Final thoughts on McCloud
I was really happy with our discussion yesterday and think we covered most of the bases in McCloud's book. What--if anything--would we like to talk in more depth about? Ultimately, did you find the book worth the time we spent on it?
posted by Trevor Dodge @ 10:25 AM
5 Comments:
At 4:13 PM,
Anonymous said…
stephanie...
yes, the book was quite an informative easy read. mostly i took from this book the same ideas that i often apply to or questions i ask myself when i approach art and making. -what are my strongest loyalties and values in art?
i like graphic novels and such, but never really looked further into them other than 'i really am feeling the drawings, lines, paintings, etc...' was i dismissive? perhaps, so it is a new insight, if you will, to comics, 'sequential art', and graphics.
and i must say: although i have been asked to read this book in several other theory classes, this was the first time i actually did read it. -and i got a lot from it. maybe that's due to my being able to actually apply the knowledge gained, for a change, instead of suffering through another T&P class.
At 5:25 PM,
Anonymous said…
Yes!
I think this book is great!
It breaks down every aspect of comic making.
At 7:31 PM,
Anonymous said…
I've always been interested in narrative art, but never really got into graphic novels and comics until very recently. McCloud's book was really helpful and interesting, and brought up ideas that I never would have even thought of when reading/looking at sequential art. I always viewed comics as a sort of bridge between visual art and literature, but never thought much more about them. McCloud has articulated that they're in fact an artform all their own. The fact that the book was very theoretical yet presented in comic form was great and helped further McCloud's point that comics are a valid, respectable, and communicative art form.
At 10:14 PM,
Anonymous said…
Aside from its quality as an informative book, that is, how it developed the readers knowledge of the historical and contemporary context of comics, the book did a good job of revealing a deeper thought process behind comics and by extension, art. McCloud succeeded in explaining his theory behind comics in a way that was both personal and observational of other people's works, without messing it all up by having a one sided view. Comics are something that we all have viewed at one time or another as silly things that pop out of nowhere and never had to endure being well thought out. And while some of them are, (case in point for anyone who reads this or the comics in the newspaper, the one below the crossword in the Oregonian) many of them are not.
What I got most out of this book was a reinforcement of the idea that the comics we see did come from someone, that someone had to think about every little detail, and that there is definently something to appreciate within them.
At 10:35 PM,
Anonymous said…
stephnaie again...
i think the way mark put it is quite eloquent... comics come from someone, -the art, time, thought/idea, dialogue and message. and i agree that this was really what i got from this book. i pay better attention now.
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