and returned to the beginning with intent to experiment with the hyperlinks.  Was there any more to learn about the character?  I was satisfied to learn there was.

Visited links were coloured accordingly encouraging me to take a different journey through the narrative.  I was please to discover new elements of the story as well as extended explanations of situations presented during my first reading.

Susan Gibb is a fascinating story teller and it is due to this talent her digital piece was so successful.  An intriguing read and one I will be revisiting with intent to learn more about this character.

My first Blog

This is my first blog ever.  I thought I'd write a test to see how it works and what it looks like.  Don't start the fanmail yet.... I'm sure it will get more interesting than this!

So for anyone who stumbles across this blog and is thinking, "what the?"  This blog has been created for my Digital Writing class.  Consider everything you see as a starting point for the skills I'm aquiring to build brilliant websites in the future (as well as social networking integration). 

Loving the creativity I have to look forward to this semester.  Oh, and don't forget to follow me please.  Top right corner of this message.  I hope to get some feedback from you all as I progress.

Solange