A Journey through Narratives, Storytelling, and History

Graduating Project

Sheila Arellano

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The process of writing, illustrating and animating a graphic novel was an adventure. The vision for my graduating project was to create a story for a younger audience that would be inspired by modern Mayan culture and mythology. As a result, I illustrated the first act of this narrative by drawing and animating each panel. I explored various mediums in which I could deliver the illustrations such as colour and black and white images. This story is a part of a much longer tale that could take years to complete. Nevertheless, my graduating project allowed me to take a step forward in the right direction. I was able to explore the characters, Mayan symbolism and graphics that could further develop into a 200-page graphic novel. Through the animations, I inspected the possibility of creating an interactive online graphic novel where children could learn more about Mayan culture and mythology. Overall, my graduating project was an opportunity for me to see how I can share the vastness of Mexican culture. At the same time, it created a sacred space for me to rediscover my heritage and ancestry.

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Throughout my graduating project and tutorials, the process of creating a graphic novel was astounding. The journey of drawing emotions, moments and story climaxes was an exciting challenge. Weaving Mexican culture and Mayan symbolism into my storytelling taught me the importance of looking at the past for inspiration and guidance. It made me realize the immense power narratives have. As a woman with Mayan heritage, creating a story based on my own history was a journey of self-discovery and rekindling of my ancestral past. By reclaiming my culture, I also transmitted history through a children’s story—something I experienced when I was reading The Universe of Quetzalcóatl as well. Reading the book and learning about Mayan culture sparked inspiration in my heart. It was wonderful to redraw and reinterpret the images as it made me feel closer to my ancestors and helped me reconstruct my own heritage. The symbols and shapes that belonged in ancient Mayan times suddenly were a part of my own notebook. It felt like I was holding onto an inky thread that bridged the past and the present. I was connected to Mexican history by drawing each line that had been created during times immemorial. 

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Seeing Muun’’s story evolve throughout my tutorials and graduating project made me realize the amazing creative process that exists behind visual storytelling. From learning about Mexican mythology in Popol Vuh and The Universe of Quetzalcóatl to studying Scott McCloud’s books on how to write graphic novels; the entire process of reviewing other visual stories and being inspired by other authors and artists was eye-opening. When I first had the idea of creating a story based on Mexican mythology and symbolism, I underestimated how much work it would take to create a product I was proud of and following through until the end. In the same way, I overlooked how personal the journey would be. However, I learned a lot in the process of completing this project. I learned to be patient, to represent emotions through colour and movement, to be kind to myself when things are not perfect, and to ask for help. 

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There were various challenges on the way. It was not easy to represent the internal aspects of a character visually. For example, the simple act of keeping track of how each character had to be drawn and the clothes the characters were wearing was difficult—something I had not foreseen. As well, the expression of emotions through visual means was another layer of the creative process that taught me to be patient, especially when animating the characters. Each character had their own array of feelings that I had to keep in mind and foster. The process of finding the characters’ expressions was eye-opening. The practice of having to draw the same character from different angles taught me the importance of developing the personalities and diving deeply into their internal dialogue which, in turn, reflected in their body language. Also, creating tension between characters and within the story was a challenge. In visual stories, internal dialogue is rarely used. Thus, in Muun’’s story, showing her emotional journey just with visuals was difficult. Drawing a graphic story taught me to find alternatives to showing a character’s arch and depicting internal dialogue. And, often, this internal conflict present in my characters was linked to my own journey of discovering my culture. The process of completing my graduating project has been an adventure in and of itself. But I am grateful for all the learning it has brought to my life thus far. 

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Researching the Mayan mythology as well as visiting the Mayan town of Tzucacab was truly enjoyable. While I was in the Yucatán peninsula, I gained first-hand experience and learned about the Mayan modern way of living. I was taught the values present in contemporary Mayan communities. Through this first-hand experience, I was also able to link the modern Mayan ways of life to Séjourné’s The Universe of Quetzalcóatl. While reading, it was easy to connect my graphic novel to Quetzalcóatl’s mythological journey. Studying the lore behind Quetzalcóatl was amazing as it tied to my previous learnings about The Hero’s Journey—a storytelling method that structures character arcs. Writing parallels between Muun’ and the myth of Quetzalcóatl allowed me to add a new layer to my story, which was both exciting and interesting. Adding this underlying symbolism was exhilarating: future readers could learn about Mexican history and mythology while also being engaged in a visual story I created. This realization motivated me until the end. These parallels can be seen in the graphic novel. For example, in the story, Muun’ will go through a similar transformational journey as Queztalcóatl. As well, the presence of Xólotl as a mythological creature is included in the story. A Xoloescuincle dog accompanies and guides Muun’ and Kin in their journey to save their village and people. The knowledge presented in Séjourné’s The Universe of Quetzalcóatl is evident throughout my graphic novel as it subtly combines ancient wisdom with modern Mayan practices.

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Another example of this embedded symbolism is the conch shell, which is both represented visually in the middle of each page of my graphic novel as the Hunaphú symbol—a never-ending cycle—and as a physical object in the story. This conch shell present in the story presents an important message to the main characters and is a symbol of wisdom. In the story, the conch shell also symbolizes new beginnings, which ties back to the myth of Quetzalcóatl’s journey; the conch shell is also present in the way people read the comic: in a spiral motion. In the same way, the symbol of Quetzalcóatl’s winding body can be seen in the weaving lines that separate the panels. Through these parallels, I learned about my culture while also displaying an exciting narrative. I truly enjoyed bringing these ancient teachings into the present through visual storytelling and creating a space where other Latin-Mestizo and Mexican Indigenous people could see themselves being represented. In storytelling, it is very important to represent Latin-Mestizo—who have both Indigenous and Spanish heritage—and Mexican Indigenous characters. Oftentimes, our culture is underrepresented and overlooked. Yet, Latin-Mestizo and Mexican Indigenous people are a large part of Mexico’s population. Thus, this underrepresentation further inspired me to create my graphic novel.

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Creating a graphic novel is a completely different process than writing a novel and, in my experience, it is a harder creative endeavour. This expanded my respect for visual storytellers all the more as I realized how much work is needed to tell a story through graphics. From a writer’s perspective, drawing a story brought a deeper understanding of showing rather than telling. It taught me to evoke emotions through colour, expression, dialogue, and ambience. The process of showing a character’s arc through drawings taught me to further visualize the narratives I write and the importance of showing.  Showing is a much more immediate, and therefore uniquely powerful, storytelling tool as readers can relate more to someone’s experience. I also learned this lesson by visiting the town of Tzucacab in the Mexican peninsula. While being in this town, I got to see what the Mayan cooking and healing practices were and how their knowledge emerged from the ancient teachings of their ancestors. I saw these teachings present when they prepared food, with hot rocks within a pan, and in the way, they healed with special salves, among other practices. As I connected with these cultural traditions, I also familiarized myself with my own heritage. I imagined my great-grandmother when she lived in the Mayan peninsula and wished I could have been there with her. As I became aware of this embedded wisdom, I incorporated it into the pages of my graphic novel. This is evident in the dialogue, story structure and visual representation present in the graphic novel.

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Having drawn the beginning of my story and seeing it portrayed on a page before me was a surreal experience. I had spent so long constructing this story in my head that seeing the physical product was surreal. However, the drawings and animations I created are only the beginning of a much larger project that could take years to complete. Still, I believe these drawings and animations are a good first step in the right direction. In the future, I would definitely work with a professional illustrator as I am better at creating stories than drawing them. Regardless, the act of creating the visuals for the graphic novel myself was a learning experience that granted me confidence in my ability to illustrate future projects.

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The next steps needed to complete Muun’’s story are dependent on how I wish to deliver the final product. An option I wish to explore is making it available online as I have already animated the pages I have created so far. I would like to turn my work into an interactive, online graphic novel where children and young adults could hear the sounds, stories, and experiences belonging to the modern Mayan people. By clicking on the Mayan symbols present in the pages, people would be able to learn about Mayan mythology and history. This would allow for a more dynamic way to transmit ancient Mayan knowledge to future generations. Another direction this project could take is making it an interactive physical book. This would be achieved through pop-ups and hidden messages that would be present within the book. There are various ways to go about finishing this tale, and I am excited to explore all the options that will unfold in the future. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn the process of creating and animating a graphic novel. I have grown much as a writer and storyteller due to this process. My future stories will benefit from this learning experience and will shape how I develop my creative career. I will take the tools this graphic novel has gifted me and I will apply them to strengthen my visual storytelling skills. As well, I will keep the knowledge of my culture close to my heart and transmit in upcoming projects to create more diversity within narratives. I will continue learning about my culture and mastering these visual techniques and abilities within and without my academic life. I look forward to what the future holds and to the stories that are waiting to be found.

Link to view graphics and full-length animations: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10ruxxpT86x8RstzL8vVQBn3qS-1MmAYC

Bibliography

Séjourné, Laurette. The Universe of Quetzalcoatl. Fondo de Cultura Económica, S.A. de C.V. México, D.F. 1994.

Tedlock, Dennis. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985.