In chapter 7 of McCloud’s Understanding Comics, he discusses the 6 steps to humans motivation for making art, and bringing a comic together. First is the idea. My idea for this comic was to show my individuality. I used a female subject and showed her in her life, at different events where she doesn’t seem happy. She is surrounded by people and fun activities but at the end of the day, she feels happier in a more introverted setting. I wanted to show in this comic that it is okay to spend time alone, and there is value and beauty in time spent with just you and your thoughts. The second step is form; I knew that this would obviously be a comic, and I wanted it to be a chronological story. I wanted it to be digital but have a mixture of physical art as well. I also knew I wanted it to include dialogue and multiple characters. Third is idiom, or genre. I knew this was going to be a realistic fiction type of story. It would somewhat embody my opinions on life. Fourth we have structure. Like I said, I wanted this comic to be chronological and tell a story from left to right, top to bottom. I do enjoy making comics where the order and structure can be up to the viewer’s interpretation, however I felt that in order to get my message across this comic should stay consistently chronological. Step 5 is craft or skill that is used to produce your work. I wanted to try to use my digital skills which worked for some aspects, but I also needed to combine drawings as well. I also feel that this adds to my comic by giving it multiple textures and colors which is unique. The sixth and final step is surface. This is what the initial feel and finish the comic has. I wanted it to be light and easy to read but still have an underlying message and lesson.

For this week’s comic, I decided to use adobe illustrator and used a combination of different art forms. This comic was more ambitious than my previous weeks because I utilized digital platforms which I haven’t used for our last few comics while being a remote class. Adobe illustrator has many options for creating images and words that can be tweaked and played with to make your idea come to life. I manipulated the system a bit and combined physical art with digital by drawing my characters and uploading them to illustrator to become a part of my comic. I did this because I knew it would be more difficult for me to create life-like looking characters digitally.

In his book, McCloud says “Art is the way we assert our identities as individuals and break out of the narrow roles nature cast us in” (166). I asserted my identity in this piece by showing a side of myself that some people may not recognize. I am a very social person and love people, but at times I feel that certain settings can be overwhelming. I wanted to take this opportunity to showcase this part of my personality, especially because I have a newfound appreciation for this trait of mine due to the circumstances of our world right now as we navigate through life in a global pandemic.