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A page from Scott McCloud’s Novel. “Understanding Comics” where he begins an introductory to what comics are and their importance. (Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, HarperPerennial, 1994, pg 4)

Beginning in chapter one of Scott McCloud’s novel, we are introduced to the broad scope of comics we recognize that are depicted on panels of an enormous globe. As McCloud brings into question what exactly a comic is, in a design perspective this panel is extremely effective in communicating and highlighting the main topic of comics. The sheer size of the globe completely engulfs the page towering from the top to the bottom. We understand that this representation of graphic novels is the key importance of McCloud’s message. Even the shape as a globe further enhances the idea that world of comics is extraordinarily vast and the variation in the repetition of panels feature the diversity McCloud exclaimed. In addition, the contrast in size of McCloud’s character and the globe attributes directly to John Lovett’s design overview in that the globe (or icon of comics) is the center of interest. Furthermore, it is interesting that McCloud often chooses a plain black background to develop this stark contrast.

A page from Scott McCloud’s novel, “Understanding Comics” where he elaborates on the perspective we live in. (Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, HarperPerennial, 1994, pg 34)

On another page, we see the explicit use of the black background as McCloud explains the idea that our faces are akin to a perpetually outward facing mask. Against the black background, McCloud’s character contrasts in tone as a light icon in a dark space. Again, he and the mask poses as the center of interest; however, the focus shifts more to this mask that seems as if it is being placed on our faces as it encroaches closer and closer. . This is achieved through the gradation of the mask and the placement of “shadows” to portray a sense of movement which Lovett elaborates as an effect that causes our eyes to move with the shape. In conjunction to this observation, McCloud places this lens on us and asks of us to have some introspection of this very existent yet ingrained perspective. We can also identify it as a mask because of the texture drawn on with gradation to have a resemblance to a face.

The layout of this page of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics is an effective design specifically in shape, value, and size. My initial impression of the page is that is very balanced, especially in terms of the icon placements. The locations of each image make the page overall symmetrical. The shapes of each image, although are not directly symmetrical in terms of horizontal location, still remain very balances. For example, the man in the top left and the two-panel comic in the bottom right are in completely different corners of the page but seem to balance each other out due to square/rectangular shape that they both have. Also, the planet and stop sign, although not directly in-line horizontally, seem to balance each other out because of the round nature of both images. This page our of the book also explores different types of values in terms of the darkness and lightness of images from the shading. The man in the top left is drawn with light strokes and carries a lot of depth to it whereas the smiley face at the bottom is just black and white, with a more 2-dimensional appearance to it. The size of all the images is relatively the same besides the images in the middle top. I appreciated this aspect of using some different sizes of imagery because it added some more contrast to the page while still keeping the page balanced. I think if only one image took the place for the three at the top, the page would look a little bit too balanced. The fact that there are more icons concentrated at the top is something that drew my eye but it wasn’t that much of a distraction.

Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” page 120.

McCloud and Lovett both create works that have similar message styles that enact multiple elements of design. They use 2D visuals to create something that readers can feel in multiple or all of the senses. McCloud uses many design elements that Lovett discusses in “Design Overview”, and there are examples of these on page 210 in Understanding Comics.

Page 210 does not use the traditional comic boxes, formed by lines that create the shape of a box. The images and shapes are freely placed around the page. He uses value in the solid black arrows to draw your eyes in the way he wants them to flow on the page. McCloud uses lines also to indicate the swirling motion of all of these ideas of comics in Japan, which was below and the arrow points to after the North America and Europe puzzle pieces fit together in the history of comics. There are speech bubbles, but less than the majority of his pages usually have, so therefore the images stand out even more.

The images on this page have repetition in the sense that the majority of them are in boxes, besides the little man and the comic book who are meant to break that pattern. This makes the authors intention of characters being very important to the overall comic with the other components still important, but not as major. There is harmony on the page where all the images are in a circle with the movement indicated behind them, with the image of Japan in the center. The images have unity about them in the sense that they are all components of a comic. The images are not textured in their physical sense, but the value shows the reader what they would feel like if you could touch them.

Design elements and principles are the basics that make up what art and design are. Included in this is comics, or Graphics Novels, such as our class readings, “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud. As an artist, Scott McCloud is very intentional in the way in which he creates the images to portray exactly what he wants. He does this by using design elements and principle, which can individually be defined by John Lovett. Lovett, describing what each of the elements and principle look like and how they intertwine with one another.

In Understanding Comics, each and every page can be analyzed and contains at least 1 design principle or element, but most likely has many more, as design principles are used in terms of elements. To keep it simple, I will analyze “Understanding Comics,” paged 118-119. As this is the beginning of the chapter, McCloud poses the question of “can emotions be made visible?” He then goes on to illustrate many panels of sketches that show specific emotions that are done so by combining elements and principles in an intentional way.

Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”, 118-119.

The first design element that I will point out is shape. Shape is shown on pages 118 and 119  in multiple ways. Each panel shows a different shape, as McCloud is suggesting emotions that go along with them. The one that stands out to me is the bottom, right panel on page 119. This would be considered an abstract shape. This, as McCloud suggests might provoke the emotion of anxiety, which goes along with Lovett, as he states in the reading that a shape like this might stand for ‘dangerous’, ‘unpredictable’, or ‘aggressive’

I will now look at the design principle of contrast. Simply put, Lovett states that contrast “is the juxtaposition of opposing elements,” such as color (orange and blue), texture (smooth and rough), etc. This is shown in Understanding Comics by the way in which McCloud uses all black and white (tonal difference) to make his work stand out and easily understandable.

Finally, I will look at the design principle of dominance, otherwise known to me as ‘emphasis’ or ‘hierarchy.’ Explained by Lovett, Dominance is created by intentionally using elements such as line, direction, color, texture, etc. in a way to create a focal point or sense of hierarchy. On page 119, McCloud creates a panel filled with a spiral/radial shape. The way in which McCloud places this spiral panel in the center of the page, with a fairly larch panel size makes it a focal point in the spread, the eye goes straight to it.

Each of these design elements and principles build the foundations of what we know as art. It also provides foundations for the artists of graphic novels to build upon to provoke emotion in their juxtaposed sequences.

“Understanding Comics” Scott McCloud. page 112-113

John Lovett has mentioned principles that are always used to make a good design effectively. Artist may use these rules without even realize it as they are simply pleased the audience’s eyes naturally through out the history. The part that I want to point on in “Understand Comics” that use these principle are page 112 and 113.

In here he describe how do comic artists draw when they want to simulate movement. Firstly, most of the technique use lines to demonstrate the images of the object where it has moved through.Because the lines are not connected opposite to clear line of a solid and steady object. This create the effect that the object is moving really fast that we can see multiple of them at once. The lines in here is used effectively and we can see this in most of the comics nowadays.

The second principle that McCLoud uses is shape. McCloud or the main character in this book is seen in almost every pages as the narrator. Although his shape is far from a real human, it still remain the basic shape of a person that we can perceive him as a person. For instance, his proportion is not ideal, the glasses cover his eyes and every details is simplified in general. The shapes are used is good enough to tell us what is he doing, what is trying to show us or even his emotion through out the book.

Finally, value is also used in here and it even get more effective when the comic is in gray scale. In 112, there is a image that he runs leaving the shadow behind him. When the latest image is clear, the one behind is lighter and less dark. This demonstrates the light images are just the past so that they are blurry and light. In contrast to the car in 113. The scenery is dark and clear but the car is kinda gray to demonstrate the pedestrian point of view when the thing is moving fast for them is the car.

Overall, I believe McCloud use more than just the 3 principles I mentioned. The rules that John point out are universal that every great artists use if they want to tell the story more lively.

McCloud’s layout, in Understanding Comics, is effective in terms of the elements described by John Lovett. In McCloud’s novel, pages 52 and 53 show an abundance of design features that Lovett defines. The most obvious elements being line, direction, and value.

On page 52, the design element of a line is used is many different forms. One type of line that can be found on this page is a line that can create other elements. This is shown by the triangle that is made in the center of page 52 and page 53. This line created a shape which holds other design elements inside. Another type f line on this page is a boundary line. On the outer left side of the triangle on page 52, there is a drawing of an eye that implies a contrast to the triangle. These two shapes rely on each other because half of the eye is portrayed to be behind the triangle from the readers perspective.

Page 52 also displays the design element of direction. The lines that formed the triangle are positioned on the page in a perspective that represents a pyramid. The pyramid is formed using direction both vertically and horizontally. The dominant direction of the pyramid is vertical which catches the readers eye and influences the atmosphere generated by the artwork.

Value is an element of design that utilizes the lightness and darkness of an object to direct attention where the author wants the reader to be drawn to. Value is sometimes referred to as tone and it is crucial to comics such as McCloud’s that are colorless. Pages 532 and 53 use tone in the drawings of the characters inside the pyramid to highlight facial features and characteristics. The darker toning catches the readers attention while maintaining a relative tonal relationship with the rest of the text on the page.