The Covid, Comics, and Me Workshop introduced us to the idea of comics as a means of communicating information. Although comic books have a variety of histories and styles around the world, they are a cross-cultural medium that is widely used in popular cultures. Because of these characteristics, comics are ideal for humanising statistics (Alberda and Feigenbaum 2020). Comics are relatable because they are the best combination of text and images and are presented in an easy-to-understand format. Another advantage of comics as a tool for information is that the reader can actively choose how long they want to participate in it.
In the workshop we were introduced to the key concepts of creating a comic, scripting and storyboarding. This is where you think of an idea you want to relate to through comics and come up with the structure of how you would like it to appear. The next phase is where you identify whether it is a human, nonhuman, composite or event characters and settings. Then come up with a sketching of your narrative arc, in my comic created in the workshop. The following is an example used in the workshop of how the sketch of a comic on Panel 4 narrative arc was created.
When drawing comics there are various ways of doing it, one might opt to use panels,caption boxes, communication bubbles, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, scream bubbles, broadcast bubbles ,action words by use of onomatopeia, voice and tone through text or by use of visuals and purpose.
The use of comics to communicate public health messages has several advantages, including comics serving as a platform that prioritises mental health, fostering health literacy, addressing issues of health inequity, and increasing audience engagement through the use of visual narratives and colour. An example from work by the artist ‘pristinethinpen’ exemplified how comics make use of ‘visual metaphors’ and appeal to the emotions of readers.
Comics also combat “statistical chaos” (Alberda, Feigenbaum 2020) and “information disorder” (First Draft 2019) by embedding cited information in the graphics and including links to trusted and credible references and sources.
In the workshop we were tasked to relate the comics in our lives, my idea was about ‘family perspectives of COVID 19 research’. It revolved around happenings between the announcement of COVID and the aftermath experienced by a family of four. I used Communication bubbles to draw my comic and captions to provide important context to the images and stories.
According to Brown and Doom (2020), COVID-19 pandemic has had a particular impact on children and families. While children appear to have milder symptoms from COVID-19 infection than older people abrupt changes in routines, resources, and relationships as a result of physical interaction restrictions have had a significant impact on families with young children. Children and families have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to a lack of school, child care, extracurricular activities, and family gatherings. While children appear to have milder symptoms from COVID-19 infection than older people abrupt changes in routines, resources, and relationships as a result of physical interaction restrictions have had a significant impact on families with young children. In the event that a child is unable to attend school, child care, extra-curricular activities and family gatherings, children’s social and support networks have been ( Carsey and Maguire, 2020)
REFERENCES
Alberda, A and Feigenbaum, A., 2020. COVID-19 Comics and the Data Visualisation of Everyday Life. Unpublished.
Brown SM, Doom JR, Lechuga-Pena S, Watamura SE, Koppels T. Stress and parenting during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Child Abuse Negl. 2020;1.
Carsley S, Borkhoff CM, Maguire JL, et al. Cohort profile: The applied research Group for Kids (TARGet kids!). Int J Epidemiol. 2014;44(3):776.
First Draft (2019) FIRST DRAFT’S ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO October 2019 Understanding Information Disorder. FIRST DRAFT. Available at: https://firstdraftnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Information_Disorder_Digital_AW.pdf?x76701. [Accessed Dec 9, 2021]