Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Zine retrieved from Northwest Alternative Comics exhibition (Fall 2016).

Silhouette from Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory

Left page next to plant silhouette from Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory

While searching through the many zines at the art building, I stumbled upon a book called, “Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory.” The books cover intrigued me because it displayed someone pulling a boat while on the backside there was people pulling the same boat, but the opposite way. The book was by Eroyn Franklin, who is a Seattle-based artist who pushes the boundaries of the traditional approaches t0 comics. This Zine was created to narrate her life from being a child to her Adulthood. The pages feature a text on the left and a silhouette on the right. The interesting benefit of doing this in my opinion; added to the depressing story she had told. It seemed pretty dark, but that was because she had pushed herself to be something she really was not. I did not read the whole book, but I read a few pages about her describing her marriage and how it fell apart even from the beginning. She married because of benefits and believed she was in love, when she truly knew deep down that she was not. The Silhouettes displays such a little scene, but still adds such in-depth image to what her texts says. My favorite wording to her story belonged to a page that was about her dying plants in relation to her dying relationship with her husband. Of course, this moment in time was very sad for her, but the way she described the plants in her apartment had me hooked. The succulents and orchids were a symbol of their dying relationship that helped convey that she was really just auto-piloting through the worst of her life. Franklin really displayed her individual voice to me because of her wording as well as her simple yet complex silhouettes.

Image from Jim Woodring – picture taken on 10/22/2019

During my time at the WSU Art Museum Collection Study Center, I got to see many works of art from many different artists and designers. After looking around I came across this large poster image from Jim Woording. This stuck out to me because of the simple use of line and spacing on the work. From what I can see, it looks like the tree is walking and just minding its own business. That is a great use of time shows that the image has a sense of motion to it. It’s an action shot. I feel like it was a good idea not to use words in this because it would take away from what Jim Woording is trying to show the viewer. And I believe he is trying to show the viewer a sense of life and complexity in natural life. His use of lines gives the tree a face and some facial expressions that a normal tree would not normally have. The tree looks like it is crying to me. Overall I really did enjoy my time at the WSU Art Museum Collection and I am glad that I got to see this work of art.

Illustration by Max Clotfelter in the graphic novel ANDROS from 2011, Located in WSU Art Museum Collection Study Center.

This illustration by Max Clotfelter was displayed in the WSU Art Museum Collection Study Center from the Northwest Alternative Comics exhibition. In this image, Clotfelter made me feel sympathy yet relatability to the character in the comic. I interpreted the graphic to be a representation of the bird like figure trying to reach something that appeared to close within reach yet impossible to grasp. The bird is being held back by a leash that is making it impossible to reach the object it is striving for. The first two images show movement of the bird walking forward, so I interpreted that as the figure moving forward towards the food, but the food kept moving as well. The last image is when the bird realizes the resembles between the creature being pulled by a leash and the leash that is holding the bird. The voice that spoke to me about this comic is that the bird had a goal that seemed impossible, but that the lesson learned is that sometimes you can do everything right, but somethings just weren’t meant to happen.

This comic utilizes many concepts that have been discussed in our course so far. An obvious reference is the use of time and space. Time and space are used here because the sequential order of how the events of each illustration occurred is very clear. The image on the left occurred first, and then the image on the right, and then the image on the bottom. This is decided by the authors choice rater than leaving it up for the reader to decide on their own. The relation between images and words are also displayed. The only words in this comic are onomatopoeia’s.  These words help emphasis the exhaustion of the bird and therefore adds emotion to the comic. I would describe the relation between words and images in this comic as picture specific.

During the trip to the fine arts display, I feel like a lot of the pieces of art resonated with me. I think the idea of the pieces being “alternative” and having the descriptions of the artists, really helped me look at the comics in a different light than I would have originally. I think when the pieces are made to be more alternative the artists create a deeper meaning with the pieces they are creating and seem to be a little more personal than a mainstream artists would create.

One piece that really stood out to me throughout the exhibit was Ellen Forney’s pieces. By just looking at the pieces I could tell right away there was a sort of self reflection in her

“Strip Poker” by Ellen Forney

“Sweet and Sexy” by Ellen Forney

artwork. The first piece titled Strip Poker and the second piece Sweet and Sexy seem to tie together in the idea that it seems like an “advertisement” to find men and the other to find woman. It seems like the author is struggling with her sexuality or is struggling mentally on her emotions. Ellen Forney’s voice within these pieces I think speaks very loudly, and that’s what really made it stand out to me. When first looking at these pieces you can see that those works of art speak for themselves in a way. You can tell that there is a deeper meaning to the works than just when you first look at them. After reading through Ellen Forney’s background, it explains that she is struggling with bipolar disorder and that a lot of her artwork shows the journey, struggle, and acceptance she has gone through after being diagnosed with this disorder. This is prevalent in even just these two pieces of work being that she seems confused on exactly what she wants and is making that clear to her audience.

For my blog post, I decided to use Dirtbag by Eroyn Franklin. I decided to use this artwork because it was the first one, I saw on the table that drew my attention. The one reason why that might be it is that my favorite color is blue and when I saw that blue painting on the table, I didn’t care about any other comic and just wanted to see what it was. When I got closer to the artwork, I realized that this was going to be the one that I write about.

Eroyn Franklin Seattle-based artist.

The one thing that caught my eye was the way that the smoke was drawn in the artwork. Since that artwork is mainly blue with a couple of hints of orange in as the people sitting down watching the house on fire, the white of the billowing smoke catches my eye because it blends in with the framing. Now looking at the painting it looks like it was a watercolor painting. Because when you look at the bottom of the painting with the darker blue colors it kind of has that water stain color. Like when you spill water on paper it adds that different texture to the paper and blends colors together. But to be honest it didn’t really look like a watercolor painting but when I looked it up on the internet, I could tell that it was a watercolor. I don’t know if it was the lighting in the room or what, but it didn’t look the same in my picture or while it was in the case compared to what it looked like on the internet.

When I first saw this it instantly reminded me of the movie ‘What’s eating Gilbert Grape’ directed by Lasse Hallstrom. In the movie, the overweight mom dies in her bed and the only way they can get her out of the house would be by a crane. But they don’t want the town to come and make fun of her so instead of her being made fun of while she’s dead. They take everything outside of the house and put it on the lawn and sit together and watch the house burnt to the ground.

Image from “Copy That” Zine by J.R. Williams, published in 2018. Accessed in the MASC at WSU.

This monster-looking creature is created using almost only lines. As McCloud says, this use of lines create emotional and sensual responses in the reader. The lines used by the author in this creation parallel many of the things McCloud says these lines evoke. The spikey lines around the creature can show anxiety or loudness according to McCloud, and I would agree that these are representing the loudness and intensity of the shock that we presume is going through the monster from the lines coming out of the two large objects in the corners. These lines are showing what McCloud would call sour, but I see the intensity of the electricity. The author chose to shade and detail the character through the use of lines and dots, as he does to decorate the edge of the frame and the space around the character which is demonstrated on page 133.

Image from “Crazy Men Deluxe” Comic by Michael Roden in 1985. Accessed in the MASC at WSU.

This image shows how words and pictures can be interdependent through the alternate use of the ‘hole no. 36’ piece. If that was just on its own, while there is no hole 36 in golf unless you are playing multiple rounds, one would assume they were talking about golf. The image contributes to that thought with the characters holding golf clubs, so one could assume this image is referring to golf. However, when the rest of the image is considered, it becomes apparent the author is referring to a black hole in space. The double meaning of a hole, in golf and in space is played with to create a need for the text and images to be displayed together. If the words were not there, it would be confusing as to why the characters were holding golf clubs looking at a black hole in space. These words allow for the double meaning to be clarified and a third message to be conveyed through the interdependency of the words and pictures.

The lines in an image can be made to evoke an emotional response or set a certain tone for a viewer. During my visit at the MASC, I looked at many comic books, but one that stood out to me was a story called the Breaks. In the photographed page, the two guys are breaking into a house because the owners are on vacation. It uses heavy and dark lines to portray anxiety, and high stakes in this situation as they are breaking into a house. 

In comics, text also plays a huge role. Text itself is very effective, however if it’s used the right way with imagery, it can be way more powerful. I spent a while flipping through a comics magazine called Raw. There was a huge variety of images and comic sequences but one page caught my attention in the way that it utilized text and implemented it with images. This page shows a picture-specific relationship between the image and text. The text isn’t a huge part of the page but it gives the images some context that wouldn’t be there without text. The sequence on this page is no doubt image dominant but the text does a good job of adding a little bit of context.