The aim of this project was to delve into the origin of a ‘graphic novel’ as a narrative style. This involved understanding the socio-political developments and historic events that were the reasons for such expressions.
The journey included small stopovers at various stages of political upsurge as I intended to draw parallels between adolescent narrative structures and social set-ups. From naive drawings to sculpted reality, from offset handouts to glossy hardbound, from cut outs to 3D animation, graphic novels have come a long way.
Before deciding on the design and layout of the book, I looked at publications that had a bold and dynamic character for creative insight and inspiration. Overall, they had a strong visual impact on the reader. I needed to develop a slightly dramatic publication with a template that could accommodate the varying visual styles of each era, as well as categorically place modules without compromising on the main body of text.
The final stage of my diploma included selecting a prominent chapter from the middle school history text book, in my case the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, and to illustrate it in frames and panels. Then, I had to show the drawings to one group of middle school students and give the textbook pages to the second group. The idea was to observe the difference in the learning patterns of both groups. The inference of this study was that the second group, though fairly correct in their answers, did not render much of an emotional reaction, whereas, the answers and reactions from the first lot were far more interesting and energetic.
My project made me realize that we, Indians, are essentially visual and expressive in nature. So, if well cultivated and developed, the scope of graphic novels in this country will be immensely surprising.
