Reflection on Tracing Pages Assignment

October 3, 2019 Sulaiman Student Posts

This essay was very fun to write about because it required a lot of different elements that needed to be pulled together for analysis. From finding the pages to tracing them, the entire process made me feel as though I was professionally critiquing David Small and Tillie Walden. Before this assignment I’ve never traced because I don’t have access to the materials so this project also allowed me to go out of my comfort zone and delve into something new and creative.

I aslo enjoyed the new writing style. I did take some time to introduce the panels and provide context but I felt that was essential in understanding the concept of my essay. It was also an interesting process of putting my essay together with the thesis as the last paragraph because I felt as though I was writing my entire paper backwards.

Overall, assignments like these, where we are tasked to look at and analyze comics have increased my interest in writing. There is so much to write about and its fascinating how much each panel can mean to the author and the reader.

Tippy Top of The World

September 28, 2019 Sulaiman Student Posts

At first it seemed very daunting when thinking of ways to recreate Stephen Mcmennamy’s examples of pictures he’s taken/edited. However, the more I looked into his work, I realized that his images are more about the story they capture. That said, the hardest part about creating “Tippy Top of The World” was finding two images that would work well together. The only criteria I had for selecting images was that they be of high quality. Putting the two pictures didn’t take too much effort or editing because I used PicMonkey, and their site is pretty intuitive.

The story that this combophoto captures is the feeling of being on top of the world. It can feel like a ballerina on top of a cliff. After creating this piece, I thought of how it relates to the current book we’re reading, Spinning. The protagonist is a figure skater, and much like ballerinas, figure skating requires perfection from the performers. One false move can send you over the edge, just like being at the tippy top of the world.

Images Obtained From:

https://unsplash.com/t/arts-culture

https://unsplash.com/t/nature

Visual Note Taking

September 22, 2019 Sulaiman Student Posts

Visual note taking is always something I’ve seen on YouTube yet never tried. It seemed as though it required an immense amount of effortless art, which I couldn’t imitate no matter how hard I tried. Also, during class it can be very hard to focus on what’s being taught and doodling only made that task harder.

This assignment was fun because it allowed me to take something mundane and turn it into art. I also enjoyed this activity because it was low-risk. Often times, when attemping to create a grand art piece, it can become very stressful because one pen stroke could ruin everything. However, with visual note taking, I had the freedom to draw anything that came to my mind because it could be used to remember class content. I can honestly say that I will be able to recall all the notes I drew.

Sunday Sketch 2

September 13, 2019 Sulaiman Student Posts

The process of creating this sketch was relatively simple and straightforward. I looked around my dorm for small items that could be captured in a drawing. I eventuallty found some Hershey Kisses, and they reminded me of fat lips when you put them together. I used some Blue-Tak to stick the two kisses together to create the lips. Once I had my object, I had to figure out what sketch would surround the item. I first started with a human face but quickly found that it was too challenging to incorporate an object with different proportions.

I ended up sketching a chicken face because I found a basic tutorial on how to draw chicken faces. After following the tutorial, I added in elements of my style and ended up with “Kisses on the Cock.” Upon finishing the sketch, the name seemed to fit perfectly; it was witty, funny, and hopefully not too inappropriate for class.

Literacy Narrative Reflection

September 12, 2019 Sulaiman Student Posts

Part I

Going in to this narrative I was really worried because I haven’t written anything all summer and I’m a little out of practice. Thankfully I was able to remember the writing process and started with an outline where I was able to map out the foundation of my narrative. The freewriting pre work was very beneficial to my literacy narrative because it allowed me to take a raw idea and expand upon it. Often times the hardest part in writing is getting started and the freewriting activity took care of that. I decided to make this narrative about my poetry and I never realized how big of an impact my poems had on me until I finished the narrative. Also, before writing this assignment I never considered that my brother was actually the biggest influence that sparked my interest in poetry.

This literacy narrative was the first time I’ve publicly talked about and shared my poetry. It was defintley intimidating to share something so personal with so many people but I’m happy I was able to step out of my comfort zone. I believe the most interesting sentence in my narrative is when I said “What came forth was poetry.” I think that sentence changes the dynamic of the narrative. It shifts the readers perspective about who I am as a writer and a poet.

Link to Literacy Narrative: https://sulistories.wordpress.com/literacy-narratives/

My Avatar

September 9, 2019 Sulaiman Student Posts

I chose this picture as my avatar simply because the man depicted looks intrigued and happy. I love getting perplexed over little things that make me happy, and this picture makes me wonder what’s bringing about his toothy smile. This image relates to the topic of the class because this image holds an immense amount of information that is unsaid, like the comics.
The caption for this image online is “poor man.” However, I think there’s more to this man than being sick. I related to this image because I believe there is little about me that people know and a lot about me that people assume. I also sometimes feel as though I’m an old man living life again in a younger body. I have an appreciation for the older things in life that last a while and grow in value. The font used in this image is “Herculaneum” it’s a strong yet ancient font, like the old man.
Another aspect of the picture that’s important is its black and white filter. Black and white are the two most classic colors and add texture to everything they accent. Black and white are also my two favorite colors.

https://www.freeimages.com/photo/poor-man-1440145