Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

My final digital comic collage.

Creatively, I was motivated to create an accurate representation of the stereotypical college student in today’s society.  I hope that viewers will find my work as accurate as well as aesthetically pleasing to look at.   As McCloud’s definition outlines, my comic is “juxtaposed pictorials and other images in a deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (McCloud, 9).

When I began this class I was only familiar with the most common form of comics like those in the Sunday paper or Marvel comics.  However, after learning about Lynda Barry’s career, my thought process relating to comics changed drastically.  I’ve taken a previous DTC class and art composition/history classes in the past so I was pretty knowledgeable in regards to the elements and principles of design.  That being said, Lovett’s Design Overview was a really nice refresher.  His overview mostly impacted my work via size and emphasis.

The materials that I scanned and photographed were all very deliberate for one reason or another.  I used the notebook paper background to display two things: light/day and school.  I wanted to keep the school week clean and tidy to acknowledge the tedious upkeep that college students need to maintain in order to receive sufficient grades.  I created the black boxes in the collage digitally, but I wanted them to be uniform to further reinforce the repetitive schedule of the school week.  The materials I scanned and placed within said black boxes were also chosen in order to display the orderliness of the week as a whole.  I purposefully placed only one item in each box because I believe that in order to be a successful student, one must have strong prioritization skills.  I decided to include Sunday in the school week because I think that most students use Sunday to recuperate and get homework done.  I used the fabric from one of my skirts as a background for Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday.  I wanted it to represent the night and the mysterious nature of the dark.  I decided to create the white frames digitally as well, however, I took a messier approach in order to convey chaos.  To preserve that aesthetic, I decided to place multiple items in each box and have them fall outside of the lines that enclose the school week materials.  The materials I scanned from the weekend are supposed to represent events like parties, football games, and going out/getting ready.

I tried to use as few physical words as possible in my comic.  However, the words I did include were supposed to come off as handwritten.  I decided to use size again to create emphasis on some text rather than others.

This was not my first time using Photoshop because I’ve taken a previous DTC class, but I did learn some useful information from the tutorials.  The most helpful tools I gained were definitely in regards to the selection-making process.  In this comic collage, I used the quick selection on my original scans.  I also used brightness/contrast and hue/saturation pretty extensively in order to get the aesthetic I wanted.  Personally, I enjoy composing in a digital environment much more than in a physical environment.  I like that you always have the ability to redo steps which you can’t do in fine arts such as painting.

Choose a single page or 2-spread from Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” that you’d like to discuss in terms of your new design vocabulary. Explain why you think McCloud’s layout is effective in terms of at least three of the elements and/or principles described by John Lovett. Make sure you demonstrate an understanding of both Lovett and McCloud.

Scott McCloud, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, pg 113

Line, arguably one of the more important elements of design, is defined by John Lovett as, “the linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet.” While this definition covers the general idea of what a line is, in art and design line is so much more. Line is the staple, the backbone, of design, as everything could be considered line, whether or not it is intended. The separation between two things is a line, the direction our eyes take when reading through a comic is a line, the perspective of a drawing is covered in invisible lines. These lines can be used to denote a number of

Scott McCloud, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, pg 113

things in comics, for instance, page 113 of Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics.” In this particular section, McCloud is describing the ways in which other artists use lines to represent action, for instance, the act of a car driving quickly past the reader/camera (see close up). The way McCloud uses line in this particular page is useful in that he is discussing how important they are, demonstrating their ability to show us, the reader, action.

Another present element within this particular page is direction. Lovett describes direction as having, “a powerful influence over the atmosphere generated by the work.” In this particular page, McCloud takes the horizontal direction and uses it (coupled with line) to show us where both the car is driving and where he is running. The way McCloud drew the action lines on the horizontal plane suggests that the action is taking place in the horizontal, moving rightward. The idea that the action is moving rightward is also interesting given we generally read from left to right, making movement in the right direction a natural flow from one thing to another. In the last two panels of page 113, McCloud starts of running to the right; the text bubble above (read left to right) is then easily transitioned to the next panel, as it is also going rightward.

Finally, alongside line and direction, McCloud has a good use of gradation throughout this page. Gradation, “size and direction produce linear perspective,” is seen in the way McCloud draws his lines in the last panel. He has drawn himself running rightward, and the action lines he’s drawn go from darker and more packed together on the right to completely gone on the left. This is effective in creating the idea of motion, as the things McCloud is passing by will fade away, given his speed, while the things to the right will be coming toward him into view.

Scott McClouds “Understanding Comics” Uses comic strips to teach readers about how to create them themselves. (Scott McCloud, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, pg 114)

This is a page taken from Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. It is on page 114. This page talks about Subjective Motion, the idea that observing a moving object can be more immersive for the reader. 

I believe that this particular page is effective because it utilizes direction as a design element. John Loveitt says that in every image, there are one of three types of direction. It’s either horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Each direction means something different.

In the frames that McCloud uses to emulate Japanese art, he uses action lines and direction to signify motion. In all of the frames with the motorcycle, it has dominant diagonal motion. The dominant diagonal motion shows that the subject is moving somewhere, and the scene is animated.

McCloud does this to show that Japanese artists put the readers in the action of the comics through movement. It also shows horizontal motion lines. 

McCloud also used repetition in the comic in the bottom left corner of the page. John Lovett says that repetition is only effective if used with variation. The person in the image is stationary, but the lines around him change, to show different ways that the artist can convey motion.

He purposefully breaks the rhythm to draw attention away from the actual subject of the image, and to emphasize how the subject is moving. If each person running was different, then the eye would be drawn to the person instead of the act of movement.

He also changes each repetition slightly to make it so the image still has its interest to it. 

Mccloud also uses difference in value in this comic. John Loveitt describes value as the lightness and darkness in an image.

Where there is more contrast in tone, there is more visual interest.  In the more detailed Japanese section, he shaded the persons face heavily, and added shadows to the motorcycles and ground. This is to signify change from his own style to that of a different time frame and culture.

There is also higher contrast in this section than in the images of himself. It serves to bring the readers eye to the examples rather than the text. This way, there is more emphasis on the way that depth works through visual examples.

Scott McCloud and John Lovett are similar in Many ways when designing a comic or picture. The two artists can make a 2D visual into a new design that the reader can feel on multiple senses.

Google Photo scan of page 99 

McCloud’s book, “understanding Comics,” uses many of the design elements that Lovett discusses in his, “design overview.”

On this page, McCloud describes a difference in panel sequencing. This sequence depicts the durations of the given comic as seen on Lovett’s website as repetition. The repetition of these events allows the reader to decipher the time and space the sequence is moving in. When displaying the two basketball players McCloud uses movement through gradation, a term discussed by Lovett in which the reader’s eyes will move along the given shape until reaching the higher contrast area. In McCloud’s panel the legs lead to the shadow on floor giving the reader the idea that the two players are moving forward. The perspective perceived by the reader is something that only the artist can assist by using the gradation element.

In the panel to the top left the harmony as described by Lovett creates a sense of unity between the several different small icons. Although being different topics, the icons are in a similar proximity allows for another sense of harmony. The dominance of Scott McCloud’s cartoon character brings forth more attention to his character than the icons behind him. This makes the reader read his speech bubble before moving over to the actual images the description Is referring to.

Also, sorry for the google scan I was out of town all weekend.