Understanding Comics

I found McCloud's dissecting of the comic art form to be very interesting. Having read more manga than American comics, I was intrigued by the idea of having simplistic characters on intricate backdrops. This and the different types of panel transition were new to me. I found the information to be well communicated, and quickly caught on to the different techniques that are used to communicate in a comic. One thing that really stuck for me was the gestalt principle, and how it's used on even somewhat realistic characters to simplify and make a character more iconic.


Having not read many comics aside from the few manga and the comics in this class, I felt a bit detached from this reading until McCloud mentions the six steps to comics, and that most artists usually begin working for surface value, later moving to a more meaningful story with unique and relatable characters. I could relate to this as it applies to my own artistic endeavors. I feel that most beginning artists start with an interest in the intricate, tiny details that draw us in to someone's work. Once that interest is established and we begin to make our own works, we start with what we were drawn to initially, the details. So a beginning painter would focus on the single strands of hair and the perfect shading on an arm, until they develop and notice that it's better to work general to specific. To establish the base, or foundation of something first before you move on to the desert of the art world or the "finishing touches".Overall it was an insightful read which gave me some tools to analyze comics more thoroughly.

The Arrival

     Having experienced a small level of exposure to comics, Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" seemed fresh. The idea of telling a story without text wasn't new to me, however I felt that it would be rather difficult to do so in still images without some sort of written information to describe the characters. I quickly re-assessed my opinion as the story was clearly laid out to me with each panel. As things unfolded I noticed the various devices used to tell the story without words, such as a pointing finger, a person scratching their head, and various other obvious gestures which would stand out as cliche in modern cinema but are standard devices for nonverbal communication.

     The panels were very free form and floaty which is well suited for the light valued style of the illustrations. Overall I found this work to be refreshing when compared to the average comics I had glanced at previously.