The Secret Language of Comics: Visual Thinking and Writing

Category: Student Posts

Envision in Vision

Student Posts

Reworking my film-class notes into a streamlined display of information seemed like an excellent opportunity to prepare a work of academic art for all the world to enjoy, but alas, what I envisioned — a masterpiece filled with factoids and worthy of my professor’s admiration — was no where to be found when I drew the final line.

It’s spot on my page was snagged by a most ugly-looking mash-up of film facts, yet though I fell short of my unrealistic imagination, I have found a few points to be rather proud of: the color examples for post-filming changes and special effects, my use of “range” bars, and one dapper-looking gentlemen holding a camera. The charm of the lastly mentioned stick-figure is obvious, but I will go into more detail concerning the prior items.

First off, the differences between two pairs of processes — tinting vs. toning and rear projection vs. matte work — were a bit difficult to remember, but the color examples I created juxtaposed them against one another and helped me understand which one was which. Furthermore, several other processes contained variations based on the “range” they existed on, and making vertical or horizontal progressions to show where the values laid on each range produced some somewhat useful visualizations.

Even though my notes are no where near the aesthetic excellence of others, they did help me understand what I was reading a bit better. In the future, I plan to draw out examples alongside my future notes instead of creating them on a whole new sheet of paper to make my visualizations more timely than time-consuming, for every minute counts for a college student.

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Having meditated on those powerful words by Confucius and completed my visual-notes assignment, I finally know how to understand the confusing contents of a class curriculum: through doodles and stick-figures. Talk about a win-win situation!

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.

Sk3: Visual Note Taking

Student Posts

When first thinking about this assignment, I struggled with the idea of how to turn simple notes into a visual piece of work. I couldn’t see how I could turn my boring, straightforward notes into art. However, I tried my best to do that, and I think it turned out pretty well. I was looking over my math notes from calculus 110 and tried to visualize them in a different way. I decided that the best way to do this would be to try and highlight the most important concepts and notes from that day of class. I also thought that the best way to make visual notes would be to add a lot of color and make it really “pop”. For example, the graphs of sin and cosine are crucial in calculus and that’s why they are highlighted in different colors and in the center of my work. Towards the end of my drawing, once it all came together, I was really able to see the point of this exercise. As a visual learner, I was able to better remember important formulas, rules, and concepts through this. Its definitly something I would do again in the future to help myself prepare for a test or quiz.

Visual Note Taking

Student Posts

For this assignment I decided to convert a page of my ECON 101 notes to a more visual format. Similar to my regular method of note taking I utilized arrows and indicated subsections by using a smaller font. The difference however was the amount of time it took. The addition of a visual element slightly distracted me from the actual concepts, and upon completing it I realized I had mislabeled a section. Though this did help me identify the concept names I hadn’t internalized I think rewording and reviewing notes is a more effective study technique.

Tag: sk3

Sunday Sketch #3

Student Posts
PHYS 190: ASTROBIOLOGY Notes

Once I knew what this week’s assignment was, I knew immediately I was going to draw my Astrobiology notes. It almost seems like too easy and cliche of an answer, but I genuinely did not fully understand what was going on in Astrobiology (in terms of types of planet migration and different theories on how solar systems work) until I sat myself down and drew it out. Part of that was due to the fact that I had to actually look up stuff I was confused about. Once I had to plan out the drawing I put a lot more effort into making sure I had an accurate understanding of what I needed to draw. I couldn’t just copy down what was on the board and not think about it until it was time for the test. I had to actually apply my knowledge of the material.

Once I finished it I realized that there was a lot of empty space. I still do not feel like I used the paper to its fullest. I didn’t want to crowd things, but, especially in the top right corner, now that I’m looking at the whole thing it feels very spaced out.

Chemistry in 2-D

Student Posts

When I read this assignment the first class that came to mind to practice this style of note-taking was my chemistry class. Chemistry is the basis for any science subject and so I felt inclined to start my first year with a Chemistry class. Even though I struggle to understand the concepts we learn in class this visual approach to my notes helped me to organize and visualize how concepts work together to solve a chemistry problem. I learned through drawing all of my notes that it helped me gain a better grasp of what it is my professor was trying to explain to us in words. Even though the drawing process was time consuming, I believe that if I can just take a moment after class to visualize and analyze how everything I learned in lecture is intertwined, I will have an easier time with recalling information.

Link back to original prompt https://eng181f19.davidmorgen.org/assignments/sketches/sketch-3-visual-note-taking/

Sk3: Visual Note Taking; Latin 370

Student Posts

When choosing the topic for my visual note taking assignment I considered what classes have the most complicated material for me to understand. I chose my Latin 370 class because we are reading Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations and sometimes I struggle to grasp all the arguments he is making and all the rhetorical techniques he is utilizing. By including all the historical, political and social context on one page, I was better able to understand the tactics Cicero was using in his speech to the Roman Senate. Since I have an exam coming up this week on this topic, I found this exercise to be a great way to review and remember the greater context of the speech to help me better analyze and translate the individual portions later. Before today I had never studied for latin in a visual medium and I was surprised by how relieving if felt to get everything down on one page that had been floating around in my head. It felt as though I no longer had to worry about remember every thought I had had because now I had them written down and depicted so I would always have a reference to look to.

You can find the description of this assignment here.

Note Doodles

Student Posts

I am enrolled in a Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, and these visual notes are not from that class. These notes are actually from the discussion section of my ANT 202 class, also known as Concepts and Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Last Wednesday, all I talked about during my first and last period of the day was race, gender, sex, and everything inbetween. My notes from the discussion period were clear and concise, making them the perfect pick for my visual note taking sketch assignment. I am a natural doodler. Look through my notebooks and you’ll see doodles covering all the margins. When I doodle I listen – the constant movement of my pencil keeps me focused. That being said, I have never drawn anything productive towards the class, it is normally clothing or miscellaneous objects. I am enrolled in a Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, and these visual notes are not from that class. These notes are actually from the discussion section of my ANT 202 class, also known as Concepts and Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Last Wednesday, all I talked about during my first and last period of the day was race, gender, sex, and everything in-between. My notes from the discussion period were clear and concise, making them the perfect pick for my visual note-taking sketch assignment. I am a natural doodler. Look through my notebooks and you’ll see doodles covering all the margins. When I doodle I listen – the constant movement of my pencil keeps me focused. That being said, I have never drawn anything productive towards the class, it is normally clothing or miscellaneous objects.

I was nervous to properly portray my notes visually, but once I let go of my Giulia Forsyth-style expectations, the ideas started to flow. Race, gender, and sex were all presented as different categories, race intersects with both gender and sex, and the difference between gender and sex was argued to be negligible (Judith Butler). I wanted to show those intersections and lack of boundaries by creating walls and breaking them. Within each region, I attempted to use as little words as possible and enjoyed playing with color to portray deeper ideas. While I am pleased with the outcome, I know for the future that I would prefer it if my visual notes were connected by a greater theme like a color scheme or a font.

COMPUTER SCIENCE VISUAL NOTE TAKING

Student Posts

CS 170 – Intro to Computer Science. Expressing a dry subject in images was unconventional to me. I believe Computer Science and advanced coding concepts is substantially more complex to be able to be expressed in images. In my Sunday sketch, I decided to show the basic concept of the Java Virtual Machine.

I drew a computer with a large monitor begging to be fed with codes adding a comedic side to my sketch, but I did find it taxing, explaining visually further concepts of coding due to the level of complexity involved, though, learning visually did help me in understanding the basic concept of converting high-level languages to binary code. I found out that thinking visually helps in certain parts or subjects but not in problem solving or mathematical concepts. I found the process of constructing my own Sunday sketch difficult as, in my opinion, Comp Sci doesn’t mesh well with visual thinking even in graphics. 

The link to the assignment is here.

Visual Note Taking

Student Posts
Sketch 3
Visual Note for Strategic Management: Porter’s Five Forces

It is the hardest assignment so far in this course. Different from the last sketch in which I struggled with coming up an idea, this time I found the perfect topic – Porter’s Five Forces – as soon as I learned it in the Strategic Management class. Developed by Dr. Porter at Harvard Business School, Porter’s Five Forces is a framework widely utilized to examine the industry and help people understand the market forces that shape the landscape. I naturally took a visual approach to learn the concept and thought Porter’s Five Forces would be a great topic for this visual note-taking assignment.

I employed an analogy to better illustrate the concept. The beauty stands for a customer demanding the best product in the market, representing the power of customers. Knights fighting for the love of the beauty stand for companies fighting for the customer’s money, representing the competition in the industry. The blacksmith stands for a supplier selling armors and weapons to the knights, representing the power of suppliers. The knight away from the fight stands for a potential new competitor, representing the potential of new entrants. Finally, the rich man persuading the beauty to give a higher priority to money than physical strength stands for substitutes that can also meet the customers’ needs, representing the threat of substitutes. Altogether, these five forces determine the profitability and future of an industry.

The hardest part is to put my thoughts on paper because I am not artistic at all. I had not done any drawings since high school, and this was my first time drawing on an iPad, even though I bought my Apple Pencil a long time ago. At first, I just wanted to use some symbols and icons and complete the assignment. However, after seeing Sulaiman’s and Joyce’s works, I decided to push myself and actually draw something. It was very frustrating at the beginning as I had no sense of scale and curvature and failed several times. Then I decided to google some examples and learned from them. At last, I managed to depict my own characters and complete my visual note for Porter’s Five Forces.

Assignment Link: https://eng181f19.davidmorgen.org/assignments/sketches/sketch-3-visual-note-taking/

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