Monday, January 18, 2016

Understanding Comics: Simplification and Imprinting

Understanding Comics was a very good read when it came to the basics of constructing a comic and its story. A lot of valid points were brought up, like how the simple design and stylization of a character can make a big difference on what it conveys to the reader. How words can virtually not be as important in comics as the sequential actions. Which relates well with our first book The Arrival. Many comparisons were made between animation and comics, and as a person who will apply into the comic book industry and used to animate before coming to college, the author is very correct in saying that they are not that different to a certain degree and very well go hand in hand. Another point the author made was how a simple drawing of what resembles a face can still recognized as what it is, a face.


One thing I thought was important was the author mentioning that in the situations of simplifying something, it makes it easier for the readers to imprint themselves on whatever is portrayed. To bring the subject into a modern observation, this is something I've noticed being practiced a lot recently in media such as gaming. An excellent example of this is in the game Undertale where the author, Toby Fox, created a character that didn't contain dialogue, you could create a name (your own if you wanted), and did not specify on a gender. While I will say that this is not new, something like this can make it easy for a person to see that character as themselves, which can either be good or bad. On one hand it makes the person more involved with their surroundings and the story, as well making it an entire personal experience; but on the other hand it can negatively promote narcissistic tendencies. However that is just my opinion, and nothing more.

1 comment:

  1. The word you used "imprinting" caught my eye. I think that is the prefect word to use regarding the nature of how the simplification of the comic does seem to become sort of "imprinted" on to most readers. Its almost as if drawings are create it's own language.

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