Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art was
definitely interesting and engrossing enough to read through, even
though it was presented more as a non-fiction informative book rather
than a “comic.” I think McCloud gives a pretty good analysis of how he
feels on the medium of comics, but the way he presents it, it starts to
feel like he's trying to justify the medium against other art forms
rather than analyzing the form and composition of comics. It almost
makes me think that he's trying to convince the reader that comics are
worthy of merit in the world of expression rather than taking pride in
the medium itself. The section where McCloud pleads with the reader
that comics can do certain things that no other form can for instance,
seemed more like an argument for their validity than an important
aspect of them, for instance.
I'm not saying that there wasn't any useful analysis however and I did
enjoy the comic overall. One of the most interesting and useful parts
of Understanding Comics is when McCloud analyzes the different
panel-to-panel transitions by putting them into six distinct
categories, and explains how the mind uses them to understand what's
going on in the comic. McCloud further uses this information and puts
it into charts marking the use of panel transitions in American,
European, and Japanese comics and outlining the differences between
them and the importance and they hold in each respective culture.
Another section that I found particularly interesting was the use of
icons and how in certain situations and certain parts of the world
styles and uses of rendering change drastically depending where they're
from. McCloud gives a nice illusion to the use of the masking effect
(making the simple easy to read lines the main subject, and the more
realistic background or effect in order to objectify them from the
rest, but be accepted in the same frame) and how it was practically a
“national style” in Japan.
Full immersive display, durable mutations, literally parallel story-lines.
Ultimately, I found it less about useful analysis and more about the
author's stance on comics as a form of art, but I found it still
enjoyable and for the information that it does present it's worth
reading.
---I also, watched McCloud's presentation at the TED conference and it was interesting to see him in
person explain some of the same ideas he outlined in his book that came
out in '93 and to hear a little more about his personal life. I
especially enjoyed his thoughts on the future of comics and their place
in the digital world. His ideas about "durable mutations" had
provoked several ideas in my own mind and sparked thoughts about how
other forms of art could evolve with these mutations on the infinite
digital canvas.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wordless Translations
I'm not particularly sure what's occurring in the first panel, there's an obvious witch/genie type character perhaps casting a spell upon the rooster who's sitting on top of a crystal ball or giving into it or something; and what looks like another character bowing down in the background after having come down the stairs or dead.
On the second one, it seems like an angel/gryphon person has come to meet a woman(possibly the one from the previous panel), presumably on her death bed, although where she rests looks more like a dinner table with a chandelier above her.
On the third panel it looks like this angel/gryphon type being is meeting a woman's soul/ghost as it leaves her recently deceased body that lies in her coffin at the bottom of the panel, while the night watchman has discovered that her cask has been open or tampered with.
Once again not really positive on what's occurring in the fourth panel, but it looks like the angel type character is proposing something to someone in greater authority while there are nude slave women or servants lounging in their presence, possibly for entertainment?
The fifth panel depicts a man having been most likely murdered after having been woken from sleep. The man in the right doorway was either the murderer or a bystander that has walked in the room to discover the dead person. I think the roosters have come to symbolize death in these works. It may even be a precursor to the first 4 panels, and that isn't actually a man at all, maybe it's showing how the woman in the beginning panels came to her death.
In the last panel, it seems like a young couple of people are waking from a rest or possibly just interacting in their home, and this rooster/gryphon of death is creeping upon them both and I think this is even a prequel to the panel even before it... she may have committed some sort of sin with the male and it isn't "their" house at all. This would tie everything else together in a way.
On the second one, it seems like an angel/gryphon person has come to meet a woman(possibly the one from the previous panel), presumably on her death bed, although where she rests looks more like a dinner table with a chandelier above her.
On the third panel it looks like this angel/gryphon type being is meeting a woman's soul/ghost as it leaves her recently deceased body that lies in her coffin at the bottom of the panel, while the night watchman has discovered that her cask has been open or tampered with.
Once again not really positive on what's occurring in the fourth panel, but it looks like the angel type character is proposing something to someone in greater authority while there are nude slave women or servants lounging in their presence, possibly for entertainment?
The fifth panel depicts a man having been most likely murdered after having been woken from sleep. The man in the right doorway was either the murderer or a bystander that has walked in the room to discover the dead person. I think the roosters have come to symbolize death in these works. It may even be a precursor to the first 4 panels, and that isn't actually a man at all, maybe it's showing how the woman in the beginning panels came to her death.
In the last panel, it seems like a young couple of people are waking from a rest or possibly just interacting in their home, and this rooster/gryphon of death is creeping upon them both and I think this is even a prequel to the panel even before it... she may have committed some sort of sin with the male and it isn't "their" house at all. This would tie everything else together in a way.
Monday, August 22, 2011
The Arrival
I've never been a comic fanatic by any means, but I've always been quite entertained by graphic novels in all different forms since a very young age and that certainly hasn't faded as I've matured. When I was younger I read mostly x-men, spiderman, batman, and other standard american comics; as I grew older I preferred manga and some more mature-themed american comics but, I've never been too far away from my superheroes.
This first week, we were given the assignment to read Shaun Tan's, The Arrival, a wordless graphic novel, the first of which I've ever experienced. Tan's graphic novel shows a seemingly normal gentleman immigrating to a bizarre fantasy world, one that he doesn't understand their speech or some of their customs. The world is certainly whimsical in a sense but many of it's inhabitants are seen doing every “normal” things such as playing with fireworks, working in a factory, and mailing letters.
Tan uses a number of different techniques in The Arrival, to move the reader effortlessly through the immigrant's tale without the use of a single written word. Often times the novel employs “moment-to-moment” panel transitions most of the time giving the graphic novel more of a film reel quality, than the transitions that we're used to in a standard comic. Shaun Tan's excellent use of facial expressions and hand gestures definitely play a key role in the comprehension of The Arrival, because they can depict thought and mood in a much more natural way than words ever could. I don't think the expressions have to be depicted as “realistically” as they were here in order for a wordless comic to be “read-able,” but I think it was more of a stylistic choice reminiscent of the immigrants of Ellis Island that everyone is familiar with. Though The Arrival is presented in a mostly monochromatic scheme, but Tan thoughtfully implements different tones. This can be observed in one of my favorite scenes of the book, when our protagonist hears the story of an old man; the scene starts in a happy vivid extremely warm tone, and slowly as his thoughts become darker and the imagery shifts, the tone becomes darker and unsaturated. An other example of this is seen in a page which shows the passing of seasons through a nice “scene-to-scene” transition, with each season having it's own tone it's commonly associated with.
Through the use of familiar expressions, symbols, tones, moods, and thoughtful transitions, graphic novels are able to tell a complex tale without the use of words, which becomes evident after having come across a graphic novel such as, The Arrival. Overall, I think this was a great experience both as an introduction to wordless graphic novels and just as a nice “read” overall, and I'm looking forward to this upcoming semester.
This first week, we were given the assignment to read Shaun Tan's, The Arrival, a wordless graphic novel, the first of which I've ever experienced. Tan's graphic novel shows a seemingly normal gentleman immigrating to a bizarre fantasy world, one that he doesn't understand their speech or some of their customs. The world is certainly whimsical in a sense but many of it's inhabitants are seen doing every “normal” things such as playing with fireworks, working in a factory, and mailing letters.
Tan uses a number of different techniques in The Arrival, to move the reader effortlessly through the immigrant's tale without the use of a single written word. Often times the novel employs “moment-to-moment” panel transitions most of the time giving the graphic novel more of a film reel quality, than the transitions that we're used to in a standard comic. Shaun Tan's excellent use of facial expressions and hand gestures definitely play a key role in the comprehension of The Arrival, because they can depict thought and mood in a much more natural way than words ever could. I don't think the expressions have to be depicted as “realistically” as they were here in order for a wordless comic to be “read-able,” but I think it was more of a stylistic choice reminiscent of the immigrants of Ellis Island that everyone is familiar with. Though The Arrival is presented in a mostly monochromatic scheme, but Tan thoughtfully implements different tones. This can be observed in one of my favorite scenes of the book, when our protagonist hears the story of an old man; the scene starts in a happy vivid extremely warm tone, and slowly as his thoughts become darker and the imagery shifts, the tone becomes darker and unsaturated. An other example of this is seen in a page which shows the passing of seasons through a nice “scene-to-scene” transition, with each season having it's own tone it's commonly associated with.
Through the use of familiar expressions, symbols, tones, moods, and thoughtful transitions, graphic novels are able to tell a complex tale without the use of words, which becomes evident after having come across a graphic novel such as, The Arrival. Overall, I think this was a great experience both as an introduction to wordless graphic novels and just as a nice “read” overall, and I'm looking forward to this upcoming semester.
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