Kalamazoo Institute of Arts ● 314 S. Park Street ● Kalamazoo, MI 49007 ● (269)349-7775 ● www.kiarts.org

Get the most from a tour:

• Pre-visit checklist and helpful hints

• Pre-and Post-visit activities

• Vocabulary and curriculum resources

• Important Instructions for chaperones

Thank you for scheduling a tour at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

A successful tour starts well before the students board the bus. Please review

this educator’s guide carefully and help us make your students’ visit

rewarding and educational!

Museum Visit 101 2

How to be a Great Chaperone 3

KIA Museum Manners 3

Who is Dave Coverly? 4

A History of Cartoons 5

How is a Cartoon Made? 6

Lesson Plans/Activities 7-9

Vocabulary/Resources 10

Comic Strip Planning Sheet 11

What’s Inside?

Table of Contents

Speed Bump: The Comic

World of Dave Coverly

September 5, 2009-January 10, 2010

ARTist Tours sponsored by: KIA Tour Program sponsored by:

Exhibition Sponsors:

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□ Recruit chaperones! One adult is required for

every 15 students (2nd-12th grade) and every 10

students (pre-K-1st grade). Please share the enclosed

How to be a Great Chaperone handout with your adult

volunteers so they know what will be expected of them.

□ Transportation! Groups must arrange their own

transportation. Ask us about busing stipends.

□ Name Tags! It is so helpful when docents and

museum staff can call each student by name. Use large,

bold printed letters.

□ Pre-visit student preparation!

• Try to visit the KIA a few weeks before to familiarize

yourself with the museum’s layout, including

restrooms, classrooms, etc. Note where the

exhibitions you might be viewing are located. A

personal visit is crucial if you have any concerns about

exhibition or tour content. Please call 349-7775, ext.

3162 for an appointment with KIA staff.

• Read through the pre-visit/post-visit activities listed

in this packet and decide which are best suited for

your students.

• Work with students on completing assignments

before visit. Review Museum Manners.

• Please inform the KIA Museum Education staff if

your group has an assignment or will need extra

time in the galleries following their tour.

• Familiarize chaperones with any assignments so

they can assist as needed.

• Please bring the proper materials for students to

complete their project: pencils only and paper with

something hard to write on. Students may sit on the

floor or stools can be made available with advanced

notice.

□ Discuss the tour with your students. Round out the experience with some post visit activities.

□ Evaluate! Fill out the Tour Evaluation form and return in the envelope provided. Let us know what did or did

not go well.

Museum Visit 101: A Checklist

Day of Visit Checklist □ Let’s be early birds! Please arrive at the South

St. entrance at least 5 minutes before the tour begins

and have students organized into the proper number of

tour groups. A docent or KIA staff member will greet

your group, review Museum Manners and then each

small group will be assigned a docent and dismissed into

the galleries.

□ Oops! We’re late! Please call the KIA at

269/349-7775 if you will be late. As groups may be

scheduled back to back, a late arrival could shorten

your visit. Docents will wait no more than 20 minutes.

After that time we reserve the right to cancel or shorten

your tour.

□ Name Tags! Have them? Are your students divided

into the number of groups as specified on the tour

confirmation?

□ Chaperones! Make copies of How to be a Great

Chaperone.

□ Camera? You may take photos outside or in the

lobby. Photography is not allowed in the galleries.

□ Gallery Shop! Remind students that the KIA Gallery

Shop is not included as part of the visit.

□ Museum Manners! Please review one more time.

□ Coats, backpacks, umbrellas and roller

shoes are not permitted in the galleries. Please leave

them on the bus, weather permitting or in bins located in

the lobby.

Before the Visit (2-3 weeks):

Don’t forget! Name tags, chaperones

and museum manners!

After the Tour

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To be a great chaperone, you don’t need any special knowledge—

just common sense and a willingness to jump in and get involved.

Here are a few tips to make this visit successful:

• Introduce yourself to your group and your docent (tour guide).

• Stay with your group during the tour and assist the teachers and

docent.

• Follow and help remind students of the KIA’s Museum Manners.

Classes tour in small groups of 10-15 students. Each group is led

by a museum docent, a specially trained volunteer tour guide.

As tours move through the museum, chaperones help keep the group together. They remind

students of their Museum Manners if needed and are good role models during the tour.

Chaperones are ready to help the docent if asked.

Thanks for being part of your group’s guided tour. Your participation will help make your

school’s visit to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts fun and educational. We invite you and your

family to visit the KIA again!

How to be a Great Chaperone

1. Do not touch any of the art because it is fragile and the oils on

your fingers (even if your hands look clean) will make the

work of art dirty. If everyone touched, the art would be

ruined, and now one would be able to enjoy it. We want it to

last as long as possible.

2. Please walk in the museum. We do not want you or the art to

get hurt.

3. Use quiet voices during your tour; other people are trying to

enjoy their visit too.

4. Stay with your group. Be ready to look carefully and think

about what you see. Your docent will ask you to share your

ideas about the works of art.

5. Gum, food and drinks are not allowed in the galleries because

spills could damage the works of art.

6. Please do not lean on walls/cases as you might lean into a work of art or mark the walls.

KIA Museum Manners

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Stats

Born in 1964 and grew up in Plainwell, MI

1982-Graduated from Plainwell High School

1987-BA in Philosophy and Imaginative Writing

from Eastern Michigan University

1992-MA in Creative Writing

1994-Creators Syndicate picked up his cartoon

panel, Speed Bump for syndication in

newspapers.

1995 and 2003-awarded Best Newspaper Panel

by National Cartoonists Society

2009-Won the Reuben Award given by the

National Cartoonists Society to the Outstanding

Cartoonist of the Year

2009-Illustrated a children’s book, Sue

McDonald Had a Book by Jim Tobin

Dave Coverly lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife

and two daughters.

USA Today. He had some work

experiences which he did not enjoy

as much but which have given him

subjects for his cartoons: golf course

groundskeeper, tennis instructor,

pizza delivery guy, bookstore clerk

and an artist at a public relations

firm (this was where he discovered

that he was not a 9-5 type of guy).

What are Dave Coverly’s tips for

becoming a cartoonist? Life

experience is important so you have

a large

reservoir of

experiences

for ideas.

Also, it is

important to

read a lot.

We can’t

experience

everything

personally

Where does Dave Coverly get his

ideas for Speed Bump? Dave

Coverly gets ideas from his own life

and observing the world around him.

Kids, work, love, relationships,

marriage, politics, etc. are all

possibilities for humor. He believes

that the best cartoons should play

on our common experiences.

How did he get started as a

cartoonist? Mr. Coverly began as a

cartoonist for his high school news-

paper and received much encour-

agement from one of his teachers.

He had his own strip called Freen for

the EMU newspaper when he was an

undergraduate. Before Speed Bump

became syndicated, he worked as an

editorial cartoonist for a variety of

newspapers and had cartoons

printed in magazines like Esquire,

Saturday Evening Post, and newspa-

pers like the New York Times and

but we can travel vicariously and

absorb new ideas and perspectives

by reading. It is also important to

think young. As we get older, it is

harder to think of ideas because we

are moving farther away from our

childish outlook on the world.

Dave Coverly considers his

Speed Bump cartoons the

“outtakes” of life (if life were a

movie). Speed Bump’s format is a

single scene as opposed to a strip of

images like Get Fuzzy. So Coverly

has only one square of text and

image to get his point across, which

can be challenging. And unlike

Garfield or Dilbert, Coverly does not

use a recurring cast of characters.

About Dave Coverly

Everyone has Ideas. Most of us enjoy them for a fleeting moment, as though

catching a glimpse of a strangely beautiful bird, and then forget them

almost immediately. But a cartoonist’s job is much like being a bird watcher. We take note of them. We process what we’ve seen through our own mental binoculars and share it.

-Dave Coverly

Who is Dave Coverly?

www.speedbump.com

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A Cartoon is an art form like painting or sculpting.

According to the dictionary, a cartoon is a sketch or

drawing, usually humorous, which symbolizes or satirizes

some action. The word “cartoon” comes from cartone, the Italian word for “large paper”. A

cartoon can be simple or complex and can be drawn in almost any style. It is not an exact

duplication of reality. It is a representation of the artist’s perceptions of the world, and every

person sees the same thing differently. Through cartoons, a cartoonist can tell a joke, a story

or make a particular point and it can be done sometimes much more quickly and interestingly

than through words alone. For example:

“A superhero leaves his house to fight crime. However, while flying through the air, he unfortunately

realizes he has forgotten to wear his costume.

The cartoon tells the same story as the

sentence. But when we look at the cartoon,

we absorb the story at a glance. A cartoon is

more likely to cause the reader to laugh or

smile than the words.

Good writing is essential to good cartooning.

You have to write the joke first, even if there

isn’t a caption in the actual cartoon. A good,

well-drawn cartoon portrays an idea in a way

writing alonr cannot.

Using pictures to tell stories has been around

for 1000’s of years. Prehistoric cultures drew pictures on cave walls and rocks. In Ancient

Egypt, large murals depicted continuous narratives through a series of images. In the Middle

Ages, images were used to illustrate the written word in books and by the 1700s, artists like

William Hogarth integrated text into images that were reproduced in books, magazines and

newspapers. In the 1860s, the comic strip was born in Germany with Max and Moritz, a strip

about two trouble-making boys. A comic strip, as opposed to a single cartoon, would feature a

strip of sequenced drawings and is published on a recurring basis.

The first modern comic strip was The Katzenjammer Kids (1897) which debuted familiar comic

strip iconography such as stars for pain and speech and thought balloons. Today, comic strips

are also called “comics” or “sequential art” and feature animals as well as humans. Some tell an

ongoing dramatic story, while others makes us laugh or provide critiques of our contemporary

society. This art form has evolved into entire books, called comic books or graphic novels,

which are composed entirely of images with accompanying text.

A History of Cartoons

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Each cartoonist has his or her own personal style but when it comes to creating a cartoon for

newspaper syndication, like Speed Bump, most artists follow the same steps.

Step 1: Keep a notebook handy to jot down ideas, quick sketches, etc. so that when you sit

down to work on a new cartoon, you have lots of ideas to choose from. You might end up

rejecting 90% of what you write down but at least it is a start.

Step 2: Once you have an idea, make a quick sketch. Figure out how many panels are needed

and what will be in each panel (Coverly works with only one panel).

Step 3: Using a ruler and pencil, draw the outlines of the

squares you need. Draw in your images, leaving space for

text.

Step 4: Add text. Most cartoonists use a letter guide tool

which helps to keep the lines straight and the lettering

even.

Step 5: Ink over the square, text and images. Usually the

text and figures are inked first and then the background.

Use an eraser to clean up any pencil marks. Fix any ink mistakes with white-out.

Step 6: If desired, color in the image. In the example below, Coverly just roughs in the colors

and indicates the number of each color to be used in the final newspaper printing.

If your cartoon will be printed in an official publi-

cation like a newspaper, an editor looks over the

cartoon to check for errors and if the cartoon is

good enough to print. Is it funny? Does it make

sense? Good drawing is important but good

writing is key to getting the point across.

How is a Cartoon Made?

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Lesson Plans and Activities

How Owly and Wormy became friends: Using a “Silent” comic to inspire writing

Grades 1-2 (from://comicsintheclassroom.net)

Lesson description: Students will read a silent/wordless comic and use it as a story starter. This

lesson can be used to help teach many writing concepts: beginning-middle-end, punctuation,

good word choices.

You’ll need a computer lab or a computer and with projector or both. Please read the online

comic: Owly: Splashin’ Around at http://www.andyrunton.com/comics/html. And as a

starter, have your students read any of the Owly and Wormy on-line comics to introduce the

characters.

1. Take students to lab or set up the computer projector in a classroom. Read Owly: Splashin’

Around with students through the computer. In this story, Owly and Wormy enter a bird

bath competition and lose, but what they learn is more important.

2. Ask the students to write about how they think an owl and a worm ended up being friends.

3. Send students off to do their rough draft. Have them pair up to read their drafts and

discuss. After final revisions, students should share their stories with the class.

Comic Strip Lesson Plan Grades 3-5

For comic strip templates and more details: http://www.teachchildrenesl.com/filez8932/

lesson%20plans/comic_strip.pdf

Summary: Students will practice writing skills in a fun and creative manner. They will create

their own comic strip using the templates provided in this lesson plan.

Key Words: comic book, comic strip, cartoon, speech bubble, thought bubble, artist, story, edit

1. Bring comic books, comic strips into the classroom so that students can look at the words

and pictures.

2. Explain that students will be designing their own comic strips. Show them the templates

from the pdf. Explain how a comic strip works: how it is read from left to right in rows and

the difference between speech, thought, and exclamation bubbles, etc.

3. Students create their storyline either in pairs, groups or individually. Give each student/

pairs/groups a template and explain that they have to create a story to fit the images and

speech bubbles. Show them how to number the squares, how to write one action of the

story for each square and create speeches that will fit in the speech and thought bubbles.

4. Once the student/pairs/group have written their story and speeches, they should write them

in the bubbles provided and color their finished comic strip (unless you printed the tem-

plates in color from the pdf.)

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Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares Grades 6-8

(www.ReadWriteThink.org),

By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, students are

encouraged to think analytically about the books’ characters, events and themes and crystallize

significant points of the book in a few short scenes.

Estimated Lesson Time: two 50-minute sessions

Objectives: Students will

• Identify appropriate landscapes, characters and props that relate to the events and

characters in the books they’ve read.

• Interact with classmates to give and receive feedback.

• Explore how audience, purpose, and medium shape their writing.

Preparation

1. Before the lesson, students will read a book independently or as a whole class.

2. Ask students to bring copies of the book that will be focus of their comic strips to class

for reference.

3. Make copies or overheads of the Comic Planning Sheet (page 11 of the packet)

4. Practice using the Comic Creator with your computers. (http://www.readwritethink.org/

MATERIALS/comic/)

Instructions

Session 1

Introduce the writing activity, discuss the planning sheet and look at some sample

cartoons, graphic novels, comic strips and comic books.

1. Lead students through discussion of the key elements for each part. Sample

questions might include: What are the most important characteristics of a caption? What do

the words in the captions tell you about the scene depicted? What kind of landscape makes

sense for the scene? What props can you associate with the scene? What kind of dialogue

bubble makes sense for the interaction? What connects one scene to the next in the comic

strip? Have an example of a completed Comic Strip Planning sheet to show.

2. Have students fill in the Comic Strip Planning Sheet to plan their book reports.

Encourage students to interact with one another, to share and receive feedback on their comic

book plans. Students could choose multiple scenes for a six-frame strip or a single important

scene in the book and do a one-frame cartoon.

Session 2

To make the comic strips, have students follow the steps of the computer Comic

Creator or students can choose to draw their comic strips (tips for drawing a cartoon on page

6). All students should color in their comics.

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Comic Book Show and Tell For Ages 14-18 (From www.readwritethink.org)

Teens explore the comic-making process as they become both comic book writers and comic

book artists.

Time: One 60 minute session, broken into 3 20-minute blocks.

Supplies: paper, pencils, other art supplies, some comic books to look at, Comic Book Planning

Sheet (page 11), online comic creator (http://www.readwritethink.org/MATERIALS/comic/)

A pair or a group of teens can learn about scripting and creative writing while also learning

about the cooperative work that goes into making a comic book.

1. Introduce the activity by explaining that most comic books are made through teamwork.

2. Have teens come up with a topic for their comic. Encourage them to start with a one– or

two-sentence statement of the hero, the villain, and the conflict. After they decide on a topic,

they can begin by writing the text first and then illustrating or illustrating first and then crafting

the words. Use the Comic Book Planning Sheet to help get organized.

3. The pair or group need to decide who will write and who will draw. They need to divide

up the tasks and then meet to discuss their work. Encourage discussion of the product they are

creating and the process. For example, ask the writer if the comic book pages look like what

his or her scripts are saying. If not, ask the writer how he or she might revise the scripts to

better help the artist draw more accurate illustrations. After a while, the students should

switch jobs so that they can try something different.

More ideas for teens

• Extend their stories to 5, 10, or even 22 pages (the average comic book length).

• Create a “How to” comic where they detail something they know how to do really well and

can teach others to do.

• Create comic book versions of books they might be reading.

• Watch a movie not based on a graphic novel or comic book and have teens adapt the film

(or selected scenes) into a comic book.

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Vocabulary

Cartoon: a sketch or drawing, usually humorous which symbolizes or satirizes some action.

Cartoonist: an artist who draws cartoons.

Comic Book: A book or magazine in which stories are told through a sequence of drawings and

character speech.

Comic Strip: a strip of sequenced drawings that is published on a recurring basis.

Dailies: a cartoon that appears in daily newspapers

Graphic novel: A book that uses drawings and dialogue to tell a story but it is longer than a

traditional comic book.

Sundays: cartoons that appear in Sunday papers (usually in color).

Syndicate: a company that provides exclusive content to newspapers like advice columns,

opinion pieces and comic strips. A syndicate makes it possible for one comic strip to be read in

hundreds of newspapers across the country.

Thought balloons: to show when people are thinking in cartoons.

Word balloons: to show where people speak in cartoons.

Resources

Available at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Library

Becker, Stephen. Comic Art in America: A Social History of the Funnies, the Political Cartoon,

Magazine Humor, Sporting Cartoons and Animated Cartoons. NC 1420.B4

Tatchell, Judy. The Usborne Young Cartoonist., 1987. NC 730.U88

Whitaker, Steve. The Encyclopedia of Cartooning Techniques, 1994. NC 1320.W55

Available at the Kalamazoo Public Library

Hart, Christopher. Cartooning for the Beginner. 741.51 E347

Cartooning: The Ultimate Character Design Book, 741.5 H3252

Roche, Art. Comic Strips: Create Your Own Comic Strips from Start to Finish. J 741.2 Roch

Sacks, Terrence J. Opportunities in Cartooning and Animation Careers, 2008. 741.2 51219

Simpson, Terry. The Cartoonist’s Bible, 1998. 741.2 5613

Wos, Joe. How to Toon: The Art of Visual Storytelling, 2004. DVD 741.2 H

On-Line Resources

www.mycomicbookcreator.com/ www.comicsintheclassroom.net

www.stripcreator.com/make.php www.teachingcomics.org (Nat’s Assoc. of Comics Arts Educators)