The title might be a little misleading, but this year for my PLP spring exhibition I got to present my hand-crafted comic on the battle of Passchendaele! Throughout this project I worked on my artistic ability, grew my knowledge on comics, practiced my historical fiction writing skills, and learned so much about WWI. During the actual exhibition, I got to practice my presentation skills by talking to many different parents, teachers, students, and members of the community. 

I will definitely be talking about the exhibition more, but let’s jump right into the actual project!

WWI Con

Driving question: How can I create a graphic novel that accurately depicts an event from WWI?

For this project, we were tasked with the challenge of creating a comic book to tell the story of a battle/event from World War One. The first steps we had to take was a mix of understanding many aspects of comics as well as learning about battles/events that Canadian had been apart of in WWI. I felt like this part went by really fast, even though we spent over week getting the ground knowledge down. A lot of what we did involved taking notes, which I found I had a tricky time with. Normally I’m pretty good at notes, but for example, the video in class we watched was very hard for me to follow. For this project I don’t think it really affected me much, but it is something I want to make sure I improve. Overall the start of the project was pretty easy, but the deadline became very near and it felt like I hadn’t even started the actual project yet. We needed to decide what our comics would be about, and I chose the battle of Passchendaele. I picked this battle because it is one of the most brutal battles in history. Along with picking it, I had to fill in a pages document with a 5-W’s format for the history aspect of the comic, and then a story spine for the actual story itself. With a completed story spine, I needed to also create a story board, which was a full comic of rough sketches. This took me some time, but either way experience from my last crazy story board, I could make sure I wasn’t giving myslef too much worl. The story board helped me understand the work I was going to have ahead.

For the actual making of the comic I had a hard time. One of the hardest parts was just starting the good copy, and when I did, my first try was a big fail. I was also sick, missing two days of school, and starting all by myself. My first drawing was not detailed or accurate enough. I switched from free hand drawings to tracing, and found my art to be looking a lot better. My next problem was how long it was taking me. I had planned for 29 panels, and it had taken me a very long time at the start. With some self motivation and prioritizing work (two goals I have previously set for myself) I actually found my art to stay consistent and my speed to increase. 

I finished my comic on time, with a level of detail I am proud of. This is a project I am very proud of. It is truly up to the standard I set for myself and is the ideal product of my work. I would have done my process a bit differently though. I wish I just started sooner, and actually tried to pick up the pace right away. I notice i procrastinate, and even though I produce work I am proud of, I normally have a terrible time creating it. This time was a bit different, since I did actually start to “lock in” sooner then I normally do, which felt really good and I know I want to feel like this for future projects.

 Exhibition 

Nowwwww let’s talk about the actual exhibition! Sadly, this has been my least favourite, for many reasons. For one, I felt very unprepared for it. Leading up to exhibitions we normally get lots of instruction from our teachers and guidance to organize an interesting area at our section of the exhibition, but this year we had none of that. We did not plan anything: decor, food, drinks, tables, etc. Due to this, on the day of exhibition, all of grade nine seemed to have a hard time setting up. I felt as if my group was quite lost, but lucky with team work and solving skills, my table created a small area that represented Passchendaele. 

For the presenting aspect of exhibition, I thought I did a really good job of talking to the audience and explaining my comic, the project, and Passchendaele itself. I had a hard time at first, because I had not thought about what I wanted to say prior to presenting day, but I slowly became more comfortable. Once Exhibition started to get into its classic groove, ever become better.

This exhibition was a good way to end the year, even with its chaotic start. For the next spring exhibition, I want to make sure I am actually prepared. I think more communication will really help this.