McCloud grew on me this week--apart from him continuously making me question the larger questions of life like time and space, space and time, etc. I did find myself reading to read and accept that I needed to take the reading slow to give it the attention it deserves--this didn't come easy for me so I decided to look for more outside examples that utilize the same ideas that McCloud uses in Chapters four and five.
The themes of panelling and boarders indicating timing and spacing is incredibly useful--especially going into the e-poster project. The poster we observed in class was quite text heavy ad didn't offer many visuals, but you still knew how to read it in the way it was intended. McCloud acknowledges that this wasn't by accident--planning was done. Each designer, artist, and author utilize concepts McCloud shares. I think the purpose of the text is to explain comics by giving it form and a shared vocabulary to use to discuss many of the concepts people surrounding the community of comics already understand. Comics, like many different types of communicating and storytelling, don't really know how to define themselves while determining what also makes themselves unique. We know how to read the comic strip to the left because there is some form and structure to this genre that we innately understand.
McCloud works to uncover the exploration of visual design--but it's also meant to inform you about other forms of communication that utilize many of the same concepts. McCloud says," The most bland 'expressionless' lines on earth can't help but characterize their subject in some way" (125). Similarly, architects use lines for structural reasons and manipulate it in ways for its users to be guided through the building-- but they also play with it in ways that have "expressive potential" (124).
"Can emotions be made visible?" (118).
I think these ideas of visual representation is fascinating. It's really helpful going to outside sources to understand these ideas on a broader spectrum of design and art. In my search for other sources using line and space, I came across this really weird/awesome ballet dance that captured the line sequencing of the dancer's movements! After watching this, even though the video isn't operating within bordered panels it's still communicating lines of emotion that are visible.
Really great work with the visuals in this post! I think they added a lot to your argument. A point that you brought up that I thought was really interesting is how with comics, though the formatting and layout might be confusing we still have an understanding of it as readers. We recognize the genre and what it sets out to do, and as readers we tend to know enough to figure out things we're not super familiar with. I think the same can be said about visual art, humans have a sort of innate understanding of how art works and can usually decipher meaning from what they already know. And thought there's often debate about 'modern art' and what it really means, there's always more to it than just scribbles or abstract sculptures. I really liked the McCloud quote you use about how even the blandest sentence can characterize the subject in some way. I think the same can be said about modern art, just some simple lines and colors can say something with very little.
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