Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Our book Graphic Design: The New Basics by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips talk about how scale is relative and a motion, among the others as well. I feel this comic from

Action Comics No. 1 June 1938, Superman!

Superman, found in Action Comics No. 1 June 1938, utilizes these two ideas well.

 
Let us start with motion. Looking at the placement of the car we can infer its moving. In fact, our eyes might just move between the top three photos rather quickly, due to the lack of words. But this allows us to see the scale in which superman is exerting his strength of the massive car and moving it in the photos. It helps we are familiar with the build of man and typical size of cars, making it easier for the reader to interpret the story.

In the second frame the car looks relatively larger because the cropping of this does not let us see the whole far but frames most of it. Leading us to think it is closer to us and larger. This can also be said for when we compare the car to Superman himself, he is a slightly above average male size, and the car is much larger than himself. We are also left guessing in the bottom right frame, where the barn is very small and Superman and Butch and “normal” sized as they climb up the power line pole.

Framing

I found the short comic above while researching the importance of framing in comics. I absolutely love this comic as it highlights the importance and significance frames add to an image. The frames in the comic above are fairly standard until the last panel in which their are actually two frames. The comic is illustrated to portray the message that no matter what lies inside the frame, the simple act of framing emboldens whatever is housed within. I like this comic because it also emphasis the dedication illustrators put in to their work. No frame is wasted or unnecessary as each one should serve to capture a moment.

While researching I came across the notion of rhetorical frames which is a technique of framing which scales the image to the frame. Rhetorical framing allows the reader to see exactly what the illustrator wants them too. If the comic were to end without the last panel we may not even notice the broken frame lying at the bottom right hand corner of panel two. Rhetorical framing allows the reader the opportunity to witness each every important action in a sequence of events from start to finish.

The last page of, The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore and Illustrated by Brian Bolland

The last page of Alan Moore’s, The Killing Joke is an excellent portrayal of how points and lines can serve to not only add to the depth of field, but they can also demonstrate volume, sound, and mood. The last three panels demonstrate the complex images simple point and lines can create.

The lines angling downward are an indication of rain. As readers, we know the rain is falling downwards because the artist intentionally added a heavier point to the end of the line. Concentric circles roll out from these points to indicate the splatter of rain upon the city’s streets. These concentric circles appear to be larger and more concentrated near the bottom of the page as opposed to the circles near the top. This technique places the falling rain on a plane which further adds to the image’s depth of field. 

The circles also indicate the volume of the rain and the coinciding sounds and moods which accompany it. For example, rather than adding more lines to panels to indicate more rain, the illustrator clever portrayed the water as pooling up enough to make visible drips further adding to this story’s poignant ending.

Iron Man #86, Page 12,Written by Mark Ricketts and Pat Lee

In this page of Iron Man, the artist does not use a full page bleed.  He uses the negative space to imply the different frames.  The two frames with the board members are different sizes to portray different things.  In the top frame we can see the entire body so that the full effect of the lighting is seen.  The middle frame zoomed into the board’s faces.  The scaled up and enlarged so that they emotions on the faces is more visible.  Ironman and his lighting break the frames to help show that they are involved in and affecting all of them.

Lynda Barry’s book What it is. Page 158

the I chose this Image from Lynda Barry’s What It Is, is because the use of scale here is interesting, with the octopus figure to the tree is clearly not proportional. In real life the tree is usually larger than an octopus. Referring back to Graphic design: The New Basics talks about objective and subjective scale. in this particular page I believe that this would categorize under subjective scale because we understand that usually letters are not supposed to be as big as a tree or a tree is not supposed to be smaller then a octopus. I think that the point of this type of scale is supposed to create emphasis on certain parts of the piece and create a path that your eye follows. in this piece first my eye looks at the two brightest things on the page, which is the yellow block that contains the letters, tree, and octopus. and from there the choice of scale draws you to look at the waves and the person figure beneath them, then finally the small letters that inside this person or at the top of the page. it is intended to make you look at the images and then the text. in this particular image there is not a lot of objective scale, because nothing is really the size that it is supposed to be, the only thing that might be considered objective scale is the words at the top of the page inside what looks like to be lined paper. something else that I notice in this image is that there are words inside the waves, with the choice of these words to be small and in the shape of the wave it suggests that the author wants you to engage in the image behind the words because they are shaped like a wave.