Dave Lasky's One-Page Comics: Microfiction Class

I recently took this online class from the wonderful David Lasky. It met every Sunday on Zoom for six weeks, and after David would give a demo and a prompt, we would work on the assignment over the course of the week. Here's all six of my assignments, plus a bonus.

Week one

The theme for the first week was character design. David had us design two characters that were visually distinct, and put them into a story in which they met a challenge. This one was pretty much in my wheelhouse, so I trotted out a version of the Sorcerer Woochi and a little unnamed monk and set them on their D&D-esque way.

Pencil on sketch paper

Week two

This lesson involved pictureless comics. David showed a variety of examples, including the infamous John Byrne "Snowblind" pages and then tasked us to specifically create a story that happens completely in the dark. I cheated a little and used black paper, so I wouldn't have to ink a lot of darkness, and I think I was a little too clever by half. I originally did a six-panel layout but then David suggested we try at least nine panels so I redid it. I like aspects of each.

Prismacolor pencil on black drawing paper

Week three

This assignment was a challenge. David had us draw panel layouts and add shapes to the panels without thinking of any narrative to go with them. It was very hard for me not to start story-fying the shapes as soon as I put them down. I finally got a page done with an empty mind and then filled in the story post facto. It's just a goofy anecdote but it made me play with camera angles and composition.

Pencil and ink on bristol

Week four

This might have been the most challenging exercise. David's demonstration had him placing watercolor blobs on the page and then gently teasing out a narrative and adding elements as they came to him. Then it was our turn to try it. My biggest issue was not having any watercolors, just watercolor pencils. No matter how I tried to lay down colors and get them wet, I couldn't get any decent blending that could lead to some clear and inspiring shapes. I did find something in each attempt: maybe an end of the world story in the first try and some sort of monster tale in the second. I tried to pull the story out with brush pens.

Watercolor pencil and brush pen on multi-media paper

Week five

This was a real trip involving scaffolding with other creative works. We started by brainstorming songs that we knew and liked but really didn't know the lyrics to; we took the lyrics as a basis for our story. Then David showed us pages from various comic artists and we were to select one that clicked with us. We were then supposed to use the panel layout of the page we selected to present a story built on the scaffold of the lyrics. I chose Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" and a page from Seiichi Hayashi, a Japanese manga artist I am totally unfamiliar with. This really took me outside my comfort zone, but it was a blast to do.

Pencil, ink, and marker on bristol; computer-generated text

Here's a link to the song lyrics and a copy of the Hayashi page:

Week six

This week focused on writing exercises. David shared a multi-stage story-generating process, with a clear step-by-step from brainstorming to plotting to outlining to drafting. While it wasn't my usual way of composing, I went with it, and came up with this vignette featuring the Six-Gun Gorilla (who has starred in strips before).

Pencil and ink on bristol

Week six bonus

We looked at Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work, a legendary guide to comics drawing. David showed us several pastiches/hommages from various artists, as well as some versions (including one of his own) that turned the 22 panels into a coherent narrative. He gave us a friendly challenge to do the same, with all or some of the panels.

Here's the source:

For the challenge, I took the eight panels in the lower left corner and came up with this:

Flair pen and Sharpie on typing paper

Coda

All in all, a great class! I highly recommend taking a David Lasky class any chance you get: you feel a wonderful tone and mood and get a chance to explore techniques and approaches you might not otherwise.

Bonus bonus

Some time ago I did do my own (non-narrative) version of the 22 panels, using some superhero characters.