When I first began working on my literacy narrative, I did not quite understand how I could turn it into a comic. Considering my subpar artistic skills, the image that I had in mind of the comic I would create looked like a disaster. It was not until I cooled my nerves and read over Scott McCloud’s Making Comics a few times that I finally gained the courage to create my literacy comic of the events that shaped my experience as a reader and writer.
The entire process that led up to the point of crafting my literacy narrative comic was well developed and wholesome. Crafting an essay first and going through the motions of drafting and peer-reviewing really worked to my advantage and demonstrated the prolong measures it take to put together a powerful comic. As I worked on my comic, the main dilemma I faced was figuring out how I could cover the vast amount of time from elementary to high school that I described within my essay. This is where Making Comics really came in handy. In Making Comics, McCloud’s scene-to-scene method describes panel transitions “across significant distances of time.” This was the most effective way to demonstrate the full experienced I described within my Literacy Narrative Essay. While crafting my draft, I found myself remembering more specifics regarding the experience that I truly had.
Overall, I’m proud of the comic that I created and feel that this assignment has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and access avenues of literature. I’ve slowly been becoming more comfortable with drawing out my thoughts on paper and I feel that this assignment has put the icing on the cake.
MatthewWhite 