I had a lot of fun
reading these comic books because I could see several different points and
improved techniques by comic strips from last week.
First of all, the printing technique is well developed. My favorite page is from Amethyst Princess of Gemworld. In
this comic book, there are several pages of only line drawing with no black ink
but colored ink. This is higher technology than the comic strips. This
technological development of printing allows the artist to have a wider range
of explanations. To see this experimental work makes me fun.
Also, I feel that
comic books have more freedom format than comic strips. Since comic strips are
daily or weekly published in newspapers, most of them are short stories using
only one-page. Some of them, especially gag comics, even has the same gutter
every time. However, comic books have more freedom layout. This is a page of
the same example of the previous paragraph, Amethyst Princess of Gemworld. I
can see more freedom in its layout, which is more interesting because I can see
more author’s personality.
Finally,
I like the shift in character design. Many comic
strips use simplified faces to identify the main character. Compare to it, the comic strips make the
protagonist stands out by putting them more characteristics. Simple
character design works to get audiences’ empathy, but I prefer to see more
uniqueness on the characters because it is more appearing and stay on my
memory for a long time. For example, the main character of Little Nemo and Sunday with Walt and Skeezix are
similar in their appearance. I may remember their name and story but easy to mix up them together. Unlike
these iconic characters on comic strips, comic books’ character has a strong
identity, which has a strong impact. I may never forget the character and the
story. I appreciate that the comic books make the main character stands out not
by simplifies it but more characteristic of itself.
Overall,
I think comics were well developed from the comic strip. It is fun to see the
historical shift within the artworks.
Hi May! I really enjoy your take on how comic books allowed artists to be more free form on the page. I think it really adds a lot more room for personality and actually artistry to shine through; The original newspaper format of simple box panels is useful for the medium, but it does get a bit old.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate your take on character design, I think it’s important for characters to be unique- as that is what we will remember the most out of these comics. Princess Amethyst does a great job of differentiating itself, especially in terms of color scheme.