GRAPHIC NOVELS
Understanding Comics
SCOTT MCLOUD’S
UNDERSTANDING COMICS: THE
INVISIBLE ART
WHAT ARE COMICS?
SEQUENTIAL ART
Images taken individually are just pictures.
When they are part of a sequence, the image is
transformed…
Page 5 of Understanding Comics
WHAT ARE IMAGES?
ICON: Any image used to represent a
person, place, thing, or idea.
REALISTIC  ICONIC
REALISTIC  ICONIC
WHAT’S BEYOND ICONIC?
WORDS!
PICTURES = RECEIVED. INFORMATION
RECEIVED INSTANTANEOUSLY. WE SEE
IT AND WE UNDERSTAND IT
IMMEDIATELY.
WRITING = PERCEIVED. INFORMATION
NEEDS TO BE DECODED. WE SEE IT BUT
THEN WE NEED TO READ IT TO
UNDERSTAND IT.
WHAT’S BEYOND ICONIC?
 FACE
RECEIVED = WE SEE A FACE.
PERCEIVED = WE READ THE WORD “FACE.”
WE MAKE MEANING FROM BOTH
IMAGES AND WORDS IN COMICS.
COMICS GIVE US
PICTURES AND WORDS.
WHAT DO WE GIVE COMICS?
Our imaginations.
We fill in the blanks.
THE GUTTER
THE WHITE SPACE…
BETWEEN TWO
PANELS.
CLOSURE
The reader uses his/her imagination to figure
out what happens in that white space between
the panels.
Our imagination takes two separate images and
transforms them into a single idea.
There’s nothing there in that white space, but
our imaginations fill it in.
We connect the images in the panels to
construct a continuous story.
PANEL-TO-PANEL TRANSITIONS
MOMENT-TO-MOMENT:
Very little has
changed in the panels.
We really aren’t
required to use our
imaginations very
much.
Very little needs to
be filled in.
ACTION-TO-ACTION:
The change sticks to
one subject and one
action in progress.
We see step by step
what is happening to
one person.
We have to use our
imaginations some,
but still not very
much.
Most common type of
transition in comics.
PANEL-TO-PANEL TRANSITIONS
SUBJECT-TO-SUBJECT:
We stay with one
scene or idea, but we
switch to different
subjects.
We go from one
person to another.
We have to use our
imaginations more
now. We have to fill
in what’s happening
between the two
subjects.
2nd most common type
of transition.
SCENE-TO-SCENE:
A great deal of time
or space is crossed.
We have to use our
imaginations quite a
bit to fill in huge gaps
in the story.
3rd most common
transition.
PANEL-TO-PANEL TRANSITIONS
ASPECT-TO-ASPECT:
We stay in the same
scene, but we see a
different aspect of
it.
The change is in what
we’re looking at
within the scene.
For example, we may
get a close-up on
something in the
scene.
NON-SEQUITUR:
There’s no logical
relationship between
the images at all.
The panels don’t go
together.
However, we still try
to connect them.
Our imaginations still
try to make a story
out of the images and
figure out what
happens in the gutter
between them.
Comics is a
mono-sensory
medium.
It relies on only one of the senses
to convey a world of experience.
--Scott McCloud p. 89
It’s all in the eyes.
Within these panels, we can only convey
information visually. But between panels,
none of our senses are required at all.
Which is why all of our senses are engaged.
--Scott McCloud p. 89
HOW ARE OTHER SENSES
REPRESENTED?
HOW DO WE USE OUR
OTHER SENSES?
REVIEW
Let’s review what we’ve learned about comics so far.
COMICS ARE…
S_______________ A_______________.
I_______________.
Require the readers’ i_______________.
To be continued…