Welcome back to another exhibition post! This was possibly my favourite exhibition so far for a multitude of reasons. This was the first exhibition that wasn’t a group project, and if you’ve read any of my other posts you would know that I’m not the biggest fan of those (I’m working on it).
Our project for this exhibition was on WWI. We were asked to create 20+ graphic novels, based on a real battle or event with a real or fictional character of our choosing. I immediately thought of my great-great grandmother Mabel Henshaw, a survivor of the Lusitania. I’m very thankful that I got to tell her story.
The driving question for this was pretty simple: how can I create a graphic novel that accurately depicts a scene from WW1?
I think the answer is time. You have to put in the time to find sources (I used family members and this website). You then have to put in the time to draw all the panels I eventually spent around 16 hours on my final comic (tracked by Procreate). I didn’t mind this though because I could listen to music or an audiobook while I worked which isn’t something you can do with a lot of tasks in this class.
On the day of the exhibition, everything was chaotic. I ended up being in charge of some stuff when teachers weren’t around. I got my own table though and drew my family tree and a big ship backdrop.
Here’s my comic!
During the exhibition, I got to talk to so many people of so many ages, from a kid who already knew a shocking amount about the ship to someone’s grandma. I felt bad because I had presented it so many times it was hard for me to remember how tragic the story was. I kind of shut off my emotions so I wouldn’t get too sad while presenting.
I would call this my most successful project yet. I got to play to my strengths of writing and storytelling while trying something more difficult for me (drawing). I was enthusiastic about this project, and positive the whole time which is often hard for me.
Here are some exhibition photos
I also just really enjoyed this project. Something that I often get feedback on at pols is my lack of balance. I got to relax while drawing. I also got to schedule my work early, because we were told in advance how much time we had and what was expected.
See you next time!
Neko