Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics

I'd like to start by saying that this book was a far more comprehensive look into the world of comics than I imagined it would be. I found it clever that McCloud used the medium itself to analyze the anatomy of comics and how perfectly suited it was to do so.

While there were many profound observations in this book, I particularly enjoyed the section that used the trianglular 'reality/ language/ picture plane' diagram to graph different drawing styles and how they are perceived. I had never seen this graphic before, yet I wish I had because it applies to every visual art-form. The idea that the more minimal a representation is, the more personally identifiable it becomes, is something that really stood out to me. This concept is something I feel I've always known subconsciously, but was brought to the surface by this book. It is seen in the very way that the narrator character was drawn and the conscious choice of the author to do so. This use of a more graphic approach to character design is also seen in animation and for the very same reasons. I think that some of the reductive qualities of comic art is what gives it the stigma that is discussed in the book. Somehow people feel that the cartoonish nature of comics makes them less qualified as art, but for the very sake of being able to communicate and identify, that approach is in and of itself a sophisticated art form. Before arriving at Ringling, I too felt that simplistic characters were on a lower tier of art, until I was faced with having to design one. Choosing which elements to include and which to leave out, while still maintaining appeal is something that can be very difficult. McCloud mentions that masters of their craft are able to reduce their work to its most basic elements and still produce a masterpiece and that statement couldn't be more true.

I also liked how the simplification of design added to what McCloud called 'closure'. Our ability to make leaps in the storytelling process is eased by how iconic the images are. Of course not all comics go this route, but I felt the side-by-side examples of realistic vs. simplified images and how they read worked perfectly to explain the concept. Yet even comics that take a more realistic approach to their design still employ the use of icon via speed lines, speech bubbles etc.

This book was very informative and at times absolutely hysterical (i.e. The 'I Guess' panels depicting how to express a long or short pause, or the panel with the creepy guy and the dog that didn't love him anymore - pure gold) As rich as the text was about comics, I feel that I also learned a lot about the psychology of images as well as evolutionary biology. I will be recommending this book for sure.