Manga-style drawing...

Due to a combination of factors, B has never taken naturally to drawing. His delayed fine-motor skills, hypotonia, & lack of binocular vision made it physically difficult for him to enjoy the process of drawing, & as a result, he never seemed to get the "point" of it nor was it an activity that he found soothing or helpful for passing time. When asked to draw in kindergarten, B usually produced mono-chromatic scribbles, which slowly changed as he received OT & visual-perceptual therapy. By the time he was 6 & about 8 months into these therapies, B produced this picture:

...which I have framed in my craft room. It is a depiction of the "Protections of the Sorcerer's Stone" from Harry Potter, inspired by a lego set he'd gotten that year. It is not only one of the first multi-coloured pictures B ever drew, but one of the first with a legible title, written himself. It represents enormous time & effort on his part & I cherish it. After this breakthrough, & B's development of binocular convergence, he became more amenable to drawing, but only if it was required for a school project & he often needed coaching while doing it.

B's reluctance to draw overcame another hurdle this past year when he started producing manga-style drawings of his own, original pokemon.



B clearly has some wonderful images in his mind! I particularly like the punnish names he gives them (Viaduck's was inspired by a Marx Brothers movie), his own particular twist on pokemon style :)

So what's the attraction of manga-style drawing for B? My main thought is that this sort of drawing has "rules" to follow, & that these "rules" make it more manageable & soothing to do. We learned the "rules" of manga-style drawing when one of my Sunday School students lent me the book "How to Draw Manga" by Katy Coope last January & I gave it a try. First, you draw your picture with a pencil. Then you trace the lines you want to keep in black ink (B uses a rollerball pen). Next you erase the whole thing, which leaves only the lines you inked. Last, you colour it in. B was fascinated by this process & the next thing I knew he was doing it (I prefer just to do pencil drawings :). I was kind of amazed that B took to this process because he usually hates erasing anything he's written & has been known to meltdown from having to erase, but he likes doing it as part of a manga drawing. He also takes particular care with the colouring, a new facet of the process for him. We really enjoy B's pokemon creations very much. They have a lot of thought & backstory that go with them, & I really love that this style has freed B up to finally enjoy using his imagination in the visual dimension.