Currently Reading:
To celebrate Dav Pilkey’s birthday today, we are reading Dog Man. The creator of Captain Underpants has struck again with this wildly popular story about a hero that is part man and part dog. Explore themes of empathy, kindness, and persistence as Dog Man works to serve justice.
Activity:
Dav Pilkey makes Graphic Novels, which are longer than comic books with complete narratives. While we don’t have enough time to make a full Graphic Novel, we can make our own comics!
Step One:
You will need white copy paper, a ruler, pencils, pens, and crayons. If you are having trouble thinking of what to make into a comic, think about what you did today, and put that into comic form. For instance, while I was sitting at my desk working, my cat was sitting on top of my nightstand watching the birds outside and I decided he would make a pretty good comic.
Step Two: Make Your Booklet
Fold the piece of white paper in half like the picture below.
Then fold it in half again so that you get a small square.
Next, you will staple one side together, then cut the edge where the long fold is in order to make pages.
When you are done, you will have a little booklet.
Step Three: Drawing
Draw your title page!
Step Four: Tracing
Trace over your pencil lines with a black pen and then erase any remaining pencil marks.
Step Five: Add color!
Step Six: Make Your Pages
Pancake likes to be near me while I’m working, so I was fortunate enough to watch him during the day, and then be able to doodle what he was doing. He spends his day moving from where he sleeps on the end of my bed to watch the birds from the window. Occasionally, he likes to jump on my desk and play with my pencils.
To make your comic strip, go to the first page of your booklet, and divide it up into panels using a ruler. I decided to have one panel per page, but you can add as many as you’d like!
Repeat steps 3-5 until your comic is done!
Step: Seven
Share your comic with others!
