If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. ~ Charlie Parker
comics
Blogs are so yesterday, according to Boolean
Oct 20th
I continue my comedic look at The Flat World with my Boolean Squared webcomic and this week’s edition is now live at the MassLive site.
Head to Boolean Squared: The Flat World, part two
You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for Boolean Squared.
Peace (in comics),
Kevin
One Graphic Novella in 24 hours
Oct 19th
Well, I did it. In a 24 hour block of time that started yesterday morning with an idea, I created a comic book novella (to call it a graphic novel might be to give it more creedance than it deserves). The book runs 44 frames (over 22 pages) and is called “Brothers on Ice,” as it tells the story of the time when my brother pulled me out of a frozen river. I also tried to capture some of the “place” of my childhood a bit.
Really, though, the idea comes from watching the strong relationships of my own children. It has made me think about my brother when we were kids.
So, after finishing up the book, I delivered it (and the one created by my 10-year-old son) back to the comic book store, where they will send them into the 24 Hour Comic project people, who are archiving all of the comics that were created during the event. Pretty neat.
While my son used pencil and comic book formatting paper, I used Comic Life and MS Paint. One thing I just noticed is that you can export your comic out of Comic Life in any number of formats, including as an HTML site and also as a movie/video. That is pretty neat. So I am going to try to narrate Brothers on Ice and see where that takes me. (And, I am thinking, I would love to get my students creating a comic strip, export as a movie and add their own voices. That could be a powerful idea.)
Peace (in frames),
Kevin
The 24 Hour Comic Project
Oct 18th
I’m jumping in and hoping for the best.
The 24 Hour Comic project is a worldwide event in which people gather to try to create a 24-frame comic in 24 hours of time. The project is promoted by many in the comic industry, such as Scott McCloud, as an interesting event for writers and illustrators.
So, as I have launched myself into the world of comics this year with Boolean Squared, I figured: why not take the plunge? Our local comic store — Modern Myths — is hosting folks all day long and is providing some basic materials. My older son also is interested and we may venture down there.
This morning, I drafted out my story — a true tale of the time when my older brother saved me from an icy river (which I once wrote about here). I’ll see how it goes today. I now have 23 hours left!
Peace (in comics),
Kevin
Inflating the Flat World
Oct 13th
This week, I turn my attention to the Flat World with my webcomic, Boolean Squared. (And continue to look at the Flat World idea in the classroom for the next few weeks).
And here is the RSS feed for Boolean Squared (which runs on Mondays but will move to Mondays and Thursdays next month).
Peace (on the funny pages),
Kevin
My Webcomic Writing Adventure
Oct 10th
As I mentioned, last weekend, I headed off to Missouri to give a keynote talk at a conference at the Prairie Lands Writing Project. I also created a shortened version for their website and I figured I would share that out with you. (Actually, this is the main keynote and the smaller presentation on using Web 2.0 in Education I will share out later).
(You can also download a Powerpoint slideshow of this presentation, without audio. Click here to download the presentation)
Resources in my Keynote
- Kevin’s Blogs
- Kevin’s Meandering Mind: http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/
- The Electronic Pencil: http://epencil.edublogs.org/
- Youth Radio: http://youthradio.wordpress.com/
- Boolean Squared
- Boolean Squared Archive: http://sites.google.com/site/booleansquared/
- Boolean Squared Newspaper Site: http://blog.masslive.com/nie/boolean_squared/
- Online Comic Sites
- Make Beliefs Comics: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
- Strip Generator: http://stripgenerator.com/
- ToonDoo Comics: http://www.toondoo.com/Home.do
- Other Sites of Interest
- Glen Bledsoe’s Comic, Nota Bene: http://www.salem-news.com/notabene/index.php
- BubbleUs (Concept Mapping): http://www.bubbl.us/
- The Graphic Classroom: http://graphicclassroom.blogspot.com/
- Teachers & Writers journal: http://www.twc.org/publications/magazine
- Shake Girl: http://www.stanford.edu/group/cwstudents/shakegirl/about.html
- Comic Life products: http://plasq.com/products/
- Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120
Thanks for listening!-Kevin
Boolean Squared: Up on the Firewall
Oct 6th
Today is Monday, so a new comic edition of Boolean Squared is online.
And just what was Mr. Teach doing in his underwear, anyway?
You’ll have to figure it out by heading to Boolean Squared at the Springfield Republican site.
Kevin
Moving Comics into Movies
Oct 1st
My friend, Glenn, is an inspiration to me for his work and thinking around comics. As another member of the National Writing Project, Glenn has published a regular webcomic with his regional newspaper that looks at local politics. It was called Nota Bene. I say “was” because after 100 comics, he is now moving on to a new comic strip project.
But he continues to think about ways to push the medium, and this week, he shared an experiment that moves comics into video, with narration. He has taken an issue — Merit Pay for teachers, and the possibilities of competition over students — and crafted this video. The voices are sort of creepy, which is the point.
Peace (in mixing mediums),
Kevin
Boolean Squared Tackles Filtering
Sep 29th
This week’s Boolean Squared comic strip was just posted over at site of The Springfield Republican newspaper. This week, the comic explores China, filtering and the dancing chicken video (hmmm).
You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for the comic that will be published every Monday morning. Just click here to gather the RSS feed address.
Peace (in funny bones),
Kevin
Some Comic Relief
Sep 22nd
So, today, my webcomic — Boolean Squared — got published on the website of the big regional newspaper and my venture into the world of creating comics is official. The newpaper (The Springfield Republican) also printed a short story in its paper version about the launch of the comic, so we’ll see where things go and how they develop.
Click on this image to go to the article:
And click on this image to go to the comic:
You can also subscribe to the RSS of the site where Boolean Squared will run each Monday with this RSS URL address: http://blog.masslive.com/nie/boolean_squared/atom.xml
I also set up a virtual storefront for Boolean Squared Swag through Cafe Press, just to see what might happen. (Check it out if you get a moment).
And check out the promo video I made with Animoto:
Peace (in frames),
Kevin
Some Comic(al) News
Sep 18th
I just found out that the big regional newspaper will be running my comic — Boolean Squared — as a webcomic on its site. More info to come later on all that as I talk it through with them, but I am pretty excited to be on the path to becoming a published comic strip creator. Neat.
And I decided to keep the name, Boolean Squared, as the title of the comic. Thank to everyone who took my little poll (there was even the kind suggestion of renaming it The Adventures of Binary Boy, which is quite catchy, I admit). Here are the survey results:
(note: there were sixteen responses and the numbers here reflect percentages, not raw numbers. Not sure why that didn’t come out in my graph.)
And, some of you also suggested some ideas for my characters. Here are a few:
- the school bought a new copier but didn’t have an electrical outlet to plug it into;
- something about adults not knowing how facebook or myspace work;
- some digital-age variations on “the dog ate my homework”;
- teachers having a life outside of school;
- dress down Fridays;
- server down or computer overheating;
- shared laptops;
- reading buddies showing alter egos of older kids;
- something about how a language teacher ends up stumping his class on a book report because he assigns a book SO OLD that there is NO reference to it digitally. So when the kids try to find a summary or anything, they can’t because the book is pre-digital age and is now out of print.
- and a few others.
Thanks for the ideas. Some of them mirror my own and comics that I have already created (I have a year’s worth already done at this point).
See ya on the funny pages!
Peace (in frames),
Kevin
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