In the past 13 weeks, I have learned various important concepts in this course that have shaped my understanding of comics. One of these concepts is emanata. Emanata, first introduced by cartoonist Mort Walker in amore restrictive sense, refers to myriad graphic signs used in comics primarily to convey information that goes well beyond what the reader could perceive visually in the diegesis (Duncan, Smith & Levitz, 2015). For example, sweat beads are used to convey anxiety or fear while light bulbs are used to convey ideas. The term is coined from the word emanate since these graphic signs usually emanate from the body or head of the character. Besides, emanatais used in suggesting emotional or psychological states, physical impact, smells, or sounds (McCloud, 2006). As such, emanata has enhanced my understanding of symbolic signs which have been added to the iconic signs to denote visualdiegesis.
The second concept is the figure of substitution. Sometimes in comic stories, characters in the panel are represented in a manner that they are fully visible or their presence is designated only by entities related to them (Pustz,1999). Comparison of state - in the balloon or caption text – or implicitnarrative import of the panel along with its visual contents is normally used to judge substitution. However, substitution is further subdivided into metonymy, synecdoche,and metaphor. The metaphor is the usage of similes,for example, a comic using a lion and cub could stand for the human characters. Metonymy refers to the substitution by association, for instance, use of ‘batarangs’ to stand for Batman. Finally, Synecdoche is the use of a part to stand for the whole, for instance, when the comic shows the foot or hand of the character(McCloud, 1993).
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The third concept is the indices. Indices are visual signs that function by contiguity or physical connection (Horrocks, 2001). Common indices include arrows pointing towards a destination or a specific direction, shoeprints (traces) or fingerprints. However, in comics, some of the indices used include word balloon tails which are used to indicate the speaking character, brushstrokes which are used to indicate the traces of the artist's hands and arrows which are used to guide the reader in the direction of the reading(Pustz, 1999).
Finally, Scott McCloud’s work has been important in shaping my understanding of comics,and one of the concepts that havea great impact on this reshaping is the cartooning. Cartooning is the simplification of the shapes primarily to facilitate communication or humor in comic books and comic strips visual language (Withrow, (2003). As such, cartooning gives the comics a key feature of visual simplicity. The McCloud’s cartooning forms the basis of amplification through simplification since the comics’ abstract images does not necessarily aim at the elimination of details as much as possible but rather the effort to focus and attention to the details. Therefore, the stripping down of an image to an essential denotation helps the artist to amplify that meaning. McCloud asserts that the concept ofcartooning inclines towards helps identification and generalization (McCloud, 1993). However, the concept can be contrasted with more naturalist rendering styles where some of them are extremely renderedin manner that they aredubbed photorealist. Since the concept of cartooning does notrequire the level of simplification to be consistent within a cartoon, the McCloud’s perception of the masking effect can be observed where cartoony characters are in a more naturalistic setting(McCloud, 2006).Nevertheless, the extent of cartooning varies with character and renderings of such character which might be positioned at distinct points in McCloud’s triangle. Finally, cartooning facilitates incorporation of non-diegetic symbols such as emanata within the images which can be more difficult if an artist is working in a photorealist style.
References
Duncan, R., Smith, M. J., & Levitz, P. (2015). The power of comics: History, form, and culture . Bloomsbury Publishing.
Horrocks, D. (2001). Inventing Comics: Scott McCloud’s Definition of Comics. The Comics Journal , 234 , 29-39.
Pustz, M. (1999). Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Studies in Popular Culture) . University of Mississippi.
McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. Northampton, Mass .
McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. New York .
Withrow, S. (2003). Toon Art: The graphic art of digital cartooning . Ilex.
