Month: January 2023

Last week in ASL class, we covered family and the ranking order of siblings. Instead of a cartoon of my Dad showing the ASL hand sign for OLDEST, a young version of my Uncle, Stephen Hurlbut, the second oldest sibling (I may be the oldest too, but I can’t have all the cartoons be of me). The Colours of First on his mug refer to his time as VP for City TV news.
I also illustrated this hand sign for my collection because I couldn’t find the textbook’s version in other ASL dictionaries. As with all the illustrations in my dictionary, I’ll check with my ASL instructor to verify I captured the image correctly.
The index finger touches the chin as the hand snaps upward into a closed S hand sign (a similar Motion for the ASL hand sign for BEST)
#ASL #signlanguage #oldest #firstborn #stephenhurlbut #cartoon #myasldictionary

After SCHOOL WEEK’s covering of Schools, Students, Teaching, and Learning, next is the hand sign for Study and Recreation, Reading. For the ASL hand sign for READ and READING, a cartoon of actor LeVar Burton, known for his work promoting Child Literacy and the host and executive producer of PBS’s Reading Rainbow, a program that taught children the love and books and reading (the shades a reference to his Star Trek role).
The fingertips of the V hand sign move up and down the palm of the opposite hand, like two eyes reading a page. Like SEE and LOOK, it uses the V hand sign from French Language (LSF), with the V for VOIR (French for To See).
#ASL #signlanguage #reading #read #readingrainbow #levarburton #cartoon #myasldictionary

According to the Forgetting Curve, retention’s greatest drop happens soon after learning, making Studying all the more essential. A young student in a baseball cap shows the ASL hand sign for STUDY. My dictionary has two hand signs for STUDY, the student and a Frog Prince joining a Princess signing STARS to make the hand sign ASTRONOMY.
The number 5 hand sign points towards the opposite palm with its fingers wiggling (The 5 hand can be held in place or moved back and forth). The fingertips represent the eyes quickly scanning the information on the page of the opposite hand.
#ASL #signlanguage #study #student #cartoon #myasldicitonary

After posting the hand sign for LEARN (which becomes STUDENT when combined with AGENT), an Upperclass student with rebellious streaks in his hair shows the ASL hand sign for PUPIL (a person studying in school).
In comparison to 2010, by 2017, I was a little more confident in drawing hands as more than thin little sticks.
The number 5 hand sign on the opposite palm pulls up and closes into a flat O hand sign as it arcs to the side and is flung open. Similar to LEARN, the hand sign shows the visual of drawing information from the pages of a book.
#ASL #signlanguage #pupil #student #cartoon #myasldictionary

Education is Learning, not the buildings, but the skills, knowledge, and experience you acquire within them.
The character for the ASL hand sign for LEARN is a student in their graduation cap. By my second year at the University of Guelph’s Sign Club, my ASL studies inadvertently coaxed me back into cartooning. This 2010 image is one of my earlier pieces. The number 5 hand sign on the opposite palm closes as it pulls up to the temple to show drawing knowledge from a book into the mind.
One of the ASL hand signs for STUDENT is a combination of the hand sign LEARN with the suffix hand sign AGENT/PERSON (a learning person).
I may update this image in the future, but tomorrow’s hand sign for PUPIL (another hand sign for STUDENT) will demonstrate how far my hand illustrations have come.
#ASL #signlanguage #learn #graduate #cartoon #myasldictionary

The University of Guelph’s ASL Club (formerly the Sign Club University of Guelph) was the catalyst for My ASL Dictionary’s creation.
After College, I wanted to continue my ASL studies, knowing first hand the longer the gap between classes, the greater the risk of losing the language.
Created by students, The Sign Club offered weekly lessons in American Sign Language with registered ASL instructors and free textbooks. Starting with a modest fee of $25, the Club soon offered free ASL classes, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, to anyone interested in expanding their knowledge.
The teachers involved the class with each lesson, often exceeding the limitations of the textbook. As my time with the Club continued year by year, I went from taking notes to starting sketches of the hand signs, which captured the lesson better. Inspired by my teachers, I used study time to create finished ASL cartoon illustrations as my homework. In 2013, my ASL teacher,
Charles McKelvey looked at my artwork and told me to make a book. In 2020, I finally finished it.
The character for the ASL sign UNIVERSITY is a young student in a dressy costume, with the different names of logos of the University ASL Club that immersed me in ASL.
Similar to the ASL hand sign for COLLEGE, the U hand sign slaps down on the opposite palm to curl upward in an arc, representing another higher education.
#ASL #signlanguage #university #universityofguelphaslclub #cartoon #myasldictionary

My education in American Sign Language began with a Summer School ASL course at Bishop Macdonell, though strangely not recorded in my OS Transcript. I came in with a history of using hand gestures to enhance the spoken word. Seeing ASL for the first time and learning how it uses gestures to communicate without speaking was like magic. What a shame there was only one class.
My dictionary already has a graduate for the ASL hand sign for LEARN, so I turned to sports to represent the high school experience. A handsome football player with a cheerleader’s pom-pom shows the ASL hand sign for HIGH SCHOOL. Drawn in 2017 for the dictionary, I updated the hand sign after a 2022 ASL class taught me the Canadian variant. For fans of the book, I’ve placed both versions of this sign in the animation. The H hand sign quickly changes into an S. The starting position is higher for the Canadian region, at the shoulder instead of underneath it.
* I also corrected the fingerspelling direction of double letters.
#ASL #signlanguage #footballplayer #highschool #cartoon #myasldictionary