Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Page 40 of Lynda Barry’s What It Is.

On page 40 of What It Is, Lynda Barry recounts the impact that stories had on her childhood. The reason that I chose this particular page from the work to showcase texture has a lot to do with something she writes in this page.

“We don’t create a fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay.”

I found myself rereading this passage and thinking about my own childhood. While rereading the page over and over, I did notice subtle things about Barry’s work that utilize texture.

I often found myself disregarding Barry’s choice of paper to make the work on, but after a while I saw how this choice of texture added to the work. Barry’s use of yellow notepad paper and its texture not only helps with the alignment of text, she often writes on the lines to structure the text, it gives a mundane and seemingly ordinary appearance to her work. This is in no way a criticism. This makes the work approachable and that much more personal. As if we are looking into someone’s diary. I think this textural quality of her work makes it captivating and unlike many other graphic novels which often lack a lot texture, instead relying on line and shape to depict a story. Not Lynda Barry.

When looking at this particular page, the theming of a scrapbook is still very relevant. With this theme, the layers of the page are fairly obvious and straight forward. This isn’t necessarily true always. (What it is, by Lynda Barry. page 146)

With this page, the layers are mostly physical layers, objects that look like they’re actually stacked on top of one another. on the top of the page, there is the octopus page which acts as a header, but is separate from the dotted lines paper, to create a clear separation between the two pages. This separation helps divide the header that has directions from the paper the reader is meant to write in. It’s more evident that this is the idea as blue birds litter the sides of the page to kind of act as monitors to where the reader is allowed to write. This divide is important, and it wouldn’t have the same effect as if it were a digital layer, where the objects are divided by a clear, colored line.

Brian creates this sort of cut out of the restaurant to quickly show the reader the layout of an otherwise chaotic area and to get to the point of the story on the next page.(Seconds, by Brian Lee O’Malley. Colored by Nathan Fairbairn)

In this image, a combination of digital layers and temporal layers are being used. Each room is in and of itself a new art piece, even if it shares a floor with another room. With each image, the border of each image is itself another image, the walls of the basement. Without these different layers, if say each room got it’s own page, not only would it take too long to get through the basement, but the reader would be confused as to where things take place were relative to other rooms in the basement, which is important for the story. So creating a sense of familiarity quickly is key, and layering the rooms like this is perfect.

While society deems discussion of sex and sexual acts or those participating in the solicitation of sexual acts is generally taboo, this page references the thought process of someone who is directly involved with pimps and prostitutes. What it is by Lynda Barry, page 131.

Texture can be used in a variety of different ways to portray a story. On this page, Barry is using a combination of textures in the background and textures on objects in the foreground to tell a sort of hectic and chaotic story. Especially while looking at the octopus, the story of the thought process of the person speaking (possibly a prostitute) seems like it should be in black and white, like the octopus. In reality, it could be black and white, or it could just be showing the two sides of a person. The shading is very sharp and is composed of a bunch of strokes from a pen to both darken sides of the octopus and other creatures on the page, as well as creating spacing in the panel. For the spacing, the textured crosshatch creates both space and a different plane for the reader to recognize as space that’s not empty. Around the outside of the frame, to keep with the theme of the book, the frame is outlined in tape-like texture and legal-pad paper to give the impression of a scrap book. Combined with the sketching and cross hatching, the textures combine to show two distinct parts of the page. The frame, which has no cross hatching and no thin pen marks at all, and the center which is filled with thin pen strokes making up all objects.

What It Is, page 110, Lynda Barry

If I were to judge this page as an art piece, I would say it represents introspection. The bird in the center left of the image is what should immediately draw the eye, but the text next to it is what I feel is the “jumping off point” of examining the page as a whole; It says, “What is Intention? What is having something in mind beforehand?” along with “An assignment?” in red text underneath the first question. Using that question, we can examine the “texture” of the page-Manmade imagery combined with natural imagery. The bird on the left has the thought, “you are” inside of its head and the monkey on the bottom right seems to be relaxing in a robe. There are also images of stamps, an old black and white photo of a boat, a flying fish that seems to be carrying leaves, other birds, and various other thought inducing questions, statements, and a “reading test” on the bottom of the page that is covered by a poem about someone’s shadow.

This page and most of the pages from the book have a “cut-out” style of presentation, reflecting the question of intent that seems to be the theme of this page. Everything in the image serves a purpose, filling up space, adding points of interest, and adding a lot of layers to the image. The poem about the shadow on the bottom takes priority over the reading test, the leaves placed on the flying fish make them look attached, and the various bits of text create add a very introspective yet absent minded tone to the page, prompting thought despite a seemingly random placement.

Page 48 from What It Is By Lynda Barry

There are many things that are made up of layers. Like cake, book shelves, wood, illustrations on Adobe Photoshop, rocks, etc. Layers are ,according to Graphic Design The New Basics, “simultaneous, overlapping components of an image or sequence.” Graphic designers and artists use layers when creating their art. Lynda Barry is a perfect example for an artist who uses layers. Her artwork always consists of collages which is a classic method to help understand what layers are. When you look at page 48 from What It Is there are layers of scrap paper, pictures, text, and paintings.These layers are also an example for “Cut and Paste” technique. Her mixed media that she uses to maker her art consist of paper shreds, paper quotes,  pictures. Barry uses these to frame important aspects of her collages. What I think from this example is that the black and white photo in the middle of the page is framed around Barry’s little doodles, text, and hand writing that tells us that it might be from her child hood. I guess from her child hood that’s when she remembers all the whimsical stuff and was more creative, hence the the little drawings and small comic on the right side of the page.

Pages 26 and 27 From Mimi And The Wolves Act I by Alabaster

In my second example I think I see some typographic layers and maybe temporal layers on pages 26 and 27 from Mimi And The Wolves. Temporal layers are made from the frames. In a typographic way, our eyes read page 26 from top to bottom. First the story is one way but as we move along the page, it progressively changes each frame. Also on page 27,the bottom half the the time shifts all in one frame instead of being through multiple frames. This is what I think it means when something is Temporal.Our eyes move from the top of the frame on Mini, then shes being pulled down right beneath what we saw first. Then under that, there are these demon like creatures surrounding her. It gives it depth in a sense to the story and that frame.

Layers function to express overlapping bits of information at the same time. This can be done visually like in the way a map can show the terrain of an area, the roads, and borders. Layers can also be done temporally through audio, video, and animation.

Page 15 of Lynda Barry’s graphic novel “What It Is”

The process of layering in digital technology is derived from the mechanical process of printing. When printing was first being developed, each layer had a different element where it would come together in the final print as one image. In Lynda Barry’s graphic novel What It Is, her entire book is done in a collage style. She uses the physical cutting and pasting to layer cut out words and often random images like on page 15 in her novel. Here she mixes media (handwritten letters and drawings as well as cut out typed words, phrases, and sentences). The effect is not only intense detail but a kind of depth. At first glance everything appears messy and disorganized yet when you take time to look at each of the separate parts, together they give meaning to the overall message.

Page 19 of Mimi and the Wolves: Act I “The Dream” by Alabaster

Another graphic novel I plan on reading, Mimi and the Wolves: Act I “The Dream” by Alabaster, makes use of layering as well. In this example on page 19, sound effects and speech bubbles are layered over the images to give meaning to the images as well as move the story along. The first half of the page is one thread of the story where one of the characters is focusing his attention on reinforcing a windmill in preparation for a tornado that may or may not come along in the future. The bottom half is another thread where the other characters build on the previous frames, talking about how he should focus his efforts in planting more food while they can.