30SAL Challenge: Scribble Panels

Today’s creative challenge idea comes from AJ Power, the League’s illustration and comics instructor. This project combines a scribble-and-respond drawing with an aspect of the panel exercise from Day 2. AJ calls it a “Monkey Wrench” project, because it gets you out of your habits, and gives you something unexpected to work with.

The primary challenge is to respond to the creative prompts in these posts, and see what happens. The alternative challenge is to make a comic based on the year 2020. You choose what you’re up for today.

Scribble Panels

STEP 1: Take a piece of paper (8.5×11″ or larger)

STEP 2: Scribble randomly across that piece of paper, all the way to the edges. Feel free to use any media: pen, pencil, watercolor, charcoal, crayon, finger smudges, ink smears, anything. Do this quickly, without thoughts or edits.

STEP 3: Fold the paper into randomly sized rectangles. As you fold, don’t open the paper back up all the way until you’re done folding. Let folds go over folds. 3-4 folds is good. Do this quickly, without thoughts or edits.

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STEP 4: Open up the paper and look at the combination of panels and scribbles. Depending on how you folded your paper, you might have around a dozen rectangles of various dimensions, with some scribble marks in them.

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STEP 5: Choose 3 panels to use as little composition starters, and cut them out. Recycle the rest. Take pictures of your panels.

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STEP 6: Use these panels as composition starters, and respond to the marks within the rectangles. The three panels can be a sequence that fits together, or they can stand as three separate little works. Responses can be abstract or representational. Since today is “Comics” day, you could make your compositions into a story sequence. Media is artist’s choice.