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So What Have I Learned?

By snowfaerie on 29 April 2010

Over the course of this last semester, we’ve learned not only how to construct and draw a comic, but also how to analyze their components. Broad themes address ‘is it a comic?’ and ‘what does it communicate?’ I thought I’d apply this to a random webcomic to see the results of my learning in action. I selected an XKCD comic from a few days ago.

Desert Island

Firstly, I wanted to make sure this fit Scott McCloud’s definition of a comic, which is that they are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."[1] This particular comic is a single panel picture that has been overlaid with text in the form of dialogue. The text is intended to convey information on the character’s thoughts while the picture conveys an alternate truth to the words. This is designed to produce a humorous response in the viewer based on the ironic juxtaposition of information.

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References

  1. McCloud, Scott. "Setting the Record Straight." Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Kitchen Sink Press, Inc., 1993.

Pro League Writers

By snowfaerie on 17 March 2010

In class today we did the comics jam session from “Drawing Words and Writing Pictures” by Able and Madden.[1] This exercise not only gave us the opportunity to see the strengths of our other web comic group members, but also to test our skills drawing under constraints.

The constraints fell under two categories: creative and time. Creatively, we had to abide by the rules the original author had chosen and the characters and setting that had been depicted in the first panel. We also had about 20 minutes to complete four 9-panel comics. The creative challenge was a thrill, giving us the opportunity to explore routes that the story may not have taken without said constraints. By limiting word count or illustrating another person’s narration etc., we were forced to look at the comic from a different angle. We also had to improve our artistic skill by replicating the images drawn by other group members in the panels before. This provided a jump-start to coming up with ideas for our web group comic. Did other groups find this exercise as helpful to your creativity?

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References

  1. Abel, Jessica, and Matt Madden. Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond. First Second, 2008.