{"id":123,"date":"2016-02-03T21:50:33","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T02:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/wri101\/?page_id=123"},"modified":"2016-02-04T09:07:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T14:07:03","slug":"warm-up-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/wri101\/work\/warm-up-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Warm-Up #2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Annotated<\/a>
Annotated Sandman page by Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This warm-up project forces you to look closely at a single page from either volume of Maus<\/em>. You’ll need tracing paper to complete this project. Tracing paper is available at the college bookstore, as well as at most office or art supply stores.<\/p>\n

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  1. Pick a compelling page from Maus <\/em>and trace it.<\/strong> Avoid pages we discussed in detail in class. Your goal is not to create a look-alike reproduction of the original page. Rather, it is to distill the original page into a simplified line drawing. You decide how much detail to leave in or out\u2014but be sure there’s a rationale behind it. If there are caption bubbles or boxes, you should trace their outline, but do not copy the text within.<\/li>\n
  2. Annotate your traced page with “gutter text”<\/strong>\u2014your own text, written into the gutters, blank spaces, and empty captions of the pages. Think of your gutter text as a dissection of the page, in which you highlight both the salient and the subtle characteristics of the page’s panels. Consider the various formal features of the drawing: color, saturation, shading, line styles, shapes and sizes, angles and placement, perspective and framing, layering and blocking. Consider the relationship between the elements on the page: the transitions between panels, the interplay between words and images, the way time and motion are conveyed. Consider overall layout of the page: the use of gutters and margins, the arrangement of panels, the flow of narrative or imagery.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Tip: Photocopy your tracing onto regular paper before you begin annotating it in order to preserve your original tracing. You may need several copies, in fact, in order to have room for all of your annotations.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Synthesis<\/h3>\n

    In the synthesis you think through the process and product of the tracing activity. I recommend that you take notes for your synthesis as you work, instead of waiting until you’ve finished tracing. You will probably discover much during the actual process of tracing that you’ll want to talk about for the reflection.<\/p>\n

    Your synthesis should weigh in at 750 words. You shouldn’t organize this document as a typical essay. It can be more open-ended and tentative than the usual essay in which you are expected to conclusively “prove” a claim. Think of it as a “tour” of your tracings\u2014but a tour that goes well beyond highlighting what is “interesting” about the page you selected for your tracing.<\/p>\n

    There are many ways to approach the synthesis, but one promising point of departure is to explain what drew you to the page you traced. There are many other aspects of the tracing process and product to think about in your synthesis, including (but not limited to) the following: What did you find yourself leaving out of the tracing? Why? What did you find yourself striving to include in the tracing? Why? What did the act of tracing reveal about the page? What did the product of your tracing reveal? Is there a difference between the two? How closely does your tracing capture the dominant narrative or visual themes of the overall work?<\/p>\n

    Other Details<\/h3>\n