Comics in general is a medium used for telling stories. And in North American contemporary culture, story has become synonymous with novels, scripts and words in general. But us comic book fans know that is not an accurate assumption. We know that the medium of comics can tell stories completely without the use of words. Comic book artists are first and foremost, story tellers. Utilizing a complex visual vernacular to convey a sense of narrative.* In this new series of articles we will discuss the different styles of art used in comic books.
First question: “Why discuss comic book art more in-depth?” Well, that’s a good question. There’s a few answers to that. One is education. Looking at things from a perspective with which we may not be accustomed tends to shed light on aspects of comics we previously never considered. This usually increases one’s appreciation of the art form. Another reason to roll up our sleeves and delve deeper into comic book art is that it’s not done enough in my opinion. As a whole, fans are generally more concerned with plot and character than the art itself. Or to put it another way, fans are more interested in the content than the container. Personally, dwelling on comic art has opened me up to new things I have learned to love and thankfully, I am much less bound to any one genre or style of comics. In writing these articles I hope to expound on a subject which might have the same effect on you.
Though I have no formal training in art history, I do have a background in graphic design and have a good grasp of basic principles of art. Also, my wife has been a professional fine artist for several years now and by osmosis I have gained a few nuggets of knowledge relating to art in general. No doubt you will disagree with some of the conclusions I draw and will have opinions of your own. And that my friend, is what the comments section is for. I look forward to reading your input. Additionally I will point out that I tend to approach these somewhat academic matters from an ontological point of view rather than an hermeneutical one. That’s fancy talk to say that I prefer trying to define things as they are at their essence rather than how they’ve been used. If you’ve read Scott McCloud‘s brilliant non-fiction comic book about comics (if you haven’t you’re missing out) you’ll recognize my approach is influenced by his. In fact, let’s start with an excerpt of his book.
Click for a larger view. It’s worth a close look.
In this simple graph, McCloud encapsulates all visual possibilities inherent in art. At the bottom left we see reality represented. The further right we move along the bottom the more removed from reality the image is. So that a photograph of a face would be placed in the bottom left corner. But a circle, two dots and line sits at the far right. The meaning is the same but the image is very different. Even further right means an even more drastic change in the image but the meaning of “face” is retained in the lines which make up the letters to spell “face”. The word is a visual system which conveys essentially the same thing as a photograph of a face which is, at it’s essence, still a visual system. McCloud calls this phenomenon “representation”. Though an image may not resemble the thing it represents it can still communicate that thing effectively to the viewer. Moving upwards in our diagram means a move away from meaning towards a stylization or abstraction if you prefer that term. When abstraction occurs, both representation and meaning are reduced. Scott McCloud explains this in “Understanding Comics” in a much less dry and academic manner and goes to hypothesize what this means for comics. I recommend you read his book as it is an important achievement for comics.
I write this overview as an introduction for this series of articles in an effort to demonstrate how comic book art – and art in general – are not bound to one particular style or genre. In McCloud’s framework it is essentially forbidden to say “That’s not art! It doesn’t even look like a face!” or “That’s not art! It doesn’t look like anything!”. Bearing in mind that tastes and opinions differ but ultimately do not affect what is on the page has helped me gain more mental agility when viewing art and reviewing comic books. Here’s hoping you will also gain something from this.
In upcoming articles we will delve deeper into specific styles and genres of comic book art, their identifying traits, who has used these styles in the past and what it all mean for comics.
Bye for now!
Great Article
