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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.

XKCD: An Experiment in Stick Figures

By jinxedbytuesday on 18 March 2010

I’ve been thinking recently about my lack of drawing skills, especially now that it’s time to start publishing a webcomic out on the internet where everyone can see it. Though it may seem contradictory, the two most pronounced qualities of the internet are that it is very public and anonymous. This makes it so that 1) everyone will know who I am (and how bad my drawing skills are) and 2) I won’t know who’s actually looking at my webcomic.
However Drawing Words and Writing Pictures states that it is okay to be a bad artist, in fact some artists even “wear their bad drawing as a badge of honor.”[1] The important thing is to be able to convey your ideas. To assure myself that this was in fact true I set off looking for a webcomic that drew badly on purpose, thinking that there was no way anyone could be proud of his or her horrible art, unable to do any better maybe, but not proud. I rediscovered XKCD.

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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.

Does Culture Die?

By DaFahnz on 11 February 2010

An interesting discussion is begging to develop among these blogs on culture and how it can shape our understanding of comics. This discussion was started by Snowfaerie in the blog entry entitled So What is a 'Shikseh' Anway?: Cultural and Time Period References. In this blog, Snowfaerie makes the argument that variations in a person's location, belief system, language, or time period can dramatically alter the way that. In other words, the cultural background of an individual can affect (and most certainly does) affect the way they evaluate the events in their lives. Snowfaerie then goes on to argue that because with time elements of culture can change, particularly elements of pop culture, that we will never understand the "true meaning" of outdated references. This argument could not be further from the truth.

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Web-comics, connecting the dots, Baby Cthulhu to xkcd

By Stan-d-up on 02 February 2010

This panel of Tara Normal had refrences to many sci-fi and web comics like DrMcninja and Cthulu

Recently I was reading another blog, “So What is a ‘Shikseh’ Anyway?: Cultural and Time Period References”. In it the author raises the point that someone from a different “culture” would not be able to understand comics form another culture. The author claims that the differences in culture are “location, belief system, language, or time period”. It was a good blog, but after reading it I was left with three
xkcd panel used in other blog
questions. Is location, a belief system, language, and time really the only distinctions between cultures? What culture are we exactly talking about when looking at web-comics like xkcd? And why are web-comics on the “web”?

Firstly I should note I am not going to talk about the legitimacy of culture boundaries, though it is important. Can you draw a line? Whole books on this have been written arguing if this, instead let’s make the assumption that culture is there and definable. When looking at web-comics like the one I have posted Tara Normal certainly things like language, time period, and ideology effect what is taken away from this comic. If I can’t read the comic it’s not going to be easy to understand what is going on. If I was reading this thirty years ago it wouldn’t get the references, and if I was morally against this comic it’s not going to yield much to me.

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So What is a ‘Shikseh’ Anyway?: Cultural and Time Period References

By snowfaerie on 28 January 2010

http://xkcd.com/77/ Today's Known Words

Akin to modern slang, the language used in the XKCD comic above is vernacular to today’s generation. To start with, the reference to the internet, especially in terms of the internet as an addictive stimulant, would not be understood to someone from a different time period or sometimes from a different culture where the internet is not a prevalent thing in society. Even a small variation in location, belief system, language, or time period can alter the way a word or phrase is understood. Similarly, when the characters at the end are discussing a LiveJournal entry, this term can be understood by today’s regional culture because of its common and daily use in the majority of our society. In another thirty years, there is a possibility that LiveJournal’s use will have become discontinued and the term obsolete. A future reader would not necessarily understand why this comic would be seen as humorous.

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