Show and Tell

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Show and Tell

• Scott McCloud
• By Vanessa Marian

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Words and Pictures

• Words and Pictures together are considered at
  best, a diversion for the masses, at worst, a
  product of crass commercialism.
• Words and pictures are constantly struggling to
  convey their messages.
• Combining words and pictures have become quite
  popular through time and this coming together has
  a base or simplistic distinction which has become
  a self fulfilling prophecy.

• Within Cave paintings 15,000 years ago pictures
  acted more as symbols which could be said that it
  was the language of the primitive.
• It was not long though, that pictures began to
  turn into writing and in languages today we can
  still see some signs of the ancient symbols. For
  example Hebrew
• ?? ???? ?? ?????
• Even though in some languages we can still see
  some traces of symbols from the ancient days. In
  the modern day the written word is more
  representative of sound rather then the way the
  word looks.

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• With the creation of printing literature has
  become very important in our world.
• Words within this time of the new printing
  invention were becoming more abstract, more
  specialized, and more, elaborate. They were
  looking less like pictures and pictures were
  actually looking more realistic.
• The distinction between the written word and a
  picture were separating more and more.
• By the time the 1800s came along Western art had
  become about what you could see realism,
  resemblance, and literature had become about all
  that you could not see things hidden, meaning,
  for example philosophy.

• Picture was making its way up. Impressionism for
  example was a culmination of the OLD, the study
  of light and color. Art was then moving around
  in many directions with the rise of cubism,
  surrealism, dada etc
• Meaning in art made its way back and the
  importance of realm ideas was now taking place.
• As with words, it was also changing, it was
  becoming more direct and easier to convey
  meaning, like with picture.
• Artists began to put meaning with words, and
  pictures together. For example the painting done
  by Magritte entitled, Ceci nest pas une pipe.
  This speaks to the relationship of words,
  pictures and reality. The pipe in this picture is
  a representation of reality, and the words on the
  bottom are to help find the meaning behind the
  picture.

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The Modern Comic

• Modern comic was being created just as literature
  and art were changing
• Many comic creators still measure art and
  writing by different standards and act on the
  faith that great art and great writing will
  combine harmoniously by virtue of quality.
• Even though comics have been around for quite
  some time it is still looked at as somewhat of a
  recent invention.
• This is so because comics are constantly looking
  to work in other media. It is always wanting to
  step up. For example the old super hero comics
  are now found in movies, and within the movie
  they are shown in the comic style. Another
  example would be the comics on the web.

• Within the modern comics we find that human
  experience has become very prevalent and through
  this the development of storytelling within
  comics has come about.

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The Combination of Words and Pictures

• There are many ways in which pictures and words
  can be combined within comics, McCloud tells us
  that these ways are unlimited but he tries to
  break them down into seven categories.
• 1. Word Specific- This is when pictures are
  illustrated but the text is more detailed.
• 2. Picture Specific- This is the opposite of the
  above, where pictures are more detailed and there
  are few words to describe what is going on
  therefore making the words seem only as a
  soundtrack.

• 3. Duo-Specific- Words and pictures are working
  together equally to form the story or the point
  being conveyed
• 4. Additive- Where words help to elaborate on the
  picture or the picture helps to elaborate on the
  words.
• 5. Parallel- Here we see the words and the
  pictures going in separate directions. They do
  not intersect it is almost as if they are two
  separate scenes.
• 6. Montage- Words here are seen as an integral
  part of the picture. For example, an outline of
  man that has words filling his body.

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• Having more pictures and fewer words could result
  in an inner more personal monologue or any other
  form of invention that your mind takes you in.
• This combination of words and pictures is all up
  to the creator of the comic.
• How much creativity do you want to leave for the
  readers? What are some ways which will help us to
  decide this?
• Do you believe that the combination of words and
  pictures on a computer screen rather than on a
  piece of paper will make a big difference in the
  way people read, feel, and understand the comics
  that we will be creating for A2?

• 7. Interdependent- This is the most common
  combination where words and pictures work with
  each other, they both play off of one another for
  example, a picture of a woman with a thought
  bubble which explains what she is thinking as we
  see the expression on her face which also allows
  us to feel what she is thinking about.
• This interdependent combination is not always
  equal- At times the more words that are written
  the more our imagination can expand therefore
  allowing the pictures to become more free, this
  is also seen the other way around where there are
  less words and more pictures.

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Relating to the Cyborg Manifesto

• Words and pictures are a representation of
  reality of ourselves, this chapter speaks of the
  many ways in which we go about communicating.
  Communication is a way of representing our
  thoughts and our feelings. McCloud explains to us
  that within comics there is a human experience
  aspect and this in turn is a way of storytelling.
  Because this storytelling has come from human
  experiences it is a representation of our lives.
  In the cyborg world we see ourselves as machines,
  in the comic world we see ourselves as drawings
  and as pictures.

• I feel that seeing ourselves as drawings is very
  similar to seeing ourselves as machines for we
  are being constructed in both situations. In both
  cases there is something controlling us, somewhat
  taking over.