Week One: Wordless Comics
While reading the graphic novel The Arrival by Shaun Tan I was intrigued by the fact that the story did not contain any type. There weren't any speech bubbles or descriptions. I was surprised that I liked being able to think for myself how the conversations went and how the characters felt all by illustrations.
One thing that I felt was very interesting about the pages themselves was that they were yellowed with black ink. This gave it a vintage feel, but it also made you subconsciously feel like this was definitely not in the present. The illustrations were wonderfully illustrated. You could tell the emotion the characters were feeling. The story just rolled through my brain like the movie and the characters were able to efficiently tell their story. I usually like long books that I can use my imagination to bring the stories to life but this story was easy to follow, the flow of the illustrations kept the pace of the story. I enjoyed the fact that the illustrations are extremely detailed and created a realistic vibe. Because the illustrations were not cartoon drawing this was a good place for a beginner comic book reader like myself.
The artist's style is almost like looking at old photographs. I like the arrangement of the panels, I am a graphic design student, so the attention to detail on the border images did not go unappreciated.
I enjoyed the different layouts throughout the book it kept the book interesting and you didn't feel like you were on this instant loop of random images.
One thing that I felt was very interesting about the pages themselves was that they were yellowed with black ink. This gave it a vintage feel, but it also made you subconsciously feel like this was definitely not in the present. The illustrations were wonderfully illustrated. You could tell the emotion the characters were feeling. The story just rolled through my brain like the movie and the characters were able to efficiently tell their story. I usually like long books that I can use my imagination to bring the stories to life but this story was easy to follow, the flow of the illustrations kept the pace of the story. I enjoyed the fact that the illustrations are extremely detailed and created a realistic vibe. Because the illustrations were not cartoon drawing this was a good place for a beginner comic book reader like myself.
The artist's style is almost like looking at old photographs. I like the arrangement of the panels, I am a graphic design student, so the attention to detail on the border images did not go unappreciated.
I enjoyed the different layouts throughout the book it kept the book interesting and you didn't feel like you were on this instant loop of random images.
What really carries this story and actually helped me read the story was the way the illustrator conveyed the emotions, the actions, and the body language. For example, the despair on the man's face in the first part of the story made me feel heartbroken even though no words are being told what's happening, you can see it in his face. This is an emotion that almost everyone can relate to and when I was reading I was able to connect with the character. But later on, he meets a new family and his emotion starts to change for the better. The best part of all is that he makes enough money to bring his family to him. The author gives a satisfying ending when the daughter gives help to another new immigrant. This is something we can all relate to as well, everyone wants a satisfying happy ending. This ending was really nice because I was able to put the pages away and be okay if I never looked at it again, but also be able to go back to them when I need a story without words.