Please Click on the link above to view the comic ( Utilize fullsceen for a better experience). Kindly read it right to left

​Sneak-peak

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I chose to do comic strips and a poem. My comic is the first chapter of the book. The reader of my comic will visualize the genesis of this story. It is a great way to get familiar with the plot. My process of creating this comic is by creating a story-board. Then using a digital platform, I had to sketch, color, add lines for clarity, and most importantly add dialogues. My most favorite scene to draw was the pill-taking scene. While reading the book, the pill that the characters in the mental hospital took interested me. According to the New Yorker article “the troubled history of psychiatry”, it states, “In 1954, the F.D.A., for the first time, approved a drug as a treatment for a mental disorder: the antipsychotic chlorpromazine (marketed with the brand name Thorazine). The pharmaceutical industry vigorously promoted it as a biological solution to a chemical problem. One ad claimed that Thorazine reduces or eliminates the need for restraint” and many other drugs to reduce friction in the workplace. Due to history, the pill in the book might be there for the same reasons. Illustration and comics are a fantastic way to help visualize complex feelings like confusion and fear.

I have not expected the about of time it takes to make a comic. I am an avid reader of manga (Japanese comics). So out of habit, my comic was set right to left. I believe this is one of many parts of the comic I could improve. After finishing, I have realized that it is not left to right like American comics. This project has also shed light on my drawing insecurities. After working on my project, my respect for comic book artists has gone up.

POEM

Nowhere
By Anika Ahmed
Inspired by “The Devil in Silver”
I

I don’t belong in a mental hospital
I am not crazy, please.
       What are these pill
   What does it do
             Am I … crazy


I am … crazy
If i become free
Society will go frenzy
Send me back here
And forget about me.


What is my purpose now?
Help me before I hurt you
Society doesn’t see me as equal
Fix me before I hurt you.

I am not crazy
I don’t belong in this prison
                 Maybe I became crazy
                    Maybe I became crazier.

My second project is a poem. The poem is about a man forcefully taken to a mental hospital. The environment and depression are slowing making him believe that he belongs there. The narrator is becoming the devil, but there is still hope because deep down he knows the truth. This poem is inspired by the protagonist, pepper. The audience will see self-aware and helpless patients of a mental institution, who knows his weakness against policies and judgment of the society. The poem is first-person POV, which makes the readers more emotional, forgiving toward the narrator with a flaw. My poem does not represent all. Even in the book, it was very evident that some characters need the treatment. My poem sheds light on the abuse from authority figures, and societal judgment.  Poems are not my strong suit. Making this poem was definitely cathartic. 

Work cited

Groopman, Jerome, and Siddhartha Mukherjee. “The Troubled History of Psychiatry.” The New Yorker,20 May 2019, www.newyorker. com/magazine/2019/05/27/ the- troubled – history -of-psychiatry.