MODERN ART LESSONS · STUDENT WORKSHEET
Compass Bear: Give Your Character a Voice
Make a short dialogue comic featuring a bear with a broken compass. The character wants to reach a campsite, but the needle keeps spinning. One possible ending: it looks for a familiar trail sign instead. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
Character reference shared across ten skill lessons—not a picture of the completed assignment. Study the example for possibilities, then close or cover it. Your work should make different choices.
Story starter and example
The character wants to reach a campsite, but the needle keeps spinning. One possible ending: it looks for a familiar trail sign instead. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer. One speaker states the problem briefly; the other offers a surprising suggestion. The final picture shows the result rather than explaining it twice.
What to do
- Your finished project is a short dialogue comic featuring a bear with a broken compass. Read the story seed: The character wants to reach a campsite, but the needle keeps spinning. One possible ending: it looks for a familiar trail sign instead. Invent a different kind ending if you prefer.
- Start with broad shoulders, round ears, and a small compass. These are helpful shapes, not a tracing template.
- Write a short exchange between the character and a helpful friend. Choose words that add something the picture cannot show alone.
- Plan speech-bubble space before drawing faces and props. Place the first speaker’s bubble first in reading order.
- Draw the scene and point each bubble tail toward its speaker. Read aloud and trim repeated words.
- Ask a partner to read the bubbles in order and identify the speakers. Move one bubble or shorten a line if needed. Plan for an unfamiliar reader; compare alternatives and revise pacing, emphasis, or consistency using feedback.
My project: a short dialogue comic featuring a bear with a broken compass. My chosen ending is…
Speaker A says… Speaker B says…
Plan bubble order before drawing.
Words I can remove because the picture shows them…
Story clue: How will I show that the character the needle keeps spinning?
Before feedback, I wanted the reader to notice… The reader actually noticed…
Revision: I changed… because…
Use browser Print / Save as PDF