Comic+Creation



**__Narrative: __** The purpose of my comic is to highlight the growing phenomenon of media influence on youth, and I have decided to portray this aspect through three prepubescent teens named Jerry, Sean, and James. My comic consists of simplified artwork in linear left-to-right fashion. It consists of seven panels, starting with James approaching Jerry about wearing a hat. This seemingly straightforward question is not answered but instead James is seen to be "uncool" by Jerry simply because Soulja Boy wears a hat, as announced by Sean. On hearing this fact, all three boys start to follow the trend of wearing a hat and learning the dance moves to Soulja Boy's song. In the last two panels, the moral of the story is especially emphasized. The commonly asked question of "What would you do if…jumps off the bridge?" is presented. Normally, this question is only present when there is a cause-and-effect situation between two persons' or a group, and the response is usually negative. However, in my comic, Jerry, Sean, and James proceed to jump off a bridge, while proclaiming "We're so cool!". I believe my comic clearly depict media influence as a phenomena. Young children, such as Jerry, Sean, and James, are prone to being influenced by what they see. Since media is present everywhere in almost every aspect of our life e.g. on cereal boxes, billboards, television, etc. there is no escape from this influence. They are sucked into following the latest trends and worrying about their body image according to their favorite celebrities. A hat on its own is just an object, it is a thing. Though because Soulja Boy, a celebrity rapper, wears a hat, this seemingly normal piece of attire is turned into an iconic accessory. While many teens may initially perceive wearing a hat is not cool, after the news that Soulja Boy wear a hat automatically triggers a reaction that changes their perspective. As with James in my comic, a hat meant nothing to him, he didn't understand why Jerry was wearing a hat. However, after news that Soulja Boy wears a hat, not only did wearing a hat instantly make sense to him but he also acquires it and wears it as a statement. My comic appropriately portrays the lengths in which teenagers will go under the influence of media. I decided to title it "2 Cool" as a play of irony for my conclusion. All three boys decided to jump off a bridge because they think Soulja Boy would and by doing so they think they're so cool where in fact they are not. I used Soulja Boy as the media influence because he is my favorite artist.  **__Analysis: __**   According to McCloud, the phenomenon "amplification through simplification" is comic readers tend to respond more to animations compared to realistic illustrations of images. Realistic arts cannot increase the effect of the images as good as cartoons. (McCloud, 30)  "In Understanding Comics," McCloud states that traditional print media is much more well-defined compared to the screen counterpart. My comic "2 Cool" consists enlarged lettering and panel sizes along with plain background, making it easier for the viewers to read. Plain background makes the delivery of the content and the subject matter easier for the readers. The detailing of the characters is simplified to the most basic cartoon-like portrayal of human beings but enough detailing to easy differentiation of the characters. Not to mention, the texts are kept short and primitive to incorporate with the simple illustrations.  McCloud outlines numerous different ideas and techniques used to create comic. McCloud explains various concepts, such as icon and closure, colour, time and space, lettering, combination of words and illustrations.  Comics enhance the plot and the narrative of the story with using the combination of texts and pictures according to McCloud's "Understanding Comics". The text and picture combination emphasis on the illustration simply because the readers analyze the illustrations to the text rather than the text in relation to the illustrations.  "The words and pictures go hand in hand to convey an idea that neither could convey alone." (McCloud, 153-155)  The size of the comic frame and the time reader spends on the frame corresponds to each other. Larger the frame, more time the viewer spends time analyzing the frame.  The beginning of the comic gives the readers the sense there is twist occurs near the end. This suspense is displayed by the frame size. First three frames are smaller compare to last four frames. Also, the second last frame only contains text enhancing more suspense of the final frame.  Incorporating the comic elements presented by McCloud on "Understanding Comics", I was able to create my comic more clearly and present the fictional story better. It was easier to delivery my intended ideas of the comic to the readers. One of the comic concepts presented by McCloud is 'closure'. According to McCloud, the concept of closure is a phenomenon that involves sequence such as moment-to-moment, scene-to-scene and action-to-action. The most important progression is the moment-to-moment progression because my comic has similar panels with the characters engaged in a conversation for the most part of the comic until the last three panel. In the conversation scene, not much motion takes place and the mood of the story is composed. Moment-to-moment transition sets the slow pace for the viewers. At the end of the comic strip, scene is suddenly changed from the conversation to jumping off of a bridge, signifying there is a change of time and pace between the panels. The readers are engaged voluntarily processing the transition of the panels. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The transitions between the frames directly affect the involvement of the readers. Panel-to-panel transition of my comics goes accordingly by the storyline. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">For example, between panels two and three when James asks Jerry why he is wearing a hat, the next panel is Jerry answering the question James asked. The story is told using speech bubbles. However, starting from frame where Sean joins the conversation we see more of action progression by all three characters mimicking 'Crank Dat' dance and subject-to-subject transition of characters jumping off of a bridge. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Another concept 'Closure' is apparent towards the end of the comic. Second last panel consists of author talking to the characters and asking them a question, making the readers wonders what will happen next. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> The concept of 'color' is a powerful tool, it captivates the readers. "The differences between black-and-white and colour comics are vast and profound, affecting every level of the reading experience." (McCloud, 192). I kept my comic black-and-white because I wanted my comic to concentrate on the subject and the content rather than the animation. The use of monotone color allows the readers to only focus on the panel more deeply. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;">__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Works Cited __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperCollins, Inc., 1994. Print.