ILLUS-3590

THE CHANGING NARRATIVE

Faculty: Antoine Revoy

Course Level: Junior, Senior, 5th Year

3 CREDITS

CONCEPTS ELECTIVE REQUIREMENT: This course fulfills the additional concepts elective requirement for Illustration majors.

COMPUTER LITERACY REQUIREMENT: This course fulfills the computer literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

NOTE: This course fulfills EITHER the concepts OR computer requirement, but not BOTH.

The Changing Narrative explores the challenges and possibilities of innovative storytelling structure: non-linear, interactive, multimedia. In this class, students will create inventive work at the intersection of physical and digital media, the old and the new. Students will be introduced to classic dramatic structures across cultures—Asian Kishōtenketsu, Freytag’s pyramid, Shakespearean tragedy—and learn fundamental digital skills via class demonstrations and exercises.

Drawing from these patterns and tools, students will then seek to unveil new storytelling possibilities granted by modern technology (computer animation, touch screen interaction, hypermedia) to traditional artforms (illustration, comics, gaming). What happens when a comic’s panel starts to move? Where does a story go if the reader is allowed to make decisions? Students will investigate these creative avenues and create playful, hybrid stories. Assignments will notably include short-form animated illustrations, experiments with gamebooks and cartoon strips, culminating in a final, long-form narrative project.