MODERN ART LESSONS · STUDENT WORKSHEET
Compass Bear: Draw a Gentle Visual Joke
Make a setup-and-surprise cartoon 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. The object fails in an ordinary way, then becomes useful for a different purpose. A reaction pose helps the reader notice the switch.
What to do
- Your finished project is a setup-and-surprise cartoon 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.
- Choose a harmless expectation from the story and a surprising outcome. Keep the joke about the situation, not a person’s body or identity.
- Draw a setup that gives the viewer enough information to expect one result.
- Draw the surprising result and a clear reaction. Remove explanations that give away the surprise too early.
- Ask a partner what they expected and what surprised them. If the ending seems random, strengthen the setup. Plan for an unfamiliar reader; compare alternatives and revise pacing, emphasis, or consistency using feedback.
My project: a setup-and-surprise cartoon featuring a bear with a broken compass. My chosen ending is…
The viewer expects… Instead…
Setup sketch… Surprise sketch…
Is the joke kind? What clue makes the surprise understandable?
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…
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