Comics and Reflection

The process of creating a comic, I thought, was going to be a simple task. I mean, with the use of digital tools such as Gimp and Inkscape and with the near unlimited use of Google image search, how hard could it be right?  There were two main benefits of using digital tools from my standpoint; one, I am horrible at drawing therefore the fact that I did not have to draw my characters or scenes was a plus, and two, my handwriting isn’t much better than my drawing so the fact that I could type what I wanted my characters to say (and have it be legible to my audience) was an even greater load off my back.  When developing my ideas for the two comics, it wasn’t hard coming up with the themes or the way I was going to arrange the panels, but the difficulty came when attempting to get the digital tools to edit the pictures I wanted them to look.  Learning how to use the digital tools was a slow and stressful process, but in the long run it was better than drawing the comics free hand.

The construction of the comics like I said above had less to do with the brainstorming of ideas and layout and more to do with my limitations set by the digital tools that I was using (or my lack of the know-how when using them). In order to decide what digital tools I wanted to use to create my comics, I took one class period exhausting the functionality of many graphics editors such as Photoshop, Gimp, Microsoft paint, Inkscape, and many others.  By the end of the class I found that Inkscape and Gimp were the most useful and easiest to use while still having a lot of picture editing functionality.  Inkscape was mainly used to create the end product while Gimp was used to edit each character, item, or word bubble in each frame.  When snagging pictures from the web, they were surrounded by a white background which was stripped from the image using Gimp.  When the final scene was completed (in Inkscape) I placed a black backdrop behind them to act as a frame.  Doing this had the effect of really making the scene “pop” from the page which was a nice effect.  Another stylistic effect that I used in my comic making was placing some of the word bubbles outside of the frame.  I wanted to make a point that the image is not bound by the black box surrounding it and metaphorically, the meaning that the reader takes from my comic doesn’t necessarily have to be the idea that I intended to be within the black walls of the comic frame, but can be some outside interpretation.  Above was a description of the similarities between the constructions of the two comics, but each separate comic had its own unique aspects of construction as well.

The idea of the first comic (teacher setting) came through a combination of my random stumbling upon of a computer science joke web page and the comic site xkcd.com.  The single frame comic idea came from the site along with the humor the site has incorporated in its comics.  The idea of presenting the joke in an academic setting just nothing short of just a random idea that entered my head.  Writing it on the chalk board I figured was a better way of presenting the joke rather than having the teacher say it to the class because the binary 10 (two) or  decimal 10 (ten) aspect of the joke is only apparent when written and not when said aloud.  Inkscape also allowed me to choose a font that I felt was similar to writing on a chalk board so I figured the theme was a good fit.

The second comic idea (pigs) came from my interest in bacon, obsession of YouTube videos, and the irony of even pigs enjoying a nice slab of bacon once in a while.  This comic category falls under one of my own.  It incorporates cartoon images along with realistic settings and realistic objects that the characters are interacting with.  This technique brings about a different effect than you normally see in comics such as all realistic, all cartoon, or all hand drawn. The use of word bubbles in this comic show that it occurs in sequential time which is part of Mcloud’s definition of a comic.  Also within the word bubbles I used two different fonts to convey that a different character is speaking, so similar to people’s voices sounding different, on paper (in my opinion) they should look different as well.  As I stated above, the ideas were not difficult to come up with, they were difficult to implement the way I wanted them to look based on the tools that I was using.

In creating these comics, the word picture relationships and the reader’s interaction with the comics were important in understanding the meaning I was trying to convey to the reader.  According to Mcloud, the word-picture relationships I used in creating my comics were additive and interdependent.  In the teacher comic, the think bubble needs the words on the chalkboard picture for the complete understanding of the comic, and vice versa.  This is an example of interdependent word-picture relationships.  In the pig comic, it is even more noticeable because without knowing that pigs are talking, the dialogue would not make as much sense and the irony that I wanted to convey to the reader would not be apparent.  It also seems to me that in nearly the same way, the word-picture relationships are also additive.  In each comic, the words and images, when combined take it a step further towards expressing the meaning behind the comic.

The importance of the reader’s interaction with the comic is just as important for the meaning to be conveyed as well as the word-picture relationships.  The audience that I am reaching out to in both comics is computer science geeks and nerds who frequently surf the internet and randomly stumble upon funny or interesting types of media.  It also seems that there is a trend in this audience to have some sort of interest in bacon for some reason or another so the incorporation of bacon into one of the comics is relevant.  In the teacher comic it is important for the reader to understand how binary is read because the 10 is actually 2. For example 00 is 0, 01 is 1, 10 is 2, and 11 is 3.  If the person reading does not know binary, the joke is completely misunderstood (for my meaning) and the comic is basically pointless unless you interpret the joke another way such as, the teacher presenting the same joke for 40 years in a row and still making him laugh every time is funny.  The audience interaction in the second comic occurs in the bottom image of the screenshot from a YouTube video.  If the reader has not come across this video on the internet then the “funny” is taken out of the comic, but the irony is still apparent with the pig eating bacon in the top image which also could be interpreted as funny.  The overall effect I want to give to my readers is a good laugh, or at least a chuckle.  These comics are not meant to be serious, but just to show a little humor and maybe be passed to other members of my intended audience.

Comic 1(Teacher)

Comic 2 (Pigs)

Comic and Digital Media Interaction

Digital media has changes the way comics can be presented entirely. The “old school” method of words and pictures on a paper page is out the window, and new technology is revamping the the way in which the audience interacts with the comic. The introduction of sounds, motion pictures, and more now play a role in the whole “reading” experience. The problem with the addition of all the extra media is that now comics are losing their definition and becoming more like movies with sounds and video. Because of this, comics must take a step back from being completely movie-like and stay true to their roots while integrating new technology in the process. Digital comics allow the reader to interact with the story line with a single click of the mouse, where in old paperback comics, what you see is what you get.

In the creation of the comics, software is increasing to promote digital comic/picture creation. This software allows artists to create realistic backgrounds and abstract characters much easier and with much more consistency. It still takes the artist’s mind to initiate the idea, but the software puts the power at the artist’s fingertips to actually create a work of art that at one time was physically not possible to create.  

Word and Picture Combos

Scott McCloud, in chapter 6 of his book, elaborates more on the integration of words and pictures when conveying a message to the reader.  Throughout the chapter I assimilated what he was saying to a food recipe. Adding the correct amount of one ingredient and you get one food while adding a different amount of the same ingredient, you get a completely different one.  In McCloud’s case, the two ingredients, words and pictures, give the reader diverse meanings when combined using different proportions.  He went on to talk about many of the categories of combinations used by comic creators. A few examples of combinations were word specific, picture specific, duo-specific, and interdependent.  Word specific deals with text that is self-explanatory of the actions and meaning in a certain frame.  There is a picture that goes along with it but it does not supply any extra understanding to the reader.  Picture specific combinations occur when the pictures explain it all, and the words are just added sound effects to the actions occurring in a frame.  Duo-specific occurs when the words (for the most part) explain

what the picture is showing.  Finally, interdependent is the most common combination and occurs when words and pictures express two separate ideas but when combined, provide the reader the full meaning of the frame.  In essence, there is a lot more to comics than just pictures and words. Much though is needed to provide the reader with an easy flow of reading along with a steady understanding of the artist’s story-line.

The World of Comics

After reading the first two chapters of Scott McCloud’s book, “Understanding Comics”, I was able to better understand the world of comics. At first I didn’t believe that the creation of a comic was a difficult task-I didn’t think it was a process that took much thought, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The use of pictures, the realism of the images, size of text, placement of words, and layout of a page all are incorporated in the telling of a story and interacting with the reader. It was interesting to read how different cultures use slightly different comic styles to give the reader a different feel when reading it. Comics that use realistic images of people don’t allow the reader to jump into the character’s shoes as an abstract image of a person would. Comic artists also use a combination of the realistic vs abstract images to limit the reader’s imagination as well as give other characters their own solidified personification. Words used in the comic effect the reader’s perception as well. The example of the general word “Face” and the more specific phrase “two eyes, one nose, one mouth” both are similar iterations the same thing, but allow the reader to interpret the ideas differently. In one hand , “Face” allows the reader to be more creative where as the specific phrase gives guidelines that limit the reader’s imagination. The writer will use any variation to sway the reader in a certain direction when engaged in the story, and same hold true for the artist when drawing realistically or abstractly.