CRyder Design

Storyboarding is a gateway for creativity. They are an easy route for visual storytelling.  When given the direction to draw our own stories in class with our own ideas and illustrations, there were several moans and groans of ‘I can’t do this.’ Most people think they’re unable to draw, mainly because they don’ think that they are able to draw well. This is a common reaction for most of us when we are told to draw. However, in the video “Lynda Barry, Graphic Novelist, Cartoonist, and Educator | 2019 MacArthur Fellow” Lynda Barry states, “Whenever anybody finds out I’m a cartoonist or a writer, they always say, ‘Oh I wish I could draw, I wish I could write.’ Most people give up on drawing when they think they can’t draw a nose or they can’t draw hands, but comics leaps right over that problem.” Storyboards can be as simple or complex as you would personally like them to be, they just have to tell a story.

In the video, “Aesthetics: A Memoir, by Ivan Brunetti [Book Trailer]” Ivan Brunetti, a cartoonist, states “I’m sure people will look at my drawing style and think, ‘That’s pretty simple I can do that.’ And actually I think that’s good, that’s what I want people to say. Hopefully, it’ll just inspire someone to feel like they can do it and that they can take whatever limited ability or limited means, even just using the cheapest materials.” Everyone has the capability to draw storyboards and visually depict stories without using words. Expensive materials and an extensive amount of time is not always necessary. We just have to get over the self-doubt of our own creativity that exists inside of us, and once that is gone everything will come naturally. Lynda Barry also states, “Most people can draw comics, and if you can draw comics that means you have access to all kinds of stories that are in you, and all these stories that you’ve always wanted to tell.” We just have to start drawing in order to flush out the creative block within us and get to the creative side of us that is buried inside. Ivan Brunetti also states, “Part of my philosophy is, hey anybody can do this you just have to do it.” You just have to ideate, sketch, put pen to paper, and start flushing out all ideas that come to mind.

Lynda Barry states, “ I love teaching. What I’m doing isn’t even teaching. It’s almost like showing people that they already know how to do this stuff.” We already know how to draw, most of us just don’t practice it daily and put it on a shelf in our minds for later use. It’s like a tool that gets rusty. You just have to get back into the swing of things in order to be able to use it properly. Ivan Brunetti says that comics are, “a practical means for creative self-discovery and the exploration of complex ideas through the simplest of tools in an iconic visual language.” Comics are an easy way to display your creativity, regardless of your artistic talent. Show the world the stories you’ve always wanted to tell!