McCloud's Text: Making Comics
Scott McCloud introduces a comprehensive look in his book, Making Comics, both thoroughly and with a good dose of dry humor. He illustrates his points, with precision, through the use of text and image. It is a very effective way of absorbing key methods.
A guiding and consistent message McCloud gives is the idea that the artist must connect with their readers on a human level. On page 60, McCloud explains that humans love humans and love hearing stories about other humans and expresses the slightest hint will cause them to make up a story. He says, “Even the loosest scribble will suggest a figure, an emotion or a gesture” (McCloud, 2006) He expounds that it is easy to throw out a few lines and the reader will …show more content…
For example, on page 37, he breaks it down by showing the order of the construction of communication through comics. A frame with the word, “Clarity,” tops the page while straight lines connect the main frame to five framed columns that have organized the information. The top frame also includes an outline of a cartoon guy holding the key. Following that pattern, each subsequent frame has an icon with an image pointing to the key topic in the column, for instance, “Choice of Moments” has a clock, while “Choice of Word” has a speech balloon with the letter “W” inside of it. This is a use of image with text which gives a clearer explanation and helps the flow. From there he lists a brief, but concise, goal statement for each category. Below the goal statement is the list of tools to accomplish the goal. It is the perfect example of “Choice of Flow” as he is guiding his readers within the panels, making it smooth and “intuitive” (p. 37). The eye naturally follows the order left to right, but because there are five panels, each is easily read and understood on its