Understanding Comics 5-9

In chapter 5 McCloud explains the idea of synaesthetics. He explains that the main goal is to unite the 5 senses and portray a certain feeling. The examples given on pages 118-120 best describe the idea of synaesthetics. For instance, the sight of short, sharp, jagged lines may cause the reader to get a sense of anxiety. This technique is used to help the readers gain a better understanding and become more engaged in the text.
In chapter 6 we learn about the importance of pictures and words. Pictures alone were becoming more representational and specific while words were being separated and becoming more abstract and elaborate. Pictures and words were slowly becoming enemies instead of sidekicks until Rodolphe Toepffer who brought the "family" back together.

In chapter 7 McCloud eplains that our species main goal is to reproduce and survive but that does not mean that our every thought at every second is focused on those two things. Art and other visual literature is incorporated into our lives for "greater survival." Page 164-165 gives a good example of this idea. The prehistoric man strives to reproduce then changes to survival when he is being chased by a predator. When he escapes the predator he sticks his tongue out and mocks him which is artful and in no way related to human instincts.




This picture is explaining the fact that survival is simply that without art. There is no reason to survive without visual literature or art in some form. 

The six steps of creativity may aid in the understanding of an artists brain. First comes an idea or purpose which simply means that the artist now has the content of his art in mind. The second step is form (how the artist will contain the content). The third step is idiom. Every piece of art belong to a genre or is a genre all on its own. The fourth step is structure, in other terms, how to compose the content. In the fifth step, craft, the artist is applying what he knows to get the job done. The final step, surface is referring to the "superficial exposure" of the work. In other terms, what the audience will first notice.

Color was timidly introduced into the world of comics by commerce and technology. Color only adds to the idea of synaesthetics, making the reader feel a certain way. Just as shapes and styles add to the emotion of a story, color does as well. There is a good example of how color affects the readers on page 187. The three men reading comics at a bus stop and the one reading the colored comic is more intrigued and immersed into the world of the comic.



every artist has their own opinion.    

Color gives the art a more 3D effect and come off to the reader as more realistic which draws them in toward the world of the comic, however, comics will never be completely replaced with color.

Comics are powerful because they are able to defy the inability that humans have to make others feel the same as they do. This is well explain on pages 194-195. To put it simply, comics have the power to make you understand. Comics have an incredible amount of potential because of everything that McCloud has previously talked about. Iconography, closure, style, simplicity, and the combination of words and pictures are what make comics powerful enough to achieve understanding. Since the beginning of comics, readers have been able to be more and more immersed in the stories because of the constantly increasing simplicity in the cartoons as seen on page 204. In terms of animation, through expressionism and synaesthetics the seed of the invisible is planted. This is where closure comes into play.
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