False History
What you need:
Paper
Post-It Notes
A pen or pencil
A lack of knowledge
A willingness to be silly
Instructions:
Think of an event or topic you are interested in expounding on. It can be a real thing, like the American Civil War or the game Pogs, or it can be invented, like the Great American Pog War. It can also be historical or speculative.
Write down some key points about the actual event or topic (if it’s a real thing), and then make some up or see if you can reword them so they either sound totally made up or are no longer true. Then make up some lies about your event or topic.
Remember to enjoy yourself and be open to where this idiocy takes you.
Optional: Write your text on separate panels to your images. This can be a nice way to create a sense of distance from the action while freeing you up to draw whatever the hell you want to. Also, while I didn’t manage it in my example, you can use the text vs image panels to create nice patterns when you lay out your page(s).
Example:
Quick note:
I’m genuinely a little nervous about publicly posting this comic! It’s a little too revealing about the fact that I am a total goose. It’s crude and silly and, as far as reliability goes, it’s not up to my usual level of academic rigor. Also, it includes sex, and I’m a real prude when it comes to “lizard people” just… going at it. Yuck!
But, I’m putting it up here anyway.
I had a lot of fun making this comic and I think that the exercise is fun. Comics are really difficult to make and I’ve dedicated a lot of time over the past six years figuring out how to enjoy making them. My friend Sarah Firth once told a some of my students to “take silliness seriously”, and it really stuck with me. Sometimes I confuse how seriously I take my art practice with how serious the content needs to be. Like, sometimes I catch myself thinking that a story needs to be depressing to be meaningful and… it’s totally not true! When I notice myself thinking that way, I try to remind myself of Sarah’s advice (which I have pinned above my desk).
Anyway, I hope you like this comic! It’s not the most historically accurate piece I’ve ever made, but it might be the silliest.