UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART - SCOTT MCLOUD

CHAPTER 8 - A word about Colour

This chapter, as its' title says, is purley about colour in comics. Colour in comics allows a person to feel more emotions or associate particular colours with characters. Colour was first introduced into comics that would appear in newspapers. It was there to draw attention from everything else in the paper and for that it cost more money to print. Thus creating a profit for the papers. So was colour introduced for a readers benefit and better understanding of a comic or purely for making money? I believe it was mainly for making money for comics that did not really get a second look in the paper.

(The above image was taken from blogs.ign.com/.../2008/04/17/87043/Controls/)

(The above image was taken from www.geocities.com/batmanmagazine/nftc8.htm)

Lets use the above two pictures as an example. Ok so if you walked into a comic book shop and you were trying to choose between a the coloured comic and the black and white comic what would you choose? Would you go for content or surface value. Most people would first be drawn to the coloured face comic as it attracts your attention at first glance. I suppose it's just up to a reader to decide what they truely wanting from the comic in question.

This chapter has opened my eyes to a comics true value. If i ever read a comic it always had to have colours in it, to me black and white comics did not exist. Shame on me because the comics that i did read were really poorly written and i had seriously wasted money. From now on i will always look at the content of a comic/video/game before judging it and making my decision.

UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART - SCOTT MCLOUD

CHAPTER 7 - THE SIX STEPS

Scott McLoud speaks of the six steps in comics. These steps are Ideas/purpose, Form, Idiom, Structure, Craft and surface. Basically these steps act as a guide for comic artists and should be followed in order to create a fantastic comic. If you skip steps then things may appear to be fine on the surface but the ideas and form can be miss interpreted.

(The original comic book cover above was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man, the spiderman 3 cover was taken from www.criticsrant.com)

An example of a comic appearing great at first glance is the Spiderman 3 movie, (although this is a movie it still can be used as an example of a good comic gone bad). At first glance a viewer would think this is going to be awesome, another Spiderman movie. But then once a person gets involved into the movie they realise that the movie is more special effects and more about romance then it is about destroying evil villans. Therefor the original "comic" has been changed and its content is not as good as what it used to be.

Why try to fix something or create something from the old, if the old works?

In my opinion a designer should remember these six basic steps for a successful comic. One must remember that although something can look amazing at first glance it doesnt neccessarily make it a great.

CHAPTER 6 - SCOTT McLOUDS UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART

Chapter 6 - Show & Tell

This chapter explains how comics can be pictures, words or a combination of both. Below is a comic that i found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics. I have edited it to show you exactly how the best comics use a combination of both text & pictures.

The comic above shows a picture of a toddler whome we assume is either screaming or sneezing due to the movement drawn in the comic. Though it is unclear exactly what the toddler is doing.

The frames below are the text part of the above comic. We as the reader have to use our imagination to figure out what the words are describing. Although the obvious would be a sneeze as the words that describe the sound of a sneeze are used.

Now when we combine the text and the pictures to form this comic, we get a clear understanding of what the comic is about.

So whilst the combination of words and pictures in comics give us the reader a clear picture of what is actually happening, there are situations where by ommitting either words or text the reader is forced to interperate the comic in their own way. The author is making a user think rather then telling them what to think.

CHAPTER 5 - SCOTT McLOUDS UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART

CHAPTER 5 - Living in Line

After reading this chapter i found that you can express emotions & Actions through the use of line work and symbols.

Generally darker lines represent emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, madness etc whilst soft thin lines represent emotions such as calm, reason, honesty, innocence and youth etc. Below are two examples of different line work. One is darker and the other uses a softer line type.

(Comic taken from http://www.comics.com/)

As you can see this comic comes across as innocent and honest due to the simple drawings and thin lines that have been used. Where as the picture below has bolder lines with a lot more detail which gives off the impression that the comic is probably for older readers and slightly aggressive.

(image taken from http://hem.passagen.se/fm4/sincity.html)

Symbols also play a part in showing emotion. One of the most commonly used symbols would probably be the love heart. It represents love, attraction, lust, happiness etc. Below are some examples of Symbols which are commonly used in comics today.

(The image above was taken from http://www.dreamstime.com/jpeg-comics-symbols.-image4048668)

After reading this chapter it made me realise how important symbols and line weights/types are in the comic world. They really help sell an emotion or a theme to a reader.

CHAPTER FOUR - Scott McLouds Understanding Comics the Invisible Art

Chapter 4 - Timeframes


After reading this chapter I have learnt that time can be shown/represented using a number of techniques. For example silent panels, panels with captions, numerous panels with slightly different movements etc. Time and motion can also be shown through a series of events and frames. Below is an example of motion: The ripple lines represent the character slowly moving into the water. You also know that time has passed because the first panel shows the lady getting into the water where the last frame shows her half way in the water. So you know time has passed for her to walk in.

(Picture was taken from http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/index.html)

In this chapter Scott McLoud explains how time can be shown in comics through the use of panels. An example of this is a frame of a stop watch. Then next to it is another frame of a stop watch with time is shown later than the first. This makes us believe that time has passed. Another example of this is shown below.

(This comic was taken from http://www.comics.com/comics/peanuts/)

In this comic time has passed. We know this because of the captions. They use words such as "I throw my marble" then they use another caption a couple of panels later saying "i missed". Also we can tell that he has been hit by the girl because of the caption above saying WHOP and the movement lines around his body.

This chapter has made me realise that there are many different ways to show both time and motion in comics, and you can use more than one technique in a single panel to help give a sense of time and motion.