Week 2: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud is a comic book explaining the analysis of the comic book medium, as well as the concept and theory of comic art. McCloud explains the fundamentals that are unique to comics, and presents many ideas and insights that many people don’t consider when reading comic books. For example, an idea that I found interesting was the concept of stripping down images and characters and using simplification to amplify a specific meaning in a way that realistic art can’t; “amplification through simplification.” What the author means by this is that when an image is abstracted through "cartooning", you aren’t just eliminating details but rather helping the reader focus on specific details that give the character or image an essential “meaning” that is universal to more people. The more universal cartoon imagery is, the more people it could be said to describe. The process of simplification also allows readers to take their focus away from the messenger and fully receive the message that the comic is displaying. This has to do with the fact that when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a character, you see it as the face of another person, however, when you look at a simplified, universal drawing of a character, you see it as yourself. The words on the page become a voice or a concept inside your head, and what the character says will be more significant than just who the character is. This idea and the many others that McCloud presents have really taught me a lot of concepts and processes that go into making a comic that I have never even thought about before. It has really opened my eyes and incorporating his ideas when reading comics has helped me understand them so much more.