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1-Page Summary of Understanding Comics
Overview
The book Understanding Comics is about the history and art of comics. The author believes that although people think of comics as a new form, they have been around for centuries. He explains how time works in comics, how motion can be depicted through drawings, and other elements unique to this genre.
McCloud also provides a history of the medium, along with examples from different styles and strategies. He includes many visuals to demonstrate his points. McCloud contrasts Eastern and Western comics, as well as influences from artists like Picasso and Monet.
McCloud also introduces the concept of closure, or how we interpret what happens in-between panels. He goes into detail about each type of transition and shows examples to demonstrate his point.
The six steps in creating any form of art are examined. The author insists that all artists will follow some variation of this formula, but only those who focus on ideas and concepts over form will elevate the medium to a higher level. He also briefly discusses using color for illustrations, especially by means of the traditional four-color process used in the United States.
Expressionism is a major influence on comics. The book shows different ways that comics artists can convey mood and appeal to the readers’ senses. McCloud analyzes how emotion is conveyed through use of images, either with or without the addition of word balloons and sound effects. He believes that if comics were made more sophisticated and appealing, they would be taken more seriously by adult readers and literary critics alike.
Chapter 1, Setting the Record Straight
As a child, Scott had no interest in comics. He preferred books, since he thought that they were more sophisticated than comics. However, when a friend convinced him to give the genre another chance, he became obsessed with them and started practicing to be an artist for Marvel Comics.
Scott McCloud believes that comics are usually crude, poorly-drawn, semiliterate, cheap and disposable. However, he thinks there is something hidden inside them which can be brought out to make them into a great art form. Scott feels that people fail to appreciate the true potential of comics because they define it too narrowly. He argues that the world of comics is huge and varied but not broad enough to include anything which clearly isn’t a comic book.
Comics, Scott explains, is a medium that can hold any number of ideas and images. The content of each comic is determined by the creator’s taste. Unlike other forms of great media like music, film or video, comics are rarely critically examined as an art form. Scott would like to change that.
Scott discusses several ways to define comics. For example, master comics artist William Eisner uses the term “sequential art” to describe comics. Scott eventually decides that the word “comics” is best described as juxtaposed pictorial and other images in a deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.
Scott McCloud also reveals that comic books are much older than people think. He discusses early examples of comics in Mexico from 1519, as well as French versions depicting the Norman conquest in England. These comics had no panel borders and were written as a long story with events unfolding over time.
Scott does not believe that Egyptian hieroglyphics are comics, because they do not represent pictures. He believes that the hieroglyphics represent sounds rather than words, much like an alphabet. Scott is fascinated by Egyptian paintings and thinks they look similar to comics.
