The Secret Language of Comics: Visual Thinking and Writing

Author: Ja'Mya

Trace It Back (Reflection Post)

Student Posts

By Ja’Mya Yancey

I already knew what I would be confronting when we read Stitches and when the assignment was announced. The page I traced in David Small’s graphic novel was a page that drew me in even before I knew I would have to analyze anything. Seeing that something similar was occurring in Spinning made me excited because everything was there. For my tracing pages I analyzed how words do not have to be there in order for the author to express that they are processing and internalizing a situation that is about to change them and/or hit deep. It moved me personally because I know how it feels to go through something but not have the words to describe it, its just a feeling that hits you hard and I feel like they showed that through the dark shadows and colors.

Structuring the analysis was not that much of a change for me because this writing structure was introduced to me my senior year of high school. Also, I never really liked having to write an introduction or conclusion paragraph. I felt like it was over doing it and it was a hit-or-miss type of thing. One thing that did surprise me about this entire experience though is how it feels more personal reading in this medium. I expected the same thing I would get from a regular novel with this but just with pictures. Graphic novels though has drawn me in more and allowed me to reflect and internalize what they want to convey.

Bunch O’ Balloons

Student Posts

By Ja’Mya Yancey

Bunch O’ Balloons by Ja’Mya Yancey
Credit: Image1, Image2

This weeks Sunday Sketch idea was very interesting. I did not find it hard coming up with an idea for this assignment but I did find it hard finding images to go together that would look acceptable. My first idea was to create a banana car since the first image I saw during my search was a yellow car. But I really did not like the finished product of the collages I would make. The next image i saw when I looked some up through Flickr was a bunch of green balloons and at the same time I was eating green grapes and that made me think of this idea. Once I created my finished product I was happy with what i saw even though its not as perfect as I would like it to be.

Not only did I like how it looked but I enjoyed interpreting it and what I found that it does interpret. My image represents the high costs that comes with eating healthy and how to prices are always on the rise. Balloons rise, money is green, so the balloons represent the cost and how it is always rising and the grapes represent the healthy living factor.

The Golden Age of Pianist- Females Time to Shine

Student Posts

By Ja’Mya Yancey

Visual Notes by Ja’Mya Yancey

Going into this assignment I honestly had no idea how to approach this. I like to write down step for step in words my notes for my classes, I thought immediately that drawing would just distract me from the ultimate goal of the class topic but it actually did not. I am not the biggest fan of my first year seminar because the topic does not really spark my interest. But I do love learning and talking about women. So these pair of notes was what I thought about just to still be interested in something I illustrated for this weeks Sunday sketch. This assignment actually made me become even more interested in this topic of class because it made it look more fun than it sounds on paper. I also like to see a lot of colors in my notes and for this class I do not have to take that many notes so they’re never really in color, this allowed me to add that element to my notes. Lastly, the assignment made the information simpler then how it sounds in the book. I feel like this way, in certain circumstances, is a more approachable way to engage yourself in your classes and make it fun and cute.

Early Bird Catches the Worm

Student Posts

By Ja’Mya Yancey

Early Bird Catches the Worm
Image Credit: Ja’Mya Yancey

My Sunday sketch this week is of the encounter of a bird and a worm. The way I got this idea is because I always have my key holder on me, always playing with it 24/7. When I first saw that we had to use a 3D item, the first thing I thought of was my pineapple that I attach to my key holder but then I realized how difficult that would turn out for me. Not that this was any easier, as many birds as I went through. But the key holder reminded me of a worm and because most of my classes are early, whenever I get on snapchat the filter I see is one like this. The early bird catches the worm! I added the little commentary of the worm as well to signify how most of the time I wake up and expect a perfect day but little do I know something is about to ruin the day in 0.1 seconds. It’s always those early classes that sometimes hit me a little too hard. So it’s true, the early bird does catch the worm in this sketch.

Narrative Reflection

Student Posts

https://jamyayancey.wordpress.com/the-frustrations-of-a-six-year-old/

At first writing this narrative was very strange for me because I hate talking about myself and living in the past. This really pulled me out of my comfort zone but I am glad it did because it showed me a lot about myself. I was surprised to get an answer about why I am the way I am when it comes to writing and reading. I thought it was just some random anxiety that came from wanting to succeed, which I am sure plays some factor in it, but it has more depth and more background to it. I guess you really do learn about yourself in college, this was an odd yet cool way to being that journey. A line in my narrative that will catch attention is definitely, “So, I went in my room, slammed my door, and threw a chair across the room.” Just by looking at that line you would think that has nothing to do with the process of learning to read or write. Even just the title, “The Frustration’s Of a Six-Year-Old,” no one would read that and say that it relates to english. But trust me it has so much to do with the foundations of my career in english.

Ja’Mya Yancey’s Avatar

Student Posts

My avatar for this class is simply my graduation cap that ultimately holds a significant amount of meaning regardless of the quality of material used to make it. If you read it correctly it says, “From a Phoenix to an Eagle, I rise. Dad I made it.” Firstly, the high school I attended back home in Detroit, Michigan was Renaissance High School. The mascot for that high school was, of course, a phoenix. All throughout high school, at any lectures or games at the end we would say, “I rise” which is why I included that on my cap as well, not just because I’m talking about birds. For college I am attending Emory University and their official mascot is the eagle.

What ties these two together for me is the fact that a phoenix is known to rise from the ashes and an eagle soars in the sky. Meaning that while I was in high school, everything I went through there was me rising from the ashes of the broken education system there and now that I’ve made it out I get to soar in the sky with the eagles. I rose from the ashes to soar in the sky. That part alone is significant to me because it will always remind me of where I came from and where I am heading. Also it shows that just because you start at the bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there. The last part goes a little personal and that is because my father passed away when I was 4 years old. So he wasn’t able to physically be here to see me make it out and make him proud.

This avatar represents where I come from, where I’m going, and who I am doing all of this for.

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