Little Nemo In The Palace Of Ice

This week I chose to read Little Nemo In Slumberland by Winsor McCay. The minute I opened the first pages I was engrossed in the color spectrum that was presented to me. Along with the colors some other aspects of the comic that stood out were the composition (how each panel lead my eye through the event) along with the perspective and the scale. Each character has a distinct placement in the scene. They appear as if they have been pasted in, and this style seems to give each character equal importance in any given panel. Winsor McCay, the author has created extravagant environments that I think has stemmed from extensive traveling or intense research. His manipulation of the environments takes the characters on wild journeys that in my eyes would be great to see in a movie.

Winsor McCay while using youthful characters conveys dramatic adult situations that bring excitement to the story. One example was a naval battle at sea.

The characters such as Nemo and his friends are all dressed in extravagant clothes that complement each panels color scheme. McCay must have been influenced greatly by the circus. In the majority of the stories I read, McCay had a ring master character that was rather large. He had his nimble acrobatic female characters and the children always seem to be being guided by a native of the region they are exploring.

I found it interesting that every time Nemo and his friends reach a new environment they encounter a creature that has a suitable creature with corresponding line work. For example Nemo and his friends explore an ice palace and in that palace they meet a monster (Jack Frost) that has the physical appearance of a bunch of icicles. These creatures that appear help to convey the tone of the environment and deepen the world that the characters and I were exploring.

A really neat story telling aspect that I encountered was that Nemo explores his dreams and that at the end of every wondrous journey he wakes up in his bed.

This consistent ending note keeps a running theme that helps to end the journey on a high note. In the future when I go to design a character in my animations I will keep note that McCay has some really neat character designs that I am sure will inspire me while in my design process.

Understanding Comics

As I read Understanding Comics, I felt a sense of security while being taken through the world of comics that Scott McCloud not only writes in, but also lives in. It was as though I was on a museum tour and he was the witty tour guide. The nine chapters that he takes to run through the world of comics are clear and concise.
He starts off with an overview of history and how it relates to comics. He talks about the structure of story telling and how the images are placed in sequence to form a meaning, such as a story. McCloud breaks down the text and the pictures and talks about there history and how they have evolved over time. McCloud has an interesting part that I found was talking about the artists behind the comics and the journey they take to achieve their life long goals, and how there work evolves.
His breakdown of the different stages of the learning process for most artists was clear and concise stating that most artists begin at the 6th Surface level then move on to the 5th Craft, 4th Structure, 3rd Idiom, 2nd Form and finally 1st Idea/ Purpose. This breakdown of the artist’s journey showed understanding of this aspect of the artist and had a subtle inflection of Scott McCloud’s’ journey on his creative path.

As a Computer Animation student, I enjoy watching motion and how the parts of that motion come together as a whole. One of my favorite sections regarded motion lines and there evolution through time and across cultures. Watching the evolution of motion lines from the works of Duchamp when motion lines where being conceptualized to the dynamic high flying actions of Bill Everett and Jack Kirby’s characters, to Japan’s compositional techniques really gave me a good understanding of how motion has been perceived around the world over the last century.
Now that I have finished Understanding Comics and enjoyed it, I think I will investigate Scott McLeod’s’ other books specifically Making Comics to gain some new insights into the world of comics