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Homework: Understanding Comics

In our next class we will be transitioning from representing a story in a single image to multiple images; this is often referred to as sequential art or comics.

In our next class, we will continue to work on our Kuleshov project. While we won’t have a project that is specifically geared towards sequential art the ideas in this book will be relevant for all of the future projects we work on. Scott McCloud’s book is also an excellent read and if I did have a required text for this class “Understanding Comics” would be it.

Download the PDF below:

Understanding Comics Chapter 3 and 4

Things to think about

Chapter 3

    • How does closure relate to other time art forms or even our narrative art piece?
      McCloud refers to there being a special alchemy that allows any non-sequentor to make sense how does that relate to the The Three Christs of Ypsilanti? (page 73)
    • McCloud wrote this book in 1993 do you think with the introduction of the Internet and the freedom to show more comics without a publisher that this has changed?
    • Is the similar idea of transitions going from action from action, moment to moment and scene to scene still viable in movies and video games?
    • Remember McClouds example with the drunk driver (page 84) where do you find the balance in your own work?
  • Have you ever experienced a piece of art that makes your brain work too much?

Chapter 4

    • McCloud calls the panel an icon of time are there other icons in other time arts?
    • How do you signify longer changes in time in movies or music?
    • McCloud talks about the difficulty of representing motion in a motionless medium what struggles are there in the other time arts? How do they over come them?
  • What are some other short hand methods or cliques used in time art?