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books2024-06-17 08:18 pm
zenigotchas) wrote in books2024-06-17 08:18 pm
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Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
So into my foray into reading more regularly again I picked this book up last year, read it and loved it, and I loved it so much that this year I will be re-reading it again because it is that helpful. I originally got this book because I wanted to improve my own comics and I finished feeling like I had gotten more than I could ever hoped for.
Understanding Comics is exactly what it says on the tin, learning how the medium of comic books work.
People talk a lot about the importance of media literacy and critical thinking (as they should), but I don't believe the question should be "can you read?" It should be "can you read WELL?" You can read all the books you want but if you don't understand how the medium you're reading works, genres, etc etc.. Then you will never develop critical thinking skills or have much to say about the books you read.
I would say Scott McCloud covers the basics, but I feel that implies one already knows the basics of comics and comics is an barely discussed medium, so if anything he introduces you to an entirely new and exciting world of telling stories with pictures. The book begins with the very history of comics and how they start way before comics were even a thing, going all the way back to ancient history and languages like the Egyptian hieroglyphs! The other chapters/sections I found most interesting where the chapters on gutters (the little borders that hold each panel) as well as the flow of time within each comic panel, it felt like it was both the grammar section and the pacing section for comics, and I do think having a good grasp on grammar/pacing is a cornerstone to a good book.
For an aspiring comic maker, this book does have an entire chapter on the two different types of people who make comics and how they start their projects, I think this is one of the weaker sections but that's more because I'm really not a fan of certain opinions/commentary Scott inserted in there, (but in general I don't think Scott's personal theories on art are the best parts of the book), still I did learn a lot from this chapter as well and would say it's still worth reading for anyone looking to make a comic.
I genuinely think the ability to comprehend comics better also improves your ability to understand single photographs and illustrations, because much of what Scott discusses can be applied to those things as easily as they apply to comic books, such as composition, linework, sound effects, symbols (or as he likes to call them, "icons"), etc. Maybe you could stretch this to also include literacy with film and televisions, I'm not sure though (there are def some key differences between tv and comics even if they are both visual heavy mediums). So even if you're not one for comics, I think you can still benefit from reading this and improve how you analyze images.
Understanding Comics is exactly what it says on the tin, learning how the medium of comic books work.
People talk a lot about the importance of media literacy and critical thinking (as they should), but I don't believe the question should be "can you read?" It should be "can you read WELL?" You can read all the books you want but if you don't understand how the medium you're reading works, genres, etc etc.. Then you will never develop critical thinking skills or have much to say about the books you read.
I would say Scott McCloud covers the basics, but I feel that implies one already knows the basics of comics and comics is an barely discussed medium, so if anything he introduces you to an entirely new and exciting world of telling stories with pictures. The book begins with the very history of comics and how they start way before comics were even a thing, going all the way back to ancient history and languages like the Egyptian hieroglyphs! The other chapters/sections I found most interesting where the chapters on gutters (the little borders that hold each panel) as well as the flow of time within each comic panel, it felt like it was both the grammar section and the pacing section for comics, and I do think having a good grasp on grammar/pacing is a cornerstone to a good book.
For an aspiring comic maker, this book does have an entire chapter on the two different types of people who make comics and how they start their projects, I think this is one of the weaker sections but that's more because I'm really not a fan of certain opinions/commentary Scott inserted in there, (but in general I don't think Scott's personal theories on art are the best parts of the book), still I did learn a lot from this chapter as well and would say it's still worth reading for anyone looking to make a comic.
I genuinely think the ability to comprehend comics better also improves your ability to understand single photographs and illustrations, because much of what Scott discusses can be applied to those things as easily as they apply to comic books, such as composition, linework, sound effects, symbols (or as he likes to call them, "icons"), etc. Maybe you could stretch this to also include literacy with film and televisions, I'm not sure though (there are def some key differences between tv and comics even if they are both visual heavy mediums). So even if you're not one for comics, I think you can still benefit from reading this and improve how you analyze images.