It is finally that time of year! It’s time for Spring Exhibition 2024! The project that we presented at our spring exhibition this year was all based on World War 1. Our driving question for this project was,  “How can I create a graphic novel that accurately depicts an event from WWI?” Obviously at the beginning of this project I had no idea how to answer this question. So to figure it out, I had to actually do stuff (ugh). In this project, I learned about World War 1, the structure of graphic novels, and how to take primary source images and incorporate them into my graphic novel. 

Project Process

Before this project, I had no idea what happened in World War 1. I had always had an interest for learning about it, so I was very excited for this project. We watched quite a few video and I made many helpful notes for myself. We also learned the structures of a graphic novel, the different types of panels, and dialogue bubbles. Now that I had a general idea of what I was doing, I could choose a specific event in World War 1 to base my graphic novel off of. I chose to base my graphic novel on the Battle of the Somme. My story was about the battle being told in a German soldier’s perspective. He had survivor’s guilt, and I really wanted to emphasize that he was a good guy. I created a storyboard so that I could see what I wanted my graphic novel to look like. 

Now that I had an idea of what I wanted my graphic novel to look like, I could get started on actually making it. This was the most challenging part of this entire project, and at first I was incredibly stressed. But as I started to draw more panels, and plan out what I was going to get done each day, I started to relax a bit more. I even got it done 3 days in advance! I am very happy with the way my graphic novel turned out. Unlike any other exhibition I had ever done, I was not nervous for this one at all. I was able to present and explain my work properly to my audience, and showcase my final product with pride.

Strengths

In this project, I think that my greatest strength was time management and preparation skills. My ability to plan ahead, as well as preparing for possible problems helped me finish this project on time. I like knowing what going to happen next, because I get anxious if I don’t, and knowing exactly what I was going to do next in this project really help me create my best outcome. Using the tools I was given, like historical image links, Things (checklist app), and Procreate was very important in creating my final product.

Areas to Improve

One thing that I would do differently if I were to do a project like this again, is to not procrastinate. As I said before, the actual creation process of the final product was quite difficult for me. And even when I had planned out everything I was going to work on each day, I would get distracted and I would push the graphic novel till the end of the day. This process would have been a lot easier for me if I had just done all the work I needed to do for the day and then relax and take a break. 

Conclusion

Overall, I would say that Spring Exhibition 2024 was a success. Even though the start of it was a bit rough, and the process was a bit stressful, I’m glad that I was given this challenge to overcome. My ability to focus, or lack of, was challenged and I was able to put my skills in preparation and time management to use. I’m so glad that the exhibition turned out well, and I know now that I’m prepared for the many more that are to come.