The Comic Strip

After reading some of Winsor McCay's comic strips including Little Nemo and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, I can say that I found it incredibly insightful.  It's interesting how these strips capture the time period in regards to the style and the text.  It's also cool to see the difference between Little Nemo and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend when taking a look at things like the art style and inclusion of color.   They are both fairly realistic when it comes to style, though both seem to favor having the classic black button like eyes.  This, however, doesn't mean the characters are not expressive.  Winsor McCay does a great job with drawing emotions on characters that help amplify the reading experience.  I also like his line quality a lot as it comes off as a bit sketchy.  It's not messy but it looks like it was drawn pretty quickly, this is especially true for his Dream of the Rarebit Fiend comic.

These comics are like a time capsule for what the world was like and how art was perceived back then.  The problems and situations as well as the dialog pulls you into this world.  The art style even reflects the art of the time period, as this is the type of work one would think of when asked about early 1900s comics.  It's interesting to see how comics have evolved as time goes on, especially when you compare Little Nemo to something like Archie, which is still around today.    I really enjoyed exploring these older comics.

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

One of the most interesting insights that Scott McCloud introduced in his comic was how we as humans see and recognize human faces in cartoons vs in real life.  It's interesting to see how the human brain can recognize a face in common object you see everyday.

I never thought about how, when talking to others, we're always slightly aware of what ourselves look like during the conversation.  I also never realized that we over simplify our faces in our heads, since we never actually seen our own faces in person (aside from reflections but that is much different then seeing yourself in conversation without staring at yourself in the mirror.)  This makes a direct connection to cartoons and how we see them as ourselves.

  Scott also goes into other reasons we see ourselves in comics through simply-made characters that pull themselves away from realism.  It makes a lot of sense, since comics and cartoons are often used by readers/viewers as a form of escapism from real-life.  People don't always want to see a highly-realistic story, but something more light-hearted since it is easier to listen to and absorb.  Scott states that, "When you see a realistic face drawing of a face, you see it as the face of another.  But when you enter the world of a cartoon, you see yourself."  Being aware of the 'messenger', or author, can take a reader out of it and make him/her less likely to take in the story or lesson.  It's really fascinating to understand the science behind why people are so interested in the cartoon/comic world.