Guide for Secondary 1 / Grade 13 students on how to draw history cartoons to enhance historical creativity and authenticity.

1. • Features of comic strips
• Character and perspective
• Cartoon strips as stories
• Types of cartoon strips
• Punchlines
• Facial expressions and cartoons
• Steps in doing cartoon strips

2. Features of a comic strip
 Sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels
to display brief humor or form a narrative
 Some characteristics include:
1. Serialization. E.g. 1,2,3,4
2. Text in balloons
3. Captions

3. Understanding cartoon strips:
Character and perspectives

6. Stories
Main characteristics of history-based comic strips
include
 Background: E.g. Piracy in the Caribbean. Attack ship
 Main Character: E.g. Blackbeard
 Problem: E.g. Blackbeard worked at being bad.
 Resolution: E.g. Give example of him being bad.
 Closure: E.g. Cut off fingers of someone for
psychological impact. Play mind games with victims
 Perspective of cartoonist: (E.g. First person or 3rd
person narrative): E.g. Historian telling story from 3rd
person.
Pick out an interesting snippet of history that you find
interesting

11. Types of cartoon strips
 Humorous with punchline
 Information giving/ Story line

14. Thinking of punchlines
Kinds of punchlines:
1. The Hidden Element: The reader can see what the character
can’t. (Hock Lee Bus Riots/ NS Riots)
2. The Reversal: Character says something unexpected. (The
Merger cartoon)
3. The Understatement or Underreaction
4. The Exaggeration or Overreaction
5. Misunderstandings of words and intentions
6. Illogical consequences (Reader or character did not expect
something to happen) or the logical consequence
Source: http://ersby.blogspot.sg/2013/01/a-list-of-punchlines.html

15. Where is the hidden element?

16. Where is the reversal? E.g.
Character says something
unexpected? Understatement?

17. Where is the exaggeration?

18. Where is the misunderstanding of
words/ reactions?

19. Where is the logical sequence? Or
illogical one?

21. Historical authenticity: What do
you think?
1 21
3 4 5

22. Thinking about your cartoon strip
 Main character: name,
race, occupation,
leisure
 Background / Setting
 Problem
 Resolution
 Any other characters?

23. Thinking of cartoon facial
expressions and actions
 Happiness: Smile with
wide eyes
 Sadness: Frown with
small eyes
 Anger: Frown with
slanted eyes and red face
 Mischief: Grin and
slanted eyes
 Shock: Gaping mouth,
wide eyes and several
lines near characters’
forehead

24. Use of digital cartoons
 Clothes changes to show time change
 Double images and setting to show movement