Making Comics Lesson Plan

Level: Grade 4 to 6

About the author: MediaSmarts

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students learn how the comics medium works and try their hand at making simple comics.

Learning Outcomes

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

Media are constructions

• Media makers make intentional and unintentional choices when making a media work

Each medium has a unique aesthetic form

• Comics share storytelling tools with other media types such as film
• Comics have unique storytelling devices

Key questions:

• What are the rules of notice of the comics medium?
• How do comics makers use those to draw and direct readers’ attention?

Frequent student misconceptions: You have to be able to draw to make good comics

Essential knowledge: Students will know…

• Reading media: How comics creators use the medium’s storytelling devices
• Making & remixing: How students can use the medium’s devices to tell a story

Key vocabulary: 

• Close-up: When the subject is shown very large, it lets the viewer see detail and may show that something is important.
• Gutter: In comics, the gutter is the space separating panels.
• Long shot: When the viewer's "eye" is a long way from the subject. It's usually used to give context or situate the subject in their environment.
• Low angle: When the viewer is looking up at the subject. Usually used to make a character seem powerful or impressive.
• Open panel: A panel without any lines around it.
• Overlap: When part of one shape or image covers part of another shape or image.
• Panel: A single drawing in a comic.

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

• Use: Make clear and compelling comics
• Understand: Identify and analyze ways in which comics makers use the medium’s rules of notice to draw and direct attention
• Engage: Consider the role of Indigenous cultural artistic traditions in comics made by Indigenous artists

Student-friendly outcomes:

• We will learn what these words mean when it comes to creating comics: close-up, gutter, long shot, low angle, open panel, overlap, and panel
• We will learn the special rules that make comics work in a way to tell stories
• We will learn how to use the special rules that make comics work to tell our own stories

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.