"Our task in this project was to recreate a scene from the book Brave New World in a graphic novel form. Most students were paired into teams of authors and artists, though several worked alone and handled both aspects of the task. The authors wrote a paper analyzing one of the main characters in the novel and used noun-phrase apposites and concessive theses to make their arguments. Artists focused on key choices of moment, frame, image, word,and flow in creating a graphic novel about the chosen scene. Our exhibition featured both an art show of our graphic novels, and a seminar discussion about Brave New World."
Graphic Novel Project:
In this project we were tasked with creating a graphic novel based of off a scene from the book,
" Brave New World" After three weeks of creating these graphic novels, we had the chance to present them in an exhibition which took place on February 5th at 6:00.
Artist Statement
By Dylan King and Hannah Bissel
Brave New World, a dystopian novel full of immense, dramatic scenes, surprises me the most with its substantial impact one night could have on a man with a pure soul. My partner and I chose to base our graphic novel on the very ending of the book; the scene which involves John’s suicide. Earlier in the book, (Chapter 16-17) John talks with Mustapha Monde, the controller of Brave New World, about civilization as he knew it, versus they way that Mustapha was ruling. They talked about meaning and happiness, and found that although they may go hand in hand, they are two completely different things. As the book progresses, John is bothered by filmmaker Darwin Bonaparte, regarding the reasoning for his dire decision to whip himself, and what he considered being cleansed of all sin. The night before his death, a large orgy takes place that involved soma, sex, whipping, and everything else the Savage considered a terrible transgression. The very ending involved in the first arrivals to his lighthouse, walking into the doorway and seeing his lifeless body hang from a rope, while his feet are compared to that of a compass’s arm. All in all, this is what I took away from Brave New World.
The hardest part of this project was choosing where you want to place and expand upon the five artistic choices that were given to us as guidelines to create our graphic novel. As far as choice of moment I, the artist, had a tough decision to make; I had to reimagine the book in my mind and take that mental image to the page. Personally, I believe that 4th, 5th, and 6th panels all show choice of moment. I had to read through the scene a number of times to take away the images of him giving in to the society of Brave New World and partaking in their rituals. When looking for choice of frame I believe that the very end was the best place to go all out in the shape and size of the frame. This lead to the last panel being my favorite choice of frame in the entire graphic novel. To find an example of choice of image I had to look back to the third page, I think that the silhouette of John walking into the lighthouse was a provoking choice on my part. I say this because it draws the eye and of all the people who have read it so far, the opinions are split as to whether it was a good choice of image or not.
When considering my choice of word I would say that the third page shows my best choice of word. Finally, I think that the entire graphic novel shows good choice in flow. I think this because it reads very easily and the panels flow from one to the other with only a few hiccups. In the end, this is how I applied the 5 artistic choices to create a good graphic novel.
By reading this incredible book, and being able to create a graphic novel of our own has taught both author and artist many skills we can take with us for the future. As an author, I learned about the different sentence structures one can use when introducing a topic. I also learned a lot about when to use a semicolon and when not to, as well as learning about what is considered a correct use of a comma and comma splices. I learned that when writing, you can arrange the sentences in so many different ways, that it is sometimes hard to find the perfect flow, but when creating it, it can be extremely enjoyable. As an artist this project lead to me expanding my abilities and challenging myself to create a beautiful piece of work. In conclusion, this is what we both learned while creating our graphic novel.
Artist Self Assessment
By Dylan King
The most challenging part of creating this graphic novel was incorporating the 5 artistic choices into the panels of my graphic novel. This took me longer than anything else, but in the end I think that I decided when and where to use these choices in the best possible way for my graphic novel. An example of this would be the choice of moment which I tried to invoke in the 4th ,5th, and 6th panels, I believe that the angled shape of the gutters ,while John spiraled out of control, was the best choice of moment for this scene. Through my graphic novel I believe that by taking my time to understand the 5 artistic choices I have created a piece of beautiful work. In conclusion, this is how I used what I thought was challenging to my advantage.
Out of all of the panels in my graphic novel I am most proud of the 9th. I think that the style of drawing I used to create the emotion that John is feeling was the best out of all the other panels.By gently creating line after line I ended up with a very cool 3-d looking close up of John’s eye. If there was anything that I would alter or change about the panel would be to darken the outline of the eyebrow in order to draw more attention to it. In conclusion, this is why I think the 9th panel is the best in my graphic novel.
I am overall most proud that I could turn what I thought would be my first draft and turn it into my final piece of work. The first week that we started this project everyone was tasked with creating a first draft of their graphic novel. By the time I finished I was impressed by the drawing I had accomplished for this rough draft, I decided that by cleaning up some of the tricky lines and smudges that it would make a great final draft. After reviewing my graphic novel and the effort and time I have put into it I believe that it is just as good as anyone who had restarted for their final draft. All in all, throughout the entire project this is what I am most proud of.
" Brave New World" After three weeks of creating these graphic novels, we had the chance to present them in an exhibition which took place on February 5th at 6:00.
Artist Statement
By Dylan King and Hannah Bissel
Brave New World, a dystopian novel full of immense, dramatic scenes, surprises me the most with its substantial impact one night could have on a man with a pure soul. My partner and I chose to base our graphic novel on the very ending of the book; the scene which involves John’s suicide. Earlier in the book, (Chapter 16-17) John talks with Mustapha Monde, the controller of Brave New World, about civilization as he knew it, versus they way that Mustapha was ruling. They talked about meaning and happiness, and found that although they may go hand in hand, they are two completely different things. As the book progresses, John is bothered by filmmaker Darwin Bonaparte, regarding the reasoning for his dire decision to whip himself, and what he considered being cleansed of all sin. The night before his death, a large orgy takes place that involved soma, sex, whipping, and everything else the Savage considered a terrible transgression. The very ending involved in the first arrivals to his lighthouse, walking into the doorway and seeing his lifeless body hang from a rope, while his feet are compared to that of a compass’s arm. All in all, this is what I took away from Brave New World.
The hardest part of this project was choosing where you want to place and expand upon the five artistic choices that were given to us as guidelines to create our graphic novel. As far as choice of moment I, the artist, had a tough decision to make; I had to reimagine the book in my mind and take that mental image to the page. Personally, I believe that 4th, 5th, and 6th panels all show choice of moment. I had to read through the scene a number of times to take away the images of him giving in to the society of Brave New World and partaking in their rituals. When looking for choice of frame I believe that the very end was the best place to go all out in the shape and size of the frame. This lead to the last panel being my favorite choice of frame in the entire graphic novel. To find an example of choice of image I had to look back to the third page, I think that the silhouette of John walking into the lighthouse was a provoking choice on my part. I say this because it draws the eye and of all the people who have read it so far, the opinions are split as to whether it was a good choice of image or not.
When considering my choice of word I would say that the third page shows my best choice of word. Finally, I think that the entire graphic novel shows good choice in flow. I think this because it reads very easily and the panels flow from one to the other with only a few hiccups. In the end, this is how I applied the 5 artistic choices to create a good graphic novel.
By reading this incredible book, and being able to create a graphic novel of our own has taught both author and artist many skills we can take with us for the future. As an author, I learned about the different sentence structures one can use when introducing a topic. I also learned a lot about when to use a semicolon and when not to, as well as learning about what is considered a correct use of a comma and comma splices. I learned that when writing, you can arrange the sentences in so many different ways, that it is sometimes hard to find the perfect flow, but when creating it, it can be extremely enjoyable. As an artist this project lead to me expanding my abilities and challenging myself to create a beautiful piece of work. In conclusion, this is what we both learned while creating our graphic novel.
Artist Self Assessment
By Dylan King
The most challenging part of creating this graphic novel was incorporating the 5 artistic choices into the panels of my graphic novel. This took me longer than anything else, but in the end I think that I decided when and where to use these choices in the best possible way for my graphic novel. An example of this would be the choice of moment which I tried to invoke in the 4th ,5th, and 6th panels, I believe that the angled shape of the gutters ,while John spiraled out of control, was the best choice of moment for this scene. Through my graphic novel I believe that by taking my time to understand the 5 artistic choices I have created a piece of beautiful work. In conclusion, this is how I used what I thought was challenging to my advantage.
Out of all of the panels in my graphic novel I am most proud of the 9th. I think that the style of drawing I used to create the emotion that John is feeling was the best out of all the other panels.By gently creating line after line I ended up with a very cool 3-d looking close up of John’s eye. If there was anything that I would alter or change about the panel would be to darken the outline of the eyebrow in order to draw more attention to it. In conclusion, this is why I think the 9th panel is the best in my graphic novel.
I am overall most proud that I could turn what I thought would be my first draft and turn it into my final piece of work. The first week that we started this project everyone was tasked with creating a first draft of their graphic novel. By the time I finished I was impressed by the drawing I had accomplished for this rough draft, I decided that by cleaning up some of the tricky lines and smudges that it would make a great final draft. After reviewing my graphic novel and the effort and time I have put into it I believe that it is just as good as anyone who had restarted for their final draft. All in all, throughout the entire project this is what I am most proud of.