"Comics is a medium of fragments -- a piece of text here, a cropped picture there -- but when it works, your readers will combine those fragments as they read and experience your story as a continuous whole" (129).

This week I finished up Scott McCloud's Making Comics and started on his other book Reinventing Comics.

Making Comics

Character Art

McCloud and his enjoyment of list making was ever present as I continued my reading. For your character art you must keep the following in mind :
1. character design (and character design needs an inner life, visual distinction, and expressive traits)
2. facial expressions
3. body language

The most important and least understood, according to McCloud, is the inner life of the character. It's important to understand at least the basics of your characters back story and how they came to be the person they are. Knowing this can help you to understand their motivation and how they will react to their surroundings.

"These [back stories] don't have to be too elaborate, especially for minor characters. In fact, obsessing too much over such minor details is a classic beginner's mistake. But be on the lookout for factors that color your characters' everyday outlooks, help or hinder their understanding of others and influence their actions" (65).

An interesting thing he pointed out was how he gave specific traits from Jungian theory to his main characters in his comic book series Zot. I immediately thought of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (which I've done for fun and for a couple classes), which was created from Jungian theory. I had never really thought about this test in relation to creating characters though I can see now how this would be a really interesting way to approach characterization in writing. The reason I've been asked to take this test in class was to give myself a better understanding of my preferred method of approaching things and as a way to understand those who differ on approaches... and basically how to recognize the things I would need in a work situation so that I can maintain my sanity. It was also information that could potentially help me to identify and describe strengths and weaknesses.

This reasoning could relate very well to the creation of characters. By knowing or assigning a type you can better flesh out your characters wants and actions/reactions... while also using that to contrast to other characters/types and to try to understand the effects of character interaction.

Something else that can be used effectively in the planning of characters are archetypes. Archetypes are used frequently in writing but they are useful because of the instant recognition of these characters when readers are presented with them (McCloud's example was of characters like Dumbledore from Harry Potter, Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, and Obi Wan from Star Wars).

Next he discusses the importance of variation in the art for your characters. This is an essential part of the creative process... because no one wants to read about or look at the same character throughout your work (boooring!).

"[W]hether you plan to the last detail or prefer to wing it, your goal should be the same -- to figure out what makes each character unique and to put those qualities front and center" (77).

He talks about some questions artists should be asking themselves as far as whether your characters are too cookie cutter or not. Are your characters all the same height when lined up? Do you keep drawing the same nose and upper lip over and over? Is every woman you draw the same build?

Not that I can really talk since I am unable to draw a straight line... But there are some comic artists I'd love to send these pages to. I have already complained here about the content of Marvel Divas but the art was also an issue.


Cough cough, same body type. Cough!

Moving on. Another thing he mentioned was using stereotypes in comics. He said that they could be used to your advantage (and they can) but he also mentioned contradicting them and punching holes in them (yes, please).

The unifying message for the section regarding art seemed to be to research and come to a greater understanding of the complicated processes involved in human anatomy and movement so that you can make more simplistic decisions regarding them. Most of what comics do effectively as far as character art goes is the result of invisible decisions made by the author and artist. Things like facial expressions, gestures, inner life, and symbols are all crucially important to the readers understanding of the content and all aspects must be considered carefully in order to be utilized as effectively as possible.

"Just remember that in any comics panel, it's the message of your character's gesture that readers will be waiting for, and the first job of figure drawing is to deliver that message loud and clear" (115).

Environment/Setting and Tools

"Want to know the secret of drawing great backgrounds? Don't think of them as 'backgrounds!' These are environments. The places your characters exist within -- not just backdrops to throw behind them as an afterthought" (178).

The environment of your story is yet another important thing to consider. This is what will draw your reader more firmly into your world (and keep them coming back for more). In general the effort of making a detailed setting for your characters is worth the effort. It's challenging to do but important and McCloud offered up the tip of making sure you do your research (which a lot of people leave out of their process). Not only is it easy to use the web for reference but he also suggests going to locations near you to take pictures, sketch, and become fully immersed in. It's like Alan Moore said about character development -- go see the real thing sometime.

There are cases where your art won't need to be as detailed like in emotionally driven stories, but ones that create new worlds should absolutely be detailed if you want your readers to understand what's going on. He mentioned scifi as one of those genres where art should be detailed and from a readers perspective I couldn't agree more. I love scifi related movies and TV shows but I rarely read scifi novels because I often have trouble visualizing some of the things the author talks about.

As far as tools go, McCloud talks about some of the various art tools and the benefit/downside of each. He also discusses the differences between online and print work and how the art differs there. Price and preference dictate how most tools are used and how work is produced.

"Serious comics have been drawn using simple tools before (Maus was drawn with a fountain pen, much of it on ordinary typing paper)" (189).

The Infinite Potential for Comics and the Manga Revolution

"For decades, each generation of comics creators has dug a little deeper into the emotional lives of their characters. Digging deeper still could be one of the ways that future generations of creators will define themselves" (121).

McCloud talks extensively about the potential comics have for evolution. Most interesting to me was a discussion on how manga has influenced a new generation of American artists. Something I never realized that he points out is the audience participation involved in manga. Scenes are set up at different angles, movement is shown around still characters (to suck the reader into the action), and -- on the other hand -- expressions and emotions are focused on rather than action (to suck readers into the emotion of the experience). Moves like these contribute to bringing the reader more firmly into the action and a lot of these things weren't being done in American comics years ago.

I never really thought of this aspect of manga before but it makes me wonder now if the audience participation aspect wasn't what drew me to it. When I was young (11-12ish) I read American comics for a year or two before discovering manga and becoming obsessed with it and reading nothing but Japanese comics up until college. Of course, I still can't say for sure why I turned away from American comics for so long, but it's interesting to now be able to recognize what one of the probable draws of manga was for me.

The end of this book made me think of the possibilities for comics evolution. McCloud points out that the next generation of comics artists and authors are likely to be people who grew up enjoying manga. It is intensely interesting to think of how concepts from manga could be incorporated into American comics.

Final thoughts from Making Comics?

"In short: discovering your own 'style' is a deeply personal process which can take years -- and it can't be taught in a book" (217).

Reinventing Comics

In the sections of the book I've read so far McCloud has been discussing the hopes for comic books in the 90s (and the dashing of those hopes) and the potential for comics in the future. He talks about those of us who are drawn to comics and what they can do, and those who still debate what category comics fall under. There is also history on what has happened to comic writers and artists in the past and the lopsided agreements some were forced to sign that gave them meager rights to their own creations.

Comic books have a pretty turbulent past and have had to reinvent themselves to survive. This reinvention is essential though and not only for survival. As Moore said about not letting your creativity stagnate in the familiar... Don't let comics stagnate in the same formula and content that it has always contained.

So What?

The future of comics was on my mind as I finished my reading this week. McCloud mentioned the influence of manga on future comics and it made me think of the popularity of manga in the US. It has gone from having a couple shelves at major book stores to having full aisles of its own. In fact, there is more space for manga than there is for American comics. There is also representation of manga in comic stores.

I think American comics are steadily evolving and becoming more respected (though they still have some way to go). As this continues in the years to come I wonder about what direction comic book publishing companies will take and how I could potentially be part of the changes that will come. My generation and the ones that follow could make comics bigger than they've ever been in this country and this trend already seems to be in motion when graphic novels like Maus are being placed in the biography section of major bookstores.