Understanding Comics Chapter 2

Chapter two 'The Vocabulary of Comics' talks about the difference in complexity within the artwork and storyline of a comic. McCloud gives us a detailed explanation on how pictures and icons play a huge role in telling the story, and how the text also does. yet they are totally different things, where one is recieved ( the artwork) and the other is persieved (the text).

After reading this chapter I have learnt a great deal more and now have a much better understanding to the art and text of comics. It has often made me curious, why artists would chose certain art styles, and how that would impact the reader. McCloud illustrates 'the Picture PLane'--> where there is a triangle. One corner represents reality, another language and the last, abstraction. the artists who chose to portray their comics in a more realistic way are attracted by a sense of the beaty of nature. Artists who chose to draw abstractly most likely perfer the beauty of art, and the artists who chose to portray theif comics with more literacy admire the beauty of ideas.

Spirited Away-- Studio Ghibli productions

This is very interesting, as some comic artists chose to use a wide range of different styles and techniques, using different parts of the triangle. This can be related to the anime we watched in the lecture last week, where we watched a whole heap of anime and went through the conventions and artwork. one of my personal favorites are all the 'Studio Ghibli' productions. the animation is crisp-- in its visual and audio qualities. it is very interesting how Studio Ghibli produce their anime's though. not like Disney--drawing every frame seperately and differently, Studio Ghibli use a much more simplified technique. they move one thing at a time, and use pauses and the same scenes for many shots, cutting their budget, yet also allowing them to have the uniqueness they hold.

Excel Saga...>____<"

but not all animes are like the Studi Ghibli productions. There are some CRAZY animes out there. Try watching "Excel Saga"!!!!!:S.....it is beyond weird, and me... the animation of the characters vary from realism to highly exagerated chibified characters!. Just like what McCloud shows in his triangle, except having all the different styles colaborated as one in one crazy anime!

the story line is also CRAZYY....none of it makes sense...:S

this just shows how diverse the world of comics can be....

Understanding Comics the Invisible Art-- Scott McCloud

In chapter one of the book “Understanding Comics, the invisible art’ by Scott McCloud, the author basically summarizes the definition of what a comic really is. At first, people think that comics are these “bright colourful magazines filled with bad art, stupid stories and guys in tights”ß as McCloud quotes. Not until he actually did some research himself on what comics really were, did he realize that there is so much more to a comic strip.
He then takes us back in time to closely examine the old Egyptian hieroglyphics and some of the ‘William Hogarth’ sequences, where he draws the line connecting these ancient sequential images to modern day comics.

Comics are not only colourful magazines with crazy storylines. People don’t often realize that film can also be classified as comics, just A LOT slower and smoother. While watching ‘The Lion King’ in our previous lecture, Andrew talked us through the basic conventions used by the animation artists. The way all the animals are moving in the one general direction, as if going somewhere together…the music used that purposely builds suspense and body to the introduction, the compositions of the scenes and many more, all play a huge role in telling the story of this new born king. I never realized until he pointed these things out, how everything in the introduction had been carefully planned out and each frame being carefully drawn out one by one by patient artists.

This topic also reminded me of the "Hiden Mickeys", --which are present in ALL the disney films. Hidden Mickeys-- literally self explanitory-- where there is a hidden face od mickey mouse throughout the film- developed in Dysneys earlieset works...and from there have expanded and now has become something Disney incorporates into all its folms and cartoons.www.hiddenmickeys.org - is a site where you can find out where all the hidden mickeys are in every Disney film and cartoon. One that I have seen is in Aladdin, at the end when the tiger turns back into a fully grown tiger. IF you freeze frame the transformation, at one stoped motion, the tigers face is completely mickey mouses face! While freeze framing this it also came to me how mch detail and accuracy the artists put into each picture...how smooth the animation is blew my mind!!!!

This crazy level of stop motion animation is amazing! And being stop motion animation isn’t everything drawn out one by one as ‘juxtaposed pictoral images in a deliberate sequence’ as McCloud Quotes? Not doubt about that, ‘The Lion King’ along with all the other Disney cartoon films can be safely classified as intensified comic strips!

Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Manifesto's suggested strategies all have a sence of direction and logic. 3 points that interested me and that i can relate to;


Point 3: "Process is more important than outcome.When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there."

--> this point seems very true to the fact that in order to improve from a previous outcome, we shouldn't set ourselves a limit as to where we want to go. we should just have the idea clear in our minds and work on the process, allowing room for change and improvement. it may be unclear to us where our train of thaught may lead, but its worth taking the chances for imporvement rather than staying in the shadows of your saftey zone. this way we could acheive something much more, perhaps something beyond what we were originally aiming for. i also strongly believe that the 'Process' part of the developement of an idea is much more important because that is where all the learning takes place. wat you learn in that period of time will effect the outcome, so the more you allow yoursef to wander and expand, the more you may benifit.


Point 5: "Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value."

--> this point happily reflects point 3. the further you allow your imagination to wonder, the more you may have to acheive... always setting a higher goal each time will allow greater improvement and alter the outcome everytime. i think that this point has its ups and downs though. sometimes we may over work certain ideas...leading to over-complexed processes. i can relate to this in my Audio and Visual workshop on friday, wheree i had a simple idea for my logo design. but through thorough planing and getting carried away, my idea turned into this complex consept where i knew it was near impossible for me to acheive with my lack of skills for certain programes. but i can see how my ideas have developed into something much more refined compaired to my original ideas.


Point 17: "____________________.Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

--> this ones pretty self explanitory. when planning, always allow room for improvement. i found this one interesting because of its close connections with the point 3 and 5. they all interlace with each other, and although they are very simular, they touch on different sections of the same point. it is also very simple and crisp, gettin to the point straight away without you having to think hard. this makes is quite a strong suggestion.


these three points may help me in the way i approach my work in the future, as they are so simple and direct that people could easily forget them. to have them refreshed in my mind may have subconciously allowed me to think with more freedom and no borders:)

wEirD veGIes :S

id never actually realised how many werid and different vegetables i had in my backyard untill yesterday wen i was ssitting out in the yard filming my matchbox animals。

My grandparents are from china and are currently living in my other house...so over the past few years they have transformed out once nice and pretty garden into a boring vegie garden. its like we have a minature farm out the back, where we hardly have to go shopping for groceries now because of the wide range of fruits and veges we now have growingg in ou backyard:)

anyway...back to the weird vegies i spotted yesterday。。。

we have chokos in our backyard...which i find look VERY werid....:S...

the first time i saw one...i was intrigued by its werid shape, tecture and deadly looking spikes...

thye almost look alien to this planet.:S

side and bottom view of the choko:P

the cool thing about these choko plants is that they grow on a vine simular to that of a grape vine or a cucumber vine:P...i like vines:P the extreme delicate coils that look so fragile yet wrap around the fence with an iron grip makes me curious as to how this is possible. how can such a thin small vine entwine itself around objects with such strength that it could strangle the life out of another plant?? how could it even hold up these massive...chokos which hang by a thread of vine？？？

anyways yeah i was bored at the time so i decided to pick afew and make a study on them, playing around with colour and mediums. i workd with chalk pastels and tried to capture the textures and form of the choko. the contrast between the intricate vines and the large distorted fruit humours me， as it seems so out of proportion.

hrmm...tho not only were there these weird chokos...i also spotted these chillies which looked like small bells...i dont know if they are common or not but ive never seen them before until now.

from below they look awsome with flash on on the camera.

it shows a striking contrast etween the pale blue sky and the fireengine red hot chilli:)

*although im not much of a photographer:S*

they look so cute...i really like them for their werid shape and different forms:)

i wonder if they are hott:P