Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

I created nearly identical comics in two forms. One that was hand-drawn and one that was done digitally. For my comics, I decided to tell the story of my move to Washington State from my home in California. After presenting my comic to the class on Friday of last week, I became aware of the fact that I was not very descriptive to where I was moving to. I was relying on my peer’s knowledge, and outside of my class, this would not make sense. The difference between my hand-drawn comic and my digital one is that I added what I was doing/where I was going. The difference between these two is that with the digital one I was able to quickly make changes and adapt my new text to my story. With the paper one, I would have had to erase and rework my comic which would not have been so easy. I think this was one benefit of making my comic digital. However, I liked that with hand-drawing it gave my comic more of a personal feel as I was writing a personal narrative with my own illustrations. 

I have not come across any differences between reading my comics online and on paper, but I imagine that others might come across problems where their comic might become out of order if it is posted online in separate panels. 

Reading Scott’s McCloud’s book helped me understand though that not all comics have to be separate panels that read left to right. The book mentions hieroglyphics that were illustrated to be read in a zig-zag pattern. I did not use this in either of my comics but it made me think about the many possibilities I have for the rest of the semester that I can use for my upcoming projects.

When I was working on the hand-drawn comic I used several references in my editor screen and of images online. Although I was following those guidelines I felt free to change the look how I wanted it as I went. This was the hardest transition to get a hod of when jumping to the digital comic. I do not yet have the proficiency in Photoshop to feel as comfortable as I do in physical hand-drawn art. I started making the digital comic by trying to recreate my hand-drawn in photo editing software. Although I just tried to use those images that I had referenced the image looked detached and bland in comparison to my drawing by hand. Instead of using Photoshop I tried to move the project to Sketchpad because I had worked with that previously and it has a simpler design that doesn’t overwhelm me, but the process was similar. I instead opted to do this comic:

Because I had to add words to improve my previous comic anyway. Although I couldn’t do what I had truly wanted to in the beginning I am still happy with this result because it is a lot cleaner then my original try. Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics changed what I was going to do because I originally wasn’t going to add words to my comics, but I understand that sometimes words are necessary even if I don’t require them to interpret my own comics. This lack of words can be seen in the convoluted tangent my first comic is in.

I can’t wait until I understand the intricacies in Photoshop so that I am comfortable to make more detailed and unique projects in my vision. I want to make a really cool story-based comic this semester because those are the ones that I am most used to seeing and consuming.

When we were tasked with creating a comic, I was nervous at first as it was something that I had never done. However as I worked I found it much easier and the flow of ideas came out much more naturally. Creating a comic on paper was much more approachable as I knew what I was able to do and could write and draw what I wanted. However I was limited by the tools and materials that I had on me. But I was also limited by my own ability to draw and make good panels. My own skill set was also a limiting factor when it came to the print comic. The digital one however had all the tools that I needed right from the start. The problem however was having the knowledge to effectively use them. It felt as if I was slightly more restricted when creating the digital comic as It was digital and I couldn’t just use a pencil to correct mistakes. After reading the first chapter of the book I was able to create a more unique comic. My digital comic was originally going to be in a sequential order but after reading chapter 1 I ditched that idea entirely. Instead I went more with a comic that was just a series of random panels all related by a topic, that topic being me.

I really enjoyed this project because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I do not have much experience drawing on paper and so working on that had a bit more drawbacks for me than on a digital program. One of those drawbacks for me was the fact that I only had the colors that were in my pencil pouch. This only allowed me to add simple colors. One thing that I felt was a benefit of drawing on paper was that it allowed me to work more on my skills as an artist. I felt that digitally I was more successful because I have a lot more experience with using adobe draw. One drawback could be that I often get too worried about it being perfect on a digital platform because I am more experienced in that. However, with a paper and pencil comic, I was able to be free and more creative without worrying about the perfection of the comic.

As for the presentation and reading of the comic, I feel that since I tend to draw better digitally there is more chance of the reader being able to understand what is happening in the comic. From the reading in understanding comics, I got more of the idea that a comic is not just flashes of drawings. There are multiple frames that come together to create a story. Therefore, when I was doing my digital comic, I tried to tell more of a story through multiple frames. Another thing that I got from reading chapters 1&2 was that there are many ways of organizing a comic. When I was doing my hand-drawn comic, I put all four frames right next to each other and all the frames were the same size. After reading the chapters, I did my best to organize my comic in a way that was still readable but more creative in the placement and size of the frames.

By comparing and contrasting my experiences of making a comic by hand versus using a digital tool can best be described as easy versus difficult. By creating art work by hand, it’s much easier thinking and drawing simultaneously, rather than creating on an electrical device where you are limited by using certain digital tools. I personally am not a very techno-savvy individual, therefore creating an image wasn’t as easy for me as it was creating it by hand. A benefit of hand-drawing art work is that you can always add to it, however once electrical art is printed out or downloaded, you are unable to add little details that you think of later.

The difference between reading comics on a screen as opposed to paper, is its tangible aspects. I like reading out of hard-copy books rather than blue-light screens; for me personally, I enjoy reading books out of hand and watching videos on screens. For comics, I think it is easier to follow and understand when the images are on paper because it’s more interesting, colorful and personable. Reading the first chapter of Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” relates to my feelings about comics on paper. I enjoyed following along and flipping through the book because it made the experience of reading the first chapter more interesting to read the rest of the book. Reading through the book did not give me any ideas for my digital comic because I had already completed the assignment. However, McCloud’s first chapter, did give me ideas for the next assignment DTC requires.

After a lot of thought, I finally came up with two comics that I thought would help illustrate myself; one was hand drawn while the other was digitally made. The hand drawn one has six images that represent the things I love and what I like to do. For example, I am extremely happy for the invention of phones which help make communication simpler and faster, such that my friends and I could go on our spontaneous trip to Seattle. On the other hand, my digital comic illustrates one of my favorite memories, in which I got to go hiking and saw the Milky Way and shooting stars for the first time in my life.

When it came time to making a comic, both hand-drawn and digital have their own advantages and disadvantages. On paper, a comic reveals the makers emphasis on certain aspects of the image/s. This is seen through shading which further helps to show the depth of an image, the colors, the handwriting, and more. My hand drawn comic helps to demonstrate some of these elements. The shading allowed me to emphasize certain parts of the image in comparison to others. For example, the Space Needle is shaded darker to help draw the readers eyes towards it. I made it darker so that readers can, hopefully, draw a conclusion as to the city being Seattle. Furthermore, hand drawn is easier to create certain images as it is not just pixels. So, circular things are easier drawn than used on a computer. This can be seen in my comic with all the rounded things: cars, pig, sun, etc. However, there are fewer circular objects in my digital comic.

My digital comic contains stick figures, a fairly straight mountain, stars, and other more linear things. This is because I found it harder to create circular objects on Photoshop. However, digital comics do have their advantages. Unlike hand-drawn comics, digital comics can be images that are drawn once and copied with slight alterations which make the comic flow better. Furthermore, there are certain paint brushes, on Photoshop, that helped make it easier to draw the stars. Not only that, computers allow the maker to have certain fonts and change sizes of texts easily which give the comic more depth.

When it comes to reading the comic, it feels more personal to read something that is hand-drawn or on paper than on the computer. For me, this is because the paper gives the image a different feel than a computer screen does. For example, when reading “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud, it felt like the main character was more developed than that on a computer screen.

The book itself was very fascinating, however, it did not help me much with picking an idea for my comic as I could not really relate all that much to what he was saying.