Ben Hatke

Ben Hatke, (writer, artist, author of graphic novels)  was quite a hit with the children.  He highlighted three things that helped him write his books. He explained that:

• our brains are wired to make connections between things; the “magic” of comics is reading between the panels because readers connect two very different images and connect their meaning without even thinking about it.
• the power of gesture plays a large part because we read each other’s body language all the time and often know what someone is thinking even without any communication.
• drawing from life is a big part in graphic novels; he said that there was the art side and the drawing side; the art side includes drawing and getting one’s thoughts across; the drawing side he compared to a flower that draws water and nutrients and creates a beautiful blossom; likewise a good storyteller draws from all the experiences and adventures of their own lives to produce a beautiful story. 

He shared examples of using ideas from his life experiences for his books. Ben Hatke’s presentation tied in well with our class discussions on how stories hide in everyday occurrences because students were gathering ideas for our small moment stories.