by Samaira Gupta, Grade 8
Tell me you haven’t caught yourself doodling on the back of your math notebook or the back of your hand. Well, same: I have always been intrigued by comics and how these illustrations portray so much with little to no words, and when I saw the name of the workshop I immediately knew I had to attend this masterclass and do something with my math notebook doodles. This is what led me to attend the masterclass “Crafting Stories, One Panel at a Time” by Priyankar Gupta.
Priyankar Gupta is a featured illustrator in a book the 8th grade is exploring “Unknown Heroes of India’s Freedom Struggle.” A graphic design teacher and graphic novel illustrator, he introduced comics as “sequential art, a series of illustrations, not stand-alone images but several put together to create a story” as he delved into the masterclass.
He started the class by asking a series of questions. When did you read your first comic strip? Which one? To which the audience responded with a variety of answers ranging from newspaper comics to Tin Tin to Suppandi and more, which both Priyankar and I could relate to, having been huge fans of Suppandi and Tin Tin.
I have always wondered what makes comics so captivating. Of course, there are the characters and colors and drawing style, but is that it? How is a whole storyline depicted with a few simple illustrations and little to no words? Priyankar said that comic books look very simple and easy to do, but there is a lot of thought that goes into making sure the story is effectively conveyed, making it captivating and entertaining. Priyankar talked about how certain elements that are often overlooked, but are as important as the illustrations to make a comic captivating. These elements allowed me to see comics through a whole new perspective.
To introduce the first element, he asked us what the boxes and white spaces between the comics are called. He then explained to us that a panel is a box frame of a single illustration and the space between 2 panels is called a gutter. Panels allow us to break down the story by highlighting one action or moment or dialogue in each panel. Panels also divide the illustrations, making the strip more organized and understandable.
Gutters indicate the passing of time as a transition between the two panels, allowing readers to assume what happens during that time. Priyankar then discussed other elements of comics such as thought and speech bubbles that represent the thoughts going through a character’s mind and the dialogue between different characters.
You must have heard of the phrase “you are what you eat.” Priyankar made a twist to this phrase to “I ____, therefore, I am _____” and gave us a few examples such as “I read, therefore, I am a reader”, “I draw, therefore I am creative” and more. Then we had to follow this up and draw a comic strip based on how we filled the blanks. This activity encouraged us to think deeper about ourselves and express that through a comic strip, like all comic illustrators.
In conclusion, the masterclass “Crafting Stories One Panel at a Time” conducted by Priyankar Gupta was highly interactive and intriguing. I now find myself leaning towards reading more graphic novels and looking at the comic page of the newspaper, then connecting these with what I learned about elements of comics.
