Week Two: Comics Theory
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud an interesting read. As I had mentioned before in class, I am not one to read a comic on my own accord, and I don't think this book helped because it was written like a comic. It was a difficult journey for someone like me to pick out the most important pieces.
As a student in graphic design, the part I most enjoyed was his examples of layout. Layouts and lockups are the most important thing to a graphic designer, they run your life. Scott McCloud was able to break down the layouts down into six different types. The one I found that was most interesting was "scene to scene" because it was able to take the reader through time and space. Something else that stuck with me was the difference in the way some comic artists favor realistic scenarios, ideas, and styles, while others may want to go more stylized and surreal. It is mentioned that the more stylized something is the more iconic it becomes. I believe this to be true because it is the same with all design and that's what comics are. They are art and design.
Another interesting design element is McCloud's use of black and white throughout the entirety of the book. The shift of color starts when he actually talks about the use of color. To emphasis the use he injects the three primary colors.
I wouldn't be a true graphic designer if I did not mention the design of the book. The design really was NOT reader-friendly. It was fun that he used a lot of different fonts and he played with kerning and leading and he loved jumping the all around. Since it is a book about comics, it was great that he used a bunch of different artistic styles from ancient Egypt, early 1900, to today. However, a lot of the design elements that he uses are this that we are taught not to do. It's okay to be crazy and wild and do things differently, but gosh he should've used some type of guidelines.
As a student in graphic design, the part I most enjoyed was his examples of layout. Layouts and lockups are the most important thing to a graphic designer, they run your life. Scott McCloud was able to break down the layouts down into six different types. The one I found that was most interesting was "scene to scene" because it was able to take the reader through time and space. Something else that stuck with me was the difference in the way some comic artists favor realistic scenarios, ideas, and styles, while others may want to go more stylized and surreal. It is mentioned that the more stylized something is the more iconic it becomes. I believe this to be true because it is the same with all design and that's what comics are. They are art and design.
Another interesting design element is McCloud's use of black and white throughout the entirety of the book. The shift of color starts when he actually talks about the use of color. To emphasis the use he injects the three primary colors.
I wouldn't be a true graphic designer if I did not mention the design of the book. The design really was NOT reader-friendly. It was fun that he used a lot of different fonts and he played with kerning and leading and he loved jumping the all around. Since it is a book about comics, it was great that he used a bunch of different artistic styles from ancient Egypt, early 1900, to today. However, a lot of the design elements that he uses are this that we are taught not to do. It's okay to be crazy and wild and do things differently, but gosh he should've used some type of guidelines.
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