Exercise 1 - 3 Panel Story

 Instructions

 

Exercise 1: Mini Narrative Panels. Think of a simple everyday scenario – for example, “running late for class,” “losing and finding a pet,” or “preparing for a school presentation.” Your task is to tell that story in 3–5 frames or panels, without using any text (imagine it like a short comic strip or storyboard).

• Step 1: Identify the story elements in your scenario. Who is the character (maybe a student, a pet owner)? What is the setting (a dorm room, a park, a classroom)? What’s the conflict or problem (alarm didn’t go off, the pet ran away, stage fright)? What emotions will you convey (panic, sadness, excitement)? And what’s the resolution (they catch the bus just in time, find the pet at the neighbor’s, deliver a successful presentation)? Jot these down.
• Step 2: Sketch the panels. Panel 1 should set up the character and setting clearly. Panel 2 (and 3, if using more) should show the conflict or challenge rising – use facial expressions or visual cues to dramatize it (sweat drops to show stress, maybe a clock ticking to show time). Panel 3 (or final panel) shows the resolution – the problem solved or the lesson learned. Make sure the final image feels like an ending: you might show the character’s emotion changed (now smiling, relieved) and the situation fixed.
• Step 3: Pay attention to visual techniques. Use composition to guide the story: for example, in Panel 1, maybe center the character to establish them. In Panel 2, use a diagonal composition or something a bit chaotic to emphasize conflict. In Panel 3, maybe a balanced, centered composition to imply resolution and stability. Also consider visual cues for emotion: color each panel’s background to match mood (gray or red for conflict, bright green or blue for happy resolution). Even if you’re just sketching in pencil, you can use things like thought bubbles, motion lines, or varying the amount of white space to communicate tension vs. calm.
• Step 4: Share your visual story with a friend or classmate (or imagine showing it to someone). No captions allowed – see if they understand the story just from the visuals. Ask them to describe what they think happened. If they get it, great! If they miss something (“I wasn’t sure why he was panicking here”), that’s a clue for what you could clarify (maybe draw the alarm clock bigger or add the time “8:05” on it to show he’s late).

This exercise forces you to use purely visual language to convey narrative. It will highlight the importance of clear character portrayal, sequencing, and emotional cues. Plus, it’s fun to see how much you can communicate without a single word.

Storyline 

Reflection

 For this exercise, I created a three-panel story that reflected one of my most relatable moments that I had as a child. Using my own character, and with this character, I tell a story of "Experiencing your first movie in the theaters".

This story made the most sense for me on many levels. This story is told throughout scenery and wonder, and as we see throughout the panels, we get the sense of curiosity and wonder. To the many movie choices depicted in the cinema's entrance and posters. To the final result of finally seeing the character get to see his first ever movie in theaters.

For me, I wanted to focus more on scenery and keeping that curious feel to the whole story. Mainly due to our character not really having a face to do facial cues. Made this challenge a bit harder, but that more better and made it to be used with the correct prompts, trial and error, and manual editing. And the scenery was the biggest portion of these panels, and of course, having the hint of expression come from our character at the end of the story.

This exercise made me wonder about the other type of story you can create with minimal expressions and emotional cues, and to mainly focus on the sense of curiosity and scene.