PhD student in the School of Arts Mr Damien Tomaselli together with some Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) staff members are part of a digital comic called Don’t Panic.
An international team to help increasingly exasperated parents to explain to their children why they are in lockdown and how to cope produced the comic, which also presents information about the coronavirus. The comic was composed by a German graphic designer, Mr Bernd Höllen and was built by Tomaselli, a digital narrative specialist.
The project, which is facilitated by the CCMS, is offered in many languages, including English, isiZulu, Afrikaans, German, French, Russian, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Armenian, Polish and Portuguese. The CCMS has helped to distribute the comic, securing voluntary translators from across Africa and the world to populate different language versions, with 15 languages now uploaded.
The comic is a must for any parent who is trying to work from home with young children constantly demanding attention.
‘It is a rough time especially for our little ones. We have created a free motion book to explain this situation to our children. People lose their jobs, stay in quarantine, kids can’t go to school or even play outside with their friends,’ explained Höllen. ‘Download the Madefire Motion Book App and read the animated comic on your mobile device for free. The Motion Book version is a hybrid between reading a digital comic and animation. Motion Books have been described as “reading a movie”.’
The comic may be reproduced on condition that credit is attributed to the publisher The Cauldron and the individual creators, Höllen, Tomaselli and Mr Oliver Frot.
The book can be downloaded from the below link:
