sequential art basics

NM3228 Interactive Sequential Art 11/8/15

Module OverviewInteractive Sequential Art

Week 1

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Jing ChiangModule Coordinator

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What is sequential art?

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Sequential Art : ComicsWill Eisner Comics and Sequential Art 1985

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- The term was coined in 1985 by comics artist Will Eisner in his book Comics and Sequential Art.-Nearly all programmes called “Sequential Art” offered in the tertiary education means they offer programmes on comics.


Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence

Scott McCloud Understanding Comics 1993

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Scott McCloud, another comics artist, elaborated the explanation further in his books Understanding Comics (1993) and Reinventing Comics (2000)


Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to...

* convey information * produce an aesthetic response in the viewer * tell a story

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Quick glance at some of the earlier sequential artworks

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The tomb of Menna, an ancient Egyptian scribe

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Artwork here showed the daily life of the working people.

The tomb of Menna (TT 69), one of the finest painted tombs in Egypt, underwent extensive non-invasive analysis and documentation from 2007-2010 in a joint ARCE-Georgia State University-USAID/ARCE project.

The findings from Menna give important information about the tomb owner and the time in which he lived as well as artistic methods, work process, and the status circulation of materials.


Trajan’s column, 113 AD

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Trajan's Column (Italian: Colonna Traiana) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113 , the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, that artistically describes the epic wars between the Romans and Dacians (101–102 and 105–106). Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.


Michelangelo Sistine Chapel Ceiling 1511

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- One of the largest sequential stories in picture form.-9 scenes from the book of genesis, 1st book of the bible.


8 Deer Jaguar Claw, Codex Zouche-Nuttall, Mixtex pictorial codex

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An epic story contained in a pre-columbian picture manuscript “discovered’ by Corte’s around 1519.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Deer_Jaguar_Claw


8 Deer Jaguar Claw, Codex Zouche-Nuttall, Mixtex pictorial codex Source from: McCloud, S. Understanding Comics. pp. 11

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An epic story contained in a pre-columbian picture manuscript “discovered’ by Corte’s around 1519.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Deer_Jaguar_Claw


Lucas Cranach the Elder The Paradise 1530

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Painting can also be a common ground for sequential art. For instance, in Lucas Cranach the Elder's "Adam and Eve" different scenes of the Biblical story are shown in the same painting: on the front, God is admonishing the couple for their sin; in the background to the right are shown the earlier scenes of Eve's creation from Adam's rib and of their being tempted to eat the forbidden fruit; on the left is the later scene of their expulsion from Paradise.


William Hogarth A Harlot’s Progress 1731

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The series shows the story of a young woman, Mary (or Moll) Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country and becomes a prostitute. 1: an old woman praises her beauty and suggests a profitable occupation, procuring her for the gentleman shown to the back of the image. 2: She is a mistress with two lovers.3: She has become a common prostitute on the point of being arrested 4: She is beating up in Bridewell Prison5: She is dying from venereal disease6: She is dead aged only 23 in the last.

- A Harlot's Progress (also known as The Harlot's Progress) is a series of six paintings (1731, now lost) and engravings (1732) by William Hogarth. The series was developed from the third image: having painted a prostitute in her boudoir in a garret on Drury Lane, Hogarth struck upon the idea of creating scenes from her earlier and later life. The title and rich allegory are reminiscent of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Harlot's_Progress


Lynd Ward Frankenstein 1934

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Lynd Ward (1905 - 1985) was an American artist best known for his wood engravings — in particular, his novels without words, in which he tells a story entirely through woodcuts. His style combines Art Deco with German Expressionism.

Ward's woodcuts illustrated a 1934 edition of Frankenstein, published in New York by Harrison Smith and Robert Haas. These are outstanding, not only for excellence and power of design, but especially for insights into a disturbing and powerfully poetic work.

More than any other illustrator, Ward grasped the ambivalence with which the author of Frankenstein, Percy Bysshe Shelley, portrayed the “monster” (also called “Being”, “creature”, “fiend”, “demon”, “wretch”, and “devil”). As seen by Lynd Ward, the Being is both pathetic and terrifying; his body is both athletic and deformed. You can pity him, sympathize and even identify with him, without quite wishing to hold his hand or let him cry on your shoulder.


Rodolphe Topffer 1833 Inventor of modern comics

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Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846) is the pioneer of the bande dessinée of francaise culture.Töpffer's works show a careful theorician study, whose conclusions are contained in an illustrated essay about physiognomic published in 1845. This is what makes Töpffer the inventor of modern comics. Since 1827 he realized his original histories en images settling a sequence of cartoons with short handwritten textes. The cartoons are separated by a thin ink line. They are printed in 1833 for the first time and they are collected together in 1846 under the title Histoires en estampes. The names of characters are Monsieur Jabot, Monsieur Crépin, Monsieur Vieux Bois, Monsieur Pencil, Monsieur Cryptogame, Docteur Festus, Histoire d'Albert,Histoire de Mr Trictrac. With them the swiss artist draws funny satirical pictures of the XIXth century society, according to the great tradition of caricature in England (Hogarth, Rowlandson and Cruikshank) and in France (Grandville).

http://www.fanofunny.com/topffer_e.html


Sneak-peek weekly lectures

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Week 2: Closure, Panel, Transition

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Scott McCloud Understanding Comics 1993

Human imagination takes 2 separate images and transforms them into a single idea. Comics panels fracture both time and space, offering a jagged, staccato rhythm of unconnected moments. But closure allows us to connect these moments and mentally construct a continuous, unified reality.


Week 3: Page layout, composition

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Chris Ware Jimmy Corrigan: The smartest kid in town 2000

The composition & layout is the way a sequential art is presented to the reader through the visual elements.


Week 4: Image and Text

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Chris Ware Quimby the mouse 1990-1993

The texts & images contain the base information of a sequential art - its story.


Week 5: Time and Space

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Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons Watchmen 1987

The term ‘the 4th Dimension’ refers to a special relationship between space and time wherein the two conflate such that infinite multiple dimensionalities become simultaneously present.


Drew Weing PUP http://www.drewweing.com/pup/13pup.html

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Week 6: Webcomics

What are the differences in making/reading comics between print and screen?

http://www.drewweing.com/pup/13pup.html


Week 7: Visual Narrative Structure

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Organizational Charthttp://www.bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts/

- Semantic/event structures are aspects of meaning - the message conveyed by a sequence of images (or words, sentences, or film shots).

- Narrative structure is the system by which those meanings are presented. - This is why the same meaning can be drawn in several possible visual sequences they convey the same meaning, but have different narrative structures.

http://www.bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts/


Disney Enterprises Tron Legacy http://disneydigitalbooks.go.com/tron/#

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Week 8: Dynamic

Examine the use of sound and motion (dynamic) in digital comics.

http://www.drewweing.com/pup/13pup.html


Daniel Benmergui Storyteller

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Week 9: Interactive

Exploring interactivity - making choices and taking actions in interactive comics.


Neil Cohn http://www.emaki.net/#

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Week 10: Review & What’s next

Explore the current research in comics studies, for the academics and practitioners, future research possibilities.

http://www.emaki.net/#


This is not a comics class. What we do not cover: 1) Build characters 2) Teach you how to draw 3) Cultural studies 4) Superhero

This module gives you some ideas + practical skills about how to tell interactive visual stories

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Assessment

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Assessment (100% CA)

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Assignment /Projects Individual (70%) Group (30%)

Participation 10% -

Tutorial submissions 10% -

Assignments (4) 50% -

Final Project (1) 30%


Participation (10%): - Attendance - IVLE forum: contribution to knowledge (I have subscribed all of you to the forum)- Lecture: class exercises & quiz

Tutorial submissions (10%): - submission of assignment drafts- critique/feedback session of assignments

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Assignments (50%): - Total of 4 assignments- Each assignment is designed to solve certain technical + conceptual problems

There are 2 submission deadlines for each assignment:

After one week during tutorial: Critique sessions.After two weeks: Final submission (Friday)

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Final Project (30%): Implementation: 20% - Creation of prototypes

Developmental Process: 10% - Documentation of the process

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Tools: Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop Adobe Dreamweaver

Good to have but not mandatory -some basic coding language (good to have)e.g. JavaScript, JQuery, HTML5, CSS

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Next Week: - Topic: Panel, Frame and Transition - Read: McCloud, S. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Chapter 3, Blood in the Gutter, pp. 60-93.- Quiz

More Information, please check IVLE lesson plan.

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Thank You.

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sequential art basics

Documents