PARENTS WHO BAN BOOKS: PERSEPOLIS_003

  

 

Graphic novel Persepolis, The Story Of A Childhood is the highly acclaimed work of Marjane Satrapi and has also been adapted into an animated film.

"In today's edition of "Parents Who Want To Ban Books They Haven't Read..."

Pennsylvania is an odd place full of people struggling to find their way. Corporate America gutted it like a fish and left the farms and steel mills to rot. One of the pillars of our great country, founded on religious freedom of expression and personal liberty They have a rich history and yet somehow seem to be caught in a bit of a funk. They should decide, here and now, that dipping their toes into the water of banning books in classrooms is not a good idea. From the western part of the state, we have this:

PA school district pulls Marjane Satrapi's PERSEPOLIS from curriculum (comicsbeat.com)

Note: a preview of a few pages of this graphic novel are available on its Amazon page. Strong, wonderful cartooning with a very interesting story to tell. Should kids be learning this in school? It is much more preferable to learning nothing or only learning about one point of view of the world.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Pantheon Graphic Library): Satrapi, Marjane: 8601419944736: Amazon.com: Books

As with the controversy surrounding the acclaimed graphic novel Maus, these works easily belong in discussion in an academic setting as important works. Cartoonists should be encouraged to tackle the most complex and personal issues of the day - and anything else their creativity can muster. Creating these graphic works takes artistic courage and the kind of stubborn confidence that only other artists can understand.

Continue to be aware that protecting reading, learning, and thinking is a constant struggle but one with the very greatest of rewards. 

RICK

Billion Hero Studios

The Power of Storytelling

If you love storytelling, be involved, engaged, and informed.

Subscribe to Billion Hero Studios Blog.

Share your favorite posts.

Comment and ask questions or make requests.

Thank you for visiting, participating, and collaborating in the storytelling experience.

UNCHARTED SEAS AHEAD_002

Inspired by Jack Kirby Celestials from the original comic series (not the movie) at Marvel called The Eternals. Eternals copyright respective rights holder. WIP. Pen and ink on bristol board. Digital color using Affinity Photo. Original image 10x15 inches. Artist: Rick Arthur. 2021.

"The Wind Grew Very Still Indeed"

The compass spun lazily in my hand and the sun shone too brightly. I grabbed at a thick rope and leaned out, squinting in all directions looking for some hint of direction on my future journey. There were no shores to see, just seemingly endless water, deep and flat, on every horizon.

Welcome. For five years, I taught a college-level, one-credit comic drawing class for New Mexico Tech in the mountains of a dusty town named Socorro. It was probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived with wide, dramatic vistas, crystal blue skies, and compelling silhouettes. Every semester, I taught engineering students about the basics of comic art and creativity. I rewrote my syllabus and changed my approach with each new class and sometimes shifted focus again after mid-terms. I made a large, conscious effort to respond in real time to both group and individual interests. I easily amassed hundreds of pages of notes, drawings, examples, and created a companion guide that topped out at over 160 pages.

I learned a great deal about the teaching process simply by explaining myself out loud and answering questions that students had. I struggled with how to give a good, basic understanding of creative material which demanded a holistic approach. To overload students with complex ideas while teaching comic art seemed counter-intuitive. The meal can only be bitten off in pieces anyway and should be chewed a little as you go along. Learning takes time, practice, and patience which weighs against the eagerness, enthusiasm, and expectations students bring. That was my initial reasoning.

Teaching always reminded me of my own artistic curiosity as a student at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey (now The Kubert School). Like a lot of students there, I struggled with a heavy workload and trying to absorb many lessons that would not make sense until years later when encountered in real life situations. Aha! That is what my teachers were trying to show me.

As a kid, I went through various stages of reading, enjoying, copying, recreating, exploring, and developing my sensibilities. With luck, hard work, patience, stubbornness, and some guidance, I have been able to mature my outlook further. This was not easy and took all my time, everything I had. There were the unceasing hours of practice and trial and mostly error followed by "critical" analysis. 

What experience can I really distill for my students? How do I approach the materials and why should students care even a fraction as much as I do about it? How is it even possible to give students the benefit of immersion in just two hours a week? There are a lot of excellent "how to draw" books out there. Many teachers with more experience and longer work histories are helping students learn art and comic drawing. What can I offer that no one else can?

My philosophy is to learn as much as I can. I have had the chance to work in every different aspect of drawing comics, printing, production, book making, advertising, illustration, and I am always working to apply what I have learned back into the comics I make. When I teach, I try to look at things from the point of view of my students and expose them to as many of the tips and techniques for telling stories as I can. My attention is in deciphering both the how's and why's of drawing. No serious question by a student is off limits. The idea is to give students the tools they need to explore for themselves. Each will take away different things from the experience and hopefully incorporate at least one or two things I try to convey. At the end of the day, it is my task to have some of my enthusiasm rub off and open students to the idea that they can tell any story they can think of drawing.

Storytelling is powerful and comics, a fusion of words and pictures, is powerful indeed. 

The cry of gulls grew fainter, and I drew in a long breath, knowing that when I exhaled, I would make a decision on which way to head. I could never know how far it would be before hitting land or what storms lay lurked. The ship deck creaked gently underneath me, waiting. Where would I end up? Not knowing was part of the adventure but I was prepared and had steeled myself for what fate would bring and what my wits could decipher.

Ahoy!

RICK

Subscribe to receive more insider information via the email newsletter.

Share your favorite posts.

Comment and ask questions or make requests.

Page: Edit (blogger.com) 

Thank you for visiting, participating, and collaborating in the storytelling experience.

YOUR DREAMS ARE WAITING - SO BEGIN_001

The Spider and The Mountain copyright Rick Arthur. All rights reserved. Nyra defiantly faces the rising sun in a tale of samurai, science fiction, and horror. Marker sketch on 8.5x11 inch bond paper. 

 

Storytelling is the most powerful method of communication that will ever exist.

We tell stories to make sense of the human condition.

We form complex bonds with family, friends, coworkers, and local communities. Storytelling confirms common beliefs and discovers the edges of what is accepted. Science fiction transforms into science fact. Fantasy mutates into reality. Dreaming sharpens into purpose. We are driven by our desire to see the world as it is and change it into what it could become.
Where we expend our brain power, imagination, and creativity, solutions emerge to problems that we consider from new angles.

We have an unquenchable curiosity and we are explorers in life, always asking, "what if?" We place a high value on liberty, justice, equality, honor, respect, dignity, and the common good.

Storytelling is powerful. We join in. We create. We think. We collaborate. We set sail on our own personal seas of imagination and tell stories that ring true. We give ourselves permission to live and build our dreams. Storytelling binds us together.

American writer Joan Didion is quoted:

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live...

We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the "ideas" with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.”

From master of horror author Stephen King in his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft: 

“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”

Literary icon John Steinbeck is quoted:

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

From comic legend Jack Kirby:

"Nobody ever asked me to do anything. Nobody knew what to do. When comics were brand new, nobody knew what kind of comics to make. So, you were mostly on your own."

The BILLION Hero Studios Blog is devoted to promoting stories, ideas, creativity, authenticity and unique creators. If you feel like life should be beautiful, interesting, and inspiring, engage with these posts and share them with people you know who will appreciate this point of view.

Subscribe. Enjoy. Browse. Comment. Engage. Respect. Renew. Opt-In. Discuss. Reflect. Create. Delight in the differences and surprising common ground all people share.


Discussions include any topic running in tangent with storytelling.

The future belongs to those who tell the stories that shape dreams.

Subscribe to receive more insider information via the email newsletter.

Share your favorite posts.

Comment and ask questions or make requests.

Thank you for visiting, participating, and collaborating in the storytelling experience.

What are your dreams waiting for? Begin.

Rick Arthur, founder
Billion Hero Studios, the power of storytelling