It has come to my attention the secret to a less detailed face in cartoons. I never once put thought to the idea that illustrators would put less detail in a characters face in order to better allow the reader or watcher to relate or implement themselves into the character and make better relations to their personal life. I, myself found it harder to understand McCloud's essay after he mentioned what troubles we would have after he made himself look more detailed. I found myself more focused on the character and who he could be then on the content of the reading. I had to go back and re-read things because I was no comprehending as well. The character became a distraction for me once he brought it to my attention.
This idea of "amplification through simplification" did not come to my discovery until I sat down to re-read Locke and McCloud in order to write my Short Critical Discussion. The more simple something is brought out to be, the easier it is understood. At the beginning of this unit, when I first read Locke, I wrote in my weekly discussion that simplification may not be the key to human understanding. I thought that when things were simplified that it had them lacking necessary detail for true understanding until I was shown first hand visually through McCloud's cartoon. It has now come to my attention that in order to initially understand the basic of an idea, it must be stripped down to it's most simple form in order for understanding. Then, later on, if the idea is grasped and further detail is wanted, that is when the complexity can be brought in.
It is interesting how you can have an opinion of something and then so quickly change your view when you put yourself in that position to physically put it to the test.
2 comments:
I wouldn't say that the more simple something is brought out to be that the easier it is to be understood. I would rather say that the more simplified something is, in terms of the faces that McCloud talks about the more relatable they are. The more relative the images become. The process of amplification through simplification lets me see the abstract rather then the literal. Which allows for me to identify with the image, it captures the essence of the picture rather than the general image. This Allows for readers to be more self involved into the comics. Since study show that we see ourselves in majority of the things we do, that it relates to our "self". it also leads to another question that i wrote in my SCD. "If the author was illustrating a comic and had a certain view or opinion that is trying to be made does that limit the language that is being perceived?" In my opinion In a way it does but I feel like interpretation depends on the situation. I love your point where you state your opinion about how you thought if things were simplified it lacked detail for true understanding. Which is why many people over edit, and use too many detail i think in cartoons and animation these days.
I feel like when you are speaking of complex ideas sometimes the examples to hosts you use (like in this case a cartoon character) you have to use something simple so that such a complex things can be comprehend and not over shadowed by the details of the example/host.
I really like when you said "to initially understand the basic of an idea, it must be stripped down to it's most simple form in order for understanding." its like the concepts of learning words. To learn how to say or read a word you need to know how to spell it, to know how to spell it you need to know and understand the concepts of letters.
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.