CHAPTER 1 | WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

In this drawing game, you create a sequel/follow-up to a given drawing, like I did with the two cars driving towards a wall.

Exercise 1: Can you come up with a different continuation of my first drawing?

Exercise 2: Print one or more of the following examples or copy them. In the empty frame, make a sequel to the first frame. You can change and add anything you want. It is fun to come up with things that are completely impossible in real life. 

EXTRA: You might enjoy playing this drawing game with someone else, without my examples. To do so, you can print out the A4 sheet below with two blank frames (one sheet each) or draw two blank frames yourself (approximately 10 x 10 cm). Then, both of you come up with a continuation of the other’s drawing.

Little Sammy Sneeze

A wonderful example of a comic strip with in each episode a clear beginning and end is Little Sammy Sneeze by Winsor McCay from 1906. In every episode, Little Sammy Sneeze has to sneeze so terribly hard that everything and everyone in his often neat and tidy surroundings is completely blown over. Here, this happens in a posh toy store.

In the second example, the comic panel is broken and scrambled. In this episode, you can clearly follow the boy’s changing facial expression. In these original American comics, the text is not HATSJOO but, for example, KA-CHOW or KAH-CHOW.