Over a year of work on my BFA thesis produced 'Manga Math'—a 28-page comic book in the Japanese 'manga' style, that aimed to show early high school students that math can be applied to everyday situations outside of the classroom!
This specific comic was tailored to Geometry students studying the Pythagorean Theorem. Two paralleling storylines (one of modern high school students, the other of Pythagoras in ancient times) and a series of hidden problems for the reader to seek-and-solve together accomplish three tasks:
(1) the student learns the Pythagorean Theorem and solves additional problems to reinforce their knowledge;
(2) the student discovers the history of Pythagoras and learns about his life; and
(3) the student realizes along with the comic characters that there are ways to utilize upper-level math skills in the real world, outside of a classroom.
This comic book, along with two 5' x 3' posters, formed my award-winning exhibition in the Snite Museum of Art from March–May 2010. At the BFA/MFA Theses show, I earned both the Radwan and Allan Riley Award for Design, and the Efroymson Family Fund Emerging Artist Award.
You can read an article about my thesis project here.
If you are interested in purchasing the full comic for yourself or your classroom, drop me a line at shelleykornatz@gmail.com!
This specific comic was tailored to Geometry students studying the Pythagorean Theorem. Two paralleling storylines (one of modern high school students, the other of Pythagoras in ancient times) and a series of hidden problems for the reader to seek-and-solve together accomplish three tasks:
(1) the student learns the Pythagorean Theorem and solves additional problems to reinforce their knowledge;
(2) the student discovers the history of Pythagoras and learns about his life; and
(3) the student realizes along with the comic characters that there are ways to utilize upper-level math skills in the real world, outside of a classroom.
This comic book, along with two 5' x 3' posters, formed my award-winning exhibition in the Snite Museum of Art from March–May 2010. At the BFA/MFA Theses show, I earned both the Radwan and Allan Riley Award for Design, and the Efroymson Family Fund Emerging Artist Award.
You can read an article about my thesis project here.
If you are interested in purchasing the full comic for yourself or your classroom, drop me a line at shelleykornatz@gmail.com!
Cover of the 28-page Japanese-style comic book, "Manga Math: The Pythagorean Theorem." This cover was also reproduced to a 5' x 3' poster as part of the final BFA/MFA Theses show.
Preliminary character designs. (Character turnaround orthographics)
A sample spread of "Manga Math." The comic's visual aesthetic was divided into right triangles, mimicking the type of geometry represented in the Pythagorean Theorem. This format also created smaller triangular panels (such as the upper right corner in this spread), around which a number was placed on each side. One of the three numbers from each triangle was replaced with a question mark, and at the end of the comic, readers were encouraged to go back through the book and find these "hidden problems" and solve for the answers. Thus, the comic also functioned as a simple workbook.
Another sample spread from "Manga Math." The comic was essentially divided into two parts, bouncing between the storyline of the two kids that initally hate math (the parts in full color), and tracing the life of Pythagoras and explaining how the Pythagorean Theorem works (the parts in black and white). The two storylines converge at the end of the comic.
A sample spread from a Pythagoras section of "Manga Math."
A sample spread from a Pythagoras section of "Manga Math."
A sample spread from a kids' section of "Manga Math."
The final page of "Manga Math," where the two storylines converge.
A second 5' x 3' poster displayed at the BFA/MFA Theses show. As part of the Manga Math display, several desks were arranged around the posters, with a copy of the comic book, a pad of paper, and a pencil on each. Viewers (especially school-age children and teens) were encouraged to sit and work out the problem on the poster, as well as the numerous problems hidden throughout the comic itself.
