Comic+Creation

Once upon a time there lived in the great Amazon jungle – a snake and a turtle. However they never encountered each other before. It was raining cats and dogs and the snake saw the turtle for the first time. The snake instinctively last out at the turtle and right before he was about to bite the turtle, Amazon River flooded and the snake started to drown. The turtle gave the snake a proposition. The turtle offered the snake to take him to the other side of the river if the snake would spare its life. The snake promptly agreed and half way across the river the snake bit the turtle. The turtle in shock asked the snake “why did you bite me?” Now both of us are surely going to drown. The snake replied “I am sorry my friend I cant help the way I am”. ** Analysis **  This analysis will look at the various features of the comic, including but not limited to its ideas, forms, idioms and structure. One can believe that comic books are for the semi-erudite people seeking entertainment, and that this medium does not require profound thinking. I feel that this comic should not conform to the stereotypical features that are found in other comic books. It can be a powerful work of both art and literature if used correctly. I feel that that the comic that I have designed effectively conveys the message that I wish to portray. I have allowed the reader/viewer a little room for interpretation in between the panels and giving out a message in the end where one would feel that snakes can’t be trustworthy. As portrayed in  the animal’s natural environment each attribute of the characters are fixed. along with the setting and plot, but there is still an element of invisible art. Central to this idea is the concept of closure. Closure is the process through which the reader makes connections between what has happened in the previous scenes and the succeeding scenes, there is evident invisible art: or art that doesn’t exist but which the reader is able to conceive given the events that happened in the panels that do exist. . However, between one panel to the next wherein, the snake agrees to the turtle’s proposition and in the second panel where, the snake betrays the turtle and in turn bites him. This consists of an element of invisible art. The reader can conceive what happened in the missing panel that was not illustrated but is just as solid in the mind of the reader. The frame of this graphic novel is self-explanatory in nature: the frame of any comic serves to place the concept of time, place and position of characters and events in any comic. The way the frame is in this book conveys the message in a very effective manner. The camera angle that is put into effect in this comic is varied to suit the purpose of the morale. For instance, whenever the protagonist/snake or the turtle said or thought something dark, the camera would angle completely towards the face of the character depicting the seriousness/maliciousness of their thought. Similarly, whenever there was an action event, the entire scene would be capture thereby giving the whole scope of the event. This is a very effective technique as it either focuses on the character or the scene depending on what needs to be emphasized. The distance that can be seen in the book is plausible and most of the novel is quasi-real in the sense that one can identify with the space and distance that is consistent with reality. Some parts of the novel as explained above are done in close-up shots whereas the rest are from a distance. Facial expressions which are central in conveying the mood of the comic have been very well illustrated during parts that require emotion on the part of the character. The facial expressions are grim in nature depicting the seriousness of the scenario that takes place. The level of detail that can be found in this comic is a varied one: there are parts that are extremely well detailed and there are parts that are lesser detailed. Whenever casual conversation takes place (most of the time), the level of detail is low, but when an important event such as the climax occurs, the level of detail is very realistic. McCloud’s panel transitions can be used to illuminate and analyze concepts of shifts in narrative times as well as shifts in narrative focus within the comic created. McCloud states that a “…moment-to-moment requires very little closure” (McCloud 70) and an example of this can be seen in panel 3 and 4. On the other hand, action-to-action “… features a single subject in action transitions” (McCloud 70), such as in panel 5 and 6. In this panel the snake took the following action of biting the snake thus showing his true colors.
 * Assignment 2: Comic Creation **
 * Narrative **