Next/Last in-person class

Thursday, May 6

Be on time to participate in the peer assessment
and bring your laptop or tablet (not your phone).

Thank You!

How to Generate the Final Copy

In Comic Life 3

> Click on File in the top menu

> Click on Export

> Click on Export to PDF

> Select highest Image Limit available (600 dpi)

> Click on Next and save.

> Submit the PDF file to LEA.

In Comic Life 2 (export your project as a set of images, not pdf)

> Click on File in the top menu

> Click on Export

> Click on Export to Images

> Select High Quality
> Select highest resolution (600 dpi if available)

> Click on OK
> Submit all the image files to LEA.

WEEK 15

LAST CLASS: Thursday, May 7
in-class peer evaluation: 15% of final grade

STRICTLY FOR STUDENTS WHO WILL ARRIVE ON TIME
& BRING A LAPTOP/TABLET (no phone)

FINAL SINGLE PDF FILE (including cover page) DUE ON LEA

ON TUESDAY, MAY 5, at MIDNIGHT

Late submissions will, unfortunately, not receive
a peer evaluation (representing 15% of final grade)

ONLINE WORKSHEETS (SECTIONS 1-9)
NEED TO BE UPDATED TO REFLECT THE FINAL COPY

As you create your final copy, focus on clarity of storytelling (words & images), even gutter thickness, and straight border alignment.

Make sure your final copy is word-specific; every single panel should include words (except one or two panels per page maximum).

FINAL TECHNICAL SUPPORT: I will be available in the classroom on Monday, May 4, at 8AM (A119) and 12PM (A119). Join me at the beginning of class if you have technical questions.

Getting very close to the end!

Final Project: ROUGH BORDERS (Comic Life 3)

WHEN YOU FIRST CREATE YOUR COMIC LIFE PROJECT,
SELECT 'COMICS' >> 'BLANK (WITH STYLES).'

CLICK ON A PANEL; THEN, ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE SCREEN,
SELECT THE ROUGH BORDER STYLE.

YOU CAN ADJUST THE THICKNESS & COLOR OF THE BORDER
AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN (see arrows).

Play with line thickness & coloring to guide the gaze

background: pencil filter (in Storyboardthat)

character: grayscale filter (in Storyboardthat)

border: hand-drawn style / 3 pts thick (in Comic Life 3)

bubbles & narrative boxes: 3 point thick (in Comic Life)

Comic Life for Windows

If you struggle to install Comic Life 3 on your Windows laptop,

you may install this older version: Comic Life 2

With the help of one of your peers, and Gemini, we were able to find a way to install Comic Life 3. It is slightly technical (but really not complicated). Those of you who really want to use the latest version, please wait until next class; I'll show you the steps.

That said, Comic Life 2 is more than sufficient to complete this project.

Character Design Prompt

Create an image that contains three times the same character: shown from the front, back, and one side.

Style:
# black and white
# medium degree of realism
# no background
# white background

Character:
# male
# 50s
# short beard and curly hair (mid-length)
# jeans
# long-sleeves button-down denim shirt
# black shoes

Final Project: DIGITAL APPS

YOU WILL NEED COMIC LIFE
TO PUT YOUR PANELS TOGETHER
and ADD TEXT, BUBBLES and NARRATIVE BOXES

USE STORYBOARDTHAT
TO GENERATE YOUR IMAGES

(background & characters)
NOT the text, bubbles & narrative boxes.

* Storyboardthat: may work better with Google Chrome

WEEK 14

NEXT CLASS: THURSDAY, APRIL 30

TECHNICAL SUPPORT ON APRIL 27
TECHNICAL SUPPORT ON MAY 4
FINAL SUBMISSION: MAY 5 (midnight)

LAST CLASS: MAY 7 (15% peer evaluation)

BRING YOUR LAPTOP
TO ALL REMAINING CLASSES

1) FINAL PROJECT: REVISE YOUR STICK-FIGURE DRAFT, for example, by adding more words (e.g., narrative boxes).

THEN CREATE ALL THE INDIVIDUAL IMAGES OF YOUR COMIC BOOK (i.e., the characters, and backgrounds when needed). That is, do not create the bubbles, borders, narrative boxes, or words.

Next week, you will use Comic Life 3 to drop the images into panels and add the bubbles, narrative boxes, and words.

If you use Gemini AI, make sure each image contains no visual aberrations.

In Storyboardthat, make the images as big as possible on your screen before taking a screenshot. This is crucial for your final copy to be clear and sharp.

On a Mac, to take a screenshot, press and hold these three keys together: Shift, Command, and 3 or 4.

On a Microsoft computer, you may use the Snipping Tool app.

2) ONLINE WORKSHEET: ALWAYS KEEP MODIFYING SECTIONS 1-9 OF YOUR ONLINE WORKSHEET TO REFLECT YOUR FINAL COPY.

Almost the end!

STICK-FIGURE DRAFTS

Your draft should include three/four pages, all the panels, characters (as stick-figures), bubbles (speeches and thoughts), narrative boxes and words.

Fill up the entire page, using properly-sized gutters and panels.

Place and size your characters, bubbles, and words very carefully.

This will allow you to assess your storytelling, test your use of comic book elements, and evaluate the balance between your words and images.

STATISTICS: Final submissions

To help you get a sense of the quality and complexity of your ongoing final project, here are some interesting statistics from previous semesters:

GROUPS ON ONE
> average number of panels >> 27 min:24 max:35
> average number of alternative characteristics (section #5) >> 12.5 min:10 max:19

> average number of comic book elements (section #8) >> 16 min:10 max:29

GROUPS OF TWO
> average number of panels >> 36 min:32 max:47
> average number of alternative characteristics (section #5) >> 14 min:10 max:20

> average number of comic book elements (section #8) >> 21 min:15 max:30

CAMERA SHOTS

Ask yourself: What is the focus in this panel?

MEDIUM-TO-CLOSE SHOTS: TO FOCUS ON WORDS & CHARACTER ⤵

WIDE SHOTS: ONLY IF THE ENVIRONMENT REALLY MATTERS ⤵

★ ★ ★ AVOID WIDE SHOTS THAT ARE WORD-SPECIFIC ⤵

In short: Get as close to your character as possible!

The closer you are to the character, the more you emphasize their words, emotions, and personality. Zooming in draws the reader's attention where it matters most. Save the wide shots for when the setting is telling part of the story, or when you wish to introduce a new location (in the first panel at the top of a page).

DIALOGUE & BUBBLE PLACEMENT

Dialog always STARTS ON THE LEFT,
and DON'T CROSS TAILS!

Bubbles should be read in traditional Z-fashion:
from left to right, and from top to bottom.

WEEK 13 (due April 23)

> NEXT CLASS: THURSDAY, APRIL 23 <

IN-CLASS PEER REVIEW OF YOUR STICK-FIGURE DRAFT

BRING YOUR PAPER DRAFTS & LAPTOPS

1) FINAL PROJECT: IF NEEDED, REVISE SECTIONS #1 TO 7 OF YOUR ONLINE WORKSHEET.

2) NEW COMIC BOOK ELEMENTS: REVIEW YOUR CLASS NOTES & BLOG POSTS ON NEW COMIC BOOK ELEMENTS.

3) EXAMPLES: STUDY CLOSELY THE EXAMPLES OF FINAL PROJECTS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS AS WELL AS EXAMPLES OF STICK-FIGURE DRAFTS.

4) DRAFT & WORKSHEET: CREATE YOUR STICK-FIGURE DRAFT & FILL UP SECTIONS 8 & 9 OF YOUR WORKSHEET.

SECTIONS #8-9 & YOUR STICK FIGURE DRAFT ARE BOTH DUE ON APRIL 23 BEFORE CLASS.

Submit your draft to LEA as one single pdf file.
Your draft needs to be comic book size: one whole sheet of paper for each page.

The size of your panels and gutters need to be standard-sized, that is, the common size of panels and gutters found in alternative comics; drafts with very wide or uneven gutters or very small panels will not be accepted.

Your draft needs to include all the words, bubbles and narrative boxes. Think carefully about the placement of your bubbles, not to confuse your reader.

The size of the bubbles and words needs also to be standard-sized; drafts with very small bubbles or small/unreadable words will not be accepted and be considered late.

5) STYLE & CHARACTER DESIGN: CHOOSE WHETHER YOU WILL RELY ON YOUR OWN DRAWING SKILLS, USE STORYBOARDTHAT.COM, OR GEMINI AI TO CREATE EACH INDIVIDUAL IMAGE (excluding the panels, bubbles, and text).

THEN, DESIGN EACH OF YOUR MAIN CHARACTERS:

Take care!

Next class: Thursday, April 16

Next class: Thursday, April 16

We’ll be working on your final creative project.

Please make sure you have completed sections #1 to 7

of your individual or group worksheet.

Bring your laptop!

Essay II: Submission

Due date: April 20, 8AM or 12PM

Important: Follow editing rules closely.
Include at least 10 comments in the margins to complete the last process task.
Make sure your comments are visible in your submitted copy.

Include: Works Cited, MLA formatting, and AI Usage Report**

Submission: Submit final copy to LEA.

Late submissions: will result in a late fee (5% per day)

** AI Usage Report: At the very end of your essay, following your Works Cited page, describe how AI assisted you during the editing process. Indicate which prompts you used and which ones were the most useful.

Essay 2: Editing Rules

Editing Instructions for Handwritten Drafts

First Type Your Draft as It Is!

You must first type your handwritten draft word for word. During this initial typing phase, you can only fix basic writing errors: spelling, punctuation, and subject-verb agreement (e.g., correcting he say to he says). You do not need to insert comments to identify these minor corrections.

AI Usage: You can give ChatGPT your draft (one photo at a time) and ask it to extract the handwritten text word-for-word, exactly as it is. Since your final copy must match your draft, verify ChatGPT’s transcription (every single word) to make sure it hasn’t misread your handwriting.

Editing Process

After completing the initial draft requirement, you should edit your text further, with or without AI assistance, under the following conditions:

When using AI tools, you must only use teacher-approved AI prompts on Moodle.
For each modification made (with or without AI assistance), you must insert a comment describing briefly the change that was implemented. If AI was involved, specify which permitted prompt was used.
No need to insert a comment when correcting punctuation (a comma, period, or semicolon), when correcting the spelling of a word, when correcting verb-subject agreement errors ("he says"), when correcting or adding determiners ("the," "a," "an," "this," "that," "these," or "those") or when deleting a word or sentence without replacing it.
No more than four words in a given sentence can be added or replaced.
Only one sentence per paragraph can be edited beyond the four-word limit.

Maintaining Authentic Voice

It is crucial that all work submitted genuinely reflects your own ideas and writing style. Therefore:

You must not use AI-suggested words that you:
- Cannot pronounce correctly.
- Cannot define without looking them up in a dictionary.
- Would not typically use in your own writing or speaking.
You must read all AI-assisted passages aloud to ensure they sound natural and truly reflect your authentic voice.