some more of my textbook toons

These are some more toons for the teaching material (eventually, textbook material) we've been designing. They're not comic strips in the traditional sense; as you'll see below, the toons don't always tell a complete story. These are drawings that are part of an exercise page, so there's more to the lesson than what you see in the cartoon. The images (at least in one case) make more sense in the fuller context of the lesson, which I'm providing below.

Click images to enlarge!

---

Lesson: DESERTS

TASK WRITING (BEGINNER & BASIC)
The pictures below tell a story. The sentences below the picture tell the same story, but the sentences are out of order. Rewrite the sentences in the correct order, then do two more things: (1) draw a sixth picture showing what happens next, and (2) write a final sentence describing what happens in your picture.

The correct sequence is (students see the following sentences jumbled):
1. A thirsty camel and a thirsty man in the desert see a big bucket of water and run toward it.
2. The man throws a magic spider at the camel; the camel becomes frightened and stops.
3. The man laughs, and he and the spider both drink from the bucket.
4. The magic spider grows larger and larger.
5. The spider stops drinking and stares hungrily at the now-frightened man. The camel laughs.

---

Lesson: LIE DETECTION

TASK WRITING (BEGINNER & BASIC)
The pictures below tell a story. The sentences below the picture tell the same story, but the sentences are out of order. Rewrite the sentences in the correct order, then do two more things: (1) draw a sixth picture showing what happens next, and (2) write a final sentence describing what happens in your picture.

The correct sequence is (students see the following sentences jumbled):
1. A dog tears up some papers.
2. The dog’s owner catches him.
3. The dog looks very guilty, but...
4. The cat walks in.
5. The dog puts his paw on the cat as if to say, “He’s the guilty one!”

---

Drawing the line art takes time, but not too long. Coloring in the art, however, takes me a million years. I can color only two comic strips per work day. As a result, I've given four of my strips to my Korean coworker, who is a wiz at design. He knows all the Illustrator and Photoshop shortcuts that I don't, and he's an amazingly talented artist. The above two strips had me in the office until midnight and beyond on both Monday and Tuesday. When I wrote, the other day (Friday), that I had never done twenty-five separate toons in a single day, I meant comic-strip panels. One panel = one toon. I had done five 5-panel strips in a day (line art only—not colorization). I really need to learn those shortcuts, especially if I'm now to be a textbook illustrator. I like drawing, but this is hard work.