ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

“comics (kom’iks) n. plural in form, used with a singular verb. 1. Justaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” — Scott McCloud

STARTED ON TWO interesting and complementary modules this semester (late July to end Oct): Training Methods & Strategies and Multimedia Development I. Thanks to a great idea by new project mate L., i’m now looking forward to working on an old subject dear to my heart with an unusual and fun perspective: a comic one!

Read a very interesting book by Scott McCloud over the last few days. As the overview on the author’s website put it, “A 215-page comic book about comics that explains the inner workings of the medium and examines many aspects of visual communication along the way. Understanding Comics was a Harvey and Eisner winner, was praised in The New York Times, Publishers Weekly and Wired, and is in over 13 languages. A favorite of interface, game and Web designers despite the fact that it doesn’t mention computers once!”

SOME CHOICE QUOTES from the book, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud:

“…you might say that before it’s projected, film is just a very very very very SLOW comic!

“Why…are…we…so…involved? Why would anyone young or old, respond to a cartoon as much or or more than a realistic image? … cartooning as a form of amplification through simplication…. Simplifying characters and images toward a purpose can be an effective tool for storytelling in any medium. Cartooning isn’t just a way of drawing, it’s a way of seeing! …”

“But, most striking of all is the substanitial presence of the fifth type of transition, a type rarely seen in the west. Aspect-to-aspect transitions have been an integral part of Japanese mainstream comics almost from the very beginning. Most often used to establish a mood or a sense of place, time seems to stand still in these quiet contemplative combinations…. Rather acting as a bridge between separate moments, the reader here must assemble a single moment using scattered fragments…

“The art of comics is as subtractive an art as it is additive. And finding the balance between too much and too little is crucial to comics creators the world over.”