McCould's vocab

I thought that McCould's readings were quiet interesting. The very idea of how to define a cartoon is just as hard as trying to define art. This whole notion that everything must fit into a category or else it doesn't exist drives me up the wall. Graphic novels all exist for different purposes and saying they must all contain the same basic qualities is preposterous. This reading reminded me of an artwork by Joseph Kosuth called One in Three Chairs. He put out a chair, took a picture of the chair and copied the dictionary definition of chair on the wall. Which one is a chair or can they all be? Life is sequential art and pictures could be considered still or even a cartoon. I think that graphic novels should be taken as face value and are meant to tell a story much like the Egyptians.

I wasn’t quiet sure what we were supposed to write about and I hope this was somewhere close to the topic.

The Vocabulary of Comics (McCloud)

Pipe. Painting of a pipe. Drawing of a painting of a pipe. Print copy of a drawing of a painting of a pipe. This is an interesting way to start talking about Comics, and it's true that things are not always what they seem. When we look at pictures there is no way of knowing the original source of the picture unless we made it ourselves. McCloud kicks off by discussing the definition of an Icon. Following this he comments on the way humans tend to see their face in such a thing as a plug socket. I was relieved to hear this, because I always thought I must be strange since I saw faces in wallpaper, painted walls, clouds, and a variety of other odd things. I enjoyed this reading assignment mostly because it was an easy reading in the form of a comic strip. What more could I ask for?

Rich Origins and Broad Horizons

In Understanding Comics McCloud explores the extensive and diverse history of the modern comic strip, as well as the current social perceptions of comic books. He attempts to change some biases against comic culture by validating the well-established style of "sequential art" throughout art history and the archeology thereof. My thoughts on this are very positive, because now my obsession with this artform is somewhat validated! :P Anyway, McClouds personality and abstract way of describing his points of interest were successful in reaching and interacting with my sporatic brain waves.. so, in short, "well done".

McCloud

Both of the pieces by McCloud were very insightful into the realm of the Graphic Novel. Unfortunately there were some drawn out parts that lead to either confusion or just plain boredom. Such as at the beginning of The Vocabulary of Comics when McCloud discusses how iconic graphic novels are. Even though all reading have a chance of having this dull section in them, McCloud does do very well at keeping your attention for the parts that really matter. The history of the comic is very intriguing and holds the readers attention throughout. Also, McCloud does very well here with going in-depth yet keeping the information elementary enough so that expert knowledge is not required. So...

In conclusion The Vocabulary of Comics and Understanding Comics were both very insightful with how a comic is drawn and the history/definition of the graphic novel.

Also a quick question.... can we respond to someone else's post and have that count as the required post for the blog?????

Vocabulary of Comics

McCloud is a strange fellow, but had some very good ideas. For instance, when McCloud talks about the face. There were thousands of ways to talk about how we see the face but he gave us visuals. One thing he said did remind me of something that I learned in general psych. Our mind is always putting things together and no matter how hard we try to unsee it, we can’t. I seriously tried to see just a circle, two dots, and a curve with that basic “face”. I will say that him being a strange fellow and me being a strange fellow I think I got a lot out of it. It wasn’t as cut and dry as I thought it would be with a title like The Vocabulary of Comics. My favorite part of all had to be the picture discussion. This isn’t a pipe, but it is, but is a picture, but it isn’t, but it’s a printing, but it isn’t. The scary thing is I thought I heard him describing this weird concept. Guess I better go get my ears checked…or my head examined. I also tried that drawing random curves then putting dots in them at random spots and yep I still saw faces or at least wear a head would be. Never knew a target could do all that. I also never knew that live action movies could be called cartoon. I only use it to describe things that are well animated and required voice over artist. Still as I was reading it didn’t feel like I was learning vocabulary for comics as much as I was learning concepts that comics tend to use. So back to my question is it really vocab? Or do we need just redefine vocabulary.

Understanding Comics

I really was on the fence with the understanding comics. I thought it was pretty good at the beginning but once McCloud got all insightful and got into the history of graphic novels it got really dull. I did like the argument with himself over the definition of the graphic novel. It was defiantly a good way to display different concepts about the graphic novel. Still no way to make history seem interesting. Although there was something that just bothered me. Why was the young McCloud so different in looks then the older McCloud? Oh and what was up with that Pre-Columbian “graphic novel”. Didn’t understand that either. All and all it wasn’t my favorite of the readings. I really had to struggle to get through it.

Vocabulary of Comics

After reading McCloud’s Understanding Comics comic, I thought it was insightful in displaying the vastness of what a comic might be. I was really confused when I first looked at pictures with captions saying that it is not what the picture shows. I realized that through the icons that McCloud presents, that pictures and words can have a variety of meanings in other people’s eyes and perspectives. I particularly found it interesting about how human beings see themselves in lifeless objects.

Understanding Comics

Throughout the ages comics have changed in style and manner, but the basics of comics innate in its definition is a juxtaposed pictorial and other image in deliberate sequence. I had hoped that receiving this information through the comic would be entertaining, but it was presented in a slow fashion. I felt annoyed on trying to answer “what is a comic?” when the whole time I was reading a comic. I must admit that the pictures were entertaining, but to read through frame by frame to receive very little content felt time consuming and tiring. I felt that it was an inefficient way of informing a reader about the broad and depths of a comic. I had hoped that the pace of the comic would soon change. The content began to be a bit more interesting when McCloud started go into the history of comics. It was interesting to see that Egyptian hieroglyphs and other cultural societies around the world had a form of sequential art. I found it particularly interesting that each culture had its own direction in reading their comic. It was from these differences between the styles that I could really see that comics had a malleable format around the parameters of its definition.

understanding comics 1 and 2

I have never heard the term Juxtaposed before, I think it is a cool word. I found it interesting the history of the comic and how it dates back to very ancient times. It is funny also how he explains that when he was younger he got made fun of for reading comics and how they were “un-cool”.


The history of illustrations was intriguing and i havent thought about how far back it goes in time. Comics and illustrations are being used more and more today in things but we just dont see them as comics. It was wierd that the egyptians didnt even just read form right to left but diagnoly.

vocab of comics

I thought it was interesting the technique used to give his message. I think it was clever to use a comic strip or graphic novel type layout to discuss the vocabulary of comics. I have never really thought about symbols or icons and how we assume what they mean. Also it is very true how we always make a face out of something with a dot no matter how simple or complicated the image may be.

Responses to McCloud

The Vocabulary of Comics
I thought that the Vocabulary of Comics was interesting in that it made me think about the fact that comics are universal. A cartoon image of a person is more personal than an actual rendering. I had never thought about this before, and this idea is an interesting point to consider. I also found it interesting that McCloud considers symbols only one category of icons; another point I have never thought about myself. I thought that this was an informative reading and believe it will help me to better understand, appreciate, and enjoy the art of comics and the graphic novel.

Understanding Comics, Part 1 and 2
I enjoyed these readings because they gave me the history and some background concerning the comic which helps me to better understand comics in general. I was unaware how depreciated comics are and they are generally stereotyped as being either for little kids or satire in a political cartoon.

Understanding Comics

My Thoughts on Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”

I loved the fact that he completely puts it out there that he didn’t like comics in the beginning, but his friend showed him the light and he was hooked. He became obsessed with drawing comics and/or graphic novels, and it made him who he is today. I also like how part of the graphic novel is McCloud, the character, in front of an audience, trying to correctly identify what a graphic novel really is classified as. I like how some words are defined below all of the boxes, so even the layman can understand them I never really understood juxtaposed until it was used on page seven and the definition was given. It made a lot of sense! He gives a brief definition of what a comic is and what it is supposed to contain, roughly, then continues to explain it in more depth. I liked when he used the hieroglyphics to demonstrate the fact that even back then, they had juxtaposed pictures that told a story! In the end of it, he throws out that there are so many different things that comics can and do explore. One thing I have learn about this is that comics are so multidimensional and they have so many different aspects to share.

Understanding Comics

This article discusses the definition of comics and then basically spends the whole rest of the article adding to the definition, and in my mind criticizing it. It brings to light how so many different things that our out there could be included in the broad category of comics, however on the other hand many of these works would like to remain separate from being called that due to the fact that it is sometimes seen as a derogatory thing. After reading this article, one thing I definitely took away from it was the fact that those one block illustrations which are so common in papers or magazines, are not in fact comics as many people refer to them as, because they are not sequential. Towards the end of the piece it also discusses how the generation’s view of comics and how they should be created is a constantly changing thing. What one person views as a comic may be the exact opposite of another.

The Vocabulary of Comics

After reading this I thought to myself wow you should really read that first part over again because it throws so much at you with “icons” and “symbols.” This piece brings up so many ideas that I have never thought of before when it talks about how a reader of a graphic novel just accepts a face for what it is, all the points that our made here are so valid, and true. Something that I felt was particularly interesting was the exercise where it shows all those different shapes and then it put eyes on them, and each one actually looked like an animal of some sort. Also towards the end it mentions how if too much detail were put into the face of the comic that it would take our mind away from what was happening, and that we maybe wouldn’t trust the charcter.

Vocab of Comics

In the Vocab of Comics, the author really tries to get the reader to think in a new light, and we see that very early in the reading, regarding the pictures and how they aren't really the things they represent, but just pictures. It puts the reader in a different frame of mind, one of looking at something from a different point of view. Another interesting thing I gathered was with the lack of detail in comics. It always used to frustrate me, but when McCloud explained why this was done- to allow the reader to see themselves in the picture, it made sense to me.

Reverse psychology

Amplification through simplification: It is a concept McCloud spoke of as the very foundation of graphic novels and comic culture because it meets the reader halfway in representing just a vague icon of a certain idea, concept or personality. He states that the reader can become emotionally and intellectually involved with the plot and its characters most poignantly when among the many characters and their ideals there is a representation ofthemselves in which to place their own imaginations and interact with the story. I very much agree with this claim, because many of my favorite stories involve lone character that represents the way i percieve myself, therefore allowing me to imagine myself in an already immersing realistic or fantasy world and truly giving me a reason to love the author's representation of his world. And although that may be self-centered as McCloud claims, it works as the "everyman" hero attracts new readers to his broad representation of the human condition. I know from experiance:) LOVED the readings, and McCloud's nonchalant attitude while explaining all these "under the radar" concepts.

Understanding Comics

I learned that a Comic is actually the medium with which you are working and that then the content ould be things like the artists, trend, style, genre and et all. And space does for comics what it does for movies, so i guess each little square is kinda like an action or scene and then the chapters, wait, comics don't hace chapters, do they?
I thought it was neat how he conects the Egyptian heirogliphics to comics and well as the aztec symbols and stories of sacrifice (somthing i actualy never thought of!).

The Vocabulary of Comics

We learn with McCloud that an icon is used to represent a place, thing or ida in a very simple manner. It has to be "abstract", or "unlike human" because it is easier for us as the reader to connect with a character that does not have assigned facial expression but that instead portrays the feeling itself. In a comic you use images because words do not "resemble the real thing".
I thought it was enious the way the uthor explained the matterial in a very informal manner and at the same time giving you examples of what he was talking about.

Welcome!

Here is our (new) new blog!

You will shortly be invited to join the blog, and once you get the invitation (and you accept), you can post your reading responses to the blog.