PRISM Prompts is a treasure chest full of muses, wonderings, and inspiration for both seasoned writers who are itching for a new approach to their craft and new writers who are looking for a place to get started, somewhere outside of the blank page. Turn the key, lift the lid, and look inside. Take whatever shines the brightest or the strangest, bring it home with you, and write.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in the combination of visual art and writing, the way it activates our brains differently than either medium does alone, and the power it has to show us new ways of thinking and understanding. I’m a big advocate for blending image and text well beyond childhood, and I’d really like to see picture books for adults become more of an established genre.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way that combining images and text can provide missing or even contrary information, effectively telling a whole other story and expanding the work. I’ve also been interested in how even a very simple image can be more efficient than words. For example, the symbol of a circled dot might represent a breast, an eyeball, a bullseye, or a record, yet it takes a great number of words to say what ⊙ says. On the other hand, without textual clues, these layers of meaning may be missed or misunderstood. I think of it as a symbiotic relationship, with both parties contributing and benefitting, becoming even stronger together.
You may be harbouring ideas about what image and text can or can’t be on their own or in partnership. See if you can be curious about that and open yourself up to what else might be possible.
Prompt: Create a collage comic!
Now begin to gather—photographs, greeting cards, magazines, packaging, different types of paper (ballpoint pen on a brown paper bag is so satisfying), even other comic books can be source material for your collage comic.
We’re amassing a collection of images and text/ures to choose from. A sort of visual library.
- Once you have several to choose from, put them all together and draw four at random. You might spread them all out face-down then flip four up, or put them into a bag or box and draw four like a bizarro deck of cards. Whatever works best for you and your space is A-OK.
- Next, draw a gigantic plus sign on a piece of paper, dividing the page into four quadrants—these are your comic panels. Then arrange your images, one into each panel/quadrant.
As you look at your assemblage, what feelings does it give you? What does it want to say? What wants to be born, a story or a poem? Or maybe something completely different…?
- Feel free to rearrange them if they fit better in a different order. Now step back and look again. What is missing from these images? Do you feel compelled to draw something in? To write something? To add more images? Are you drawn to certain colours or textures or shapes? Do any patterns or themes begin to stand out?
Do any characters emerge, even if only in a very abstract sense? What are they saying? Think about whether they speak using speech bubbles or something else, maybe scraps of cut-out text, or hand-drawn lettering.
You may end up with something extremely abstract. Does it feel exciting and liberating, or does it have a different effect? Sometimes abstraction can open us up and help us to think in new ways, creating a disruption. Sometimes it can feel isolating/alienating. Play around with different combinations to see what makes an impression on you, and what you want to explore.
A few more ideas:
1. Create a comic about something that changes or has movement—the sky, a dance, a dream you had.
2. See if you can make a comic with a colour or texture or image as the main character.
3. Trace or redraw a set of panels from a page of a comic book that appeals to you, and build your collages inside them, paying attention to the way the panels create movement and shape.
Want to go deeper?
The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature is a solid resource for experimental comics, and it’ll give you lots of new artists to follow on Instagram, too!
Check out this great piece on Comics / Collage / Appropriation by Kim Jooha.
And if you’re feeling a warm and fuzzy glow from what you’ve created, there’s still time to submit to our upcoming HYBRIDS issue #62.3 HERE! We’ve extended our deadline to March 8, 2024.
Stay weird!
<3 natasha
Natasha Gauthier is a white and Indigenous hybrid writer and visual artist who lives on the stolen land of the Qayqayt First Nation and Coast Salish peoples, commonly known as “New Westminster, BC.” Her writing has previously appeared in The Malahat Review, The Capilano Review, and CV2/Prairie Fire. She’s a cool mom, a lover of all things freaky and weird, and the current Prose Editor for PRISM international.