27/06/07

UNDERSTANDING COMICS
Scott McCloud

I have recently finished reading this, and although it's not a graphic design book I have still picked up on a nimber of things that I found useful

Definition of Comics
p.9 "JUXTAPOSED PICTORAL AND OTHER IMAGES IN DELIBERATE SEQUENCE"
This gives comics a very wide scope. Some things McCloud suggests could be classed as comics are instruction diagrams, hyroglyphics, paintings or photos intended to be viewed in sequence, stained glass windows in churches and cave paintings.

Character design
In chapter 2 McCloud talks about iconography and cartooning.

If we look at a realistic image of a face, we see it as the face of someone else. If on the other hand we look at a simple cartoon drawing of a face, we see ourselves in it. He explains that although you cannot see your own face, you are vaugley aware of what it's doing i.e. you know wheather you are smiling, frowning, squinting etc. Your mental image of your face will be a very simple one, much like a very simple drawing of two dots and a line representing a face. This is the reason people can relate so much to cartoon characters.

He also notes that in comics and cartoons, the characters tend to be iconic but the backgrounds are more realistic - representing "otherness" from the reader. Drawing a person or object realisticly can make it seem more distant to the reader, whereas cartooning it makes it more familiar and accessible.

Text and Image
Chaper 7 discusses how text and/or images can be used to tell a story. If one is very detailed then it gives the other more room to be abstract or deal with a completely different subject.

Layouts and Compositions
In chapters 3 and 4 McCloud discusses how the size, shape, position and content of comic panels can dictate how much time the reader spends looking at each one, which they read next, where they look first and so on. The same principles could easily be applied to other areas of design.