Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
by Scott McCloud
List Price:
Our Price: $13.06
You Save: $9.93 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.95 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Scott McCloudEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-04-27
ISBN: 006097625X
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Book Review: See With New Eyes
Summary: 5 Stars
Scott McCloud is a world renowned artist. In the comic
space, he's synonymous with the greatest heights that comix
can achieve as an art form.
His reputation is not in vain. *Understanding Comics*
is simultaneously an ode to the best of artistic design as
well as a thesis on self expression through comix.
Summary
--------
This book spans nine chapters and provides easy reading within
one sitting. From the outset, Scott awes the reader with
his in depth understanding and passionate love of comics.
Throughout the book, he convincingly argues that comics are
indeed an art form that should not be relegated to
children's bedside reading.
Scott explains all the aspects of style used in Comics. He
explains the importance of good design and emphasises self
expression through the merging of multiple forms.
This book has not only changed my life, it has changed my
perception and experience of life. Scott has also managed
to give the world hope. All too often we think of Design,
Art and Good Taste as virtues congenially bestowed upon a
blessed minority.
This book clearly shows that High Art is
an innate gift which has only to be developed and nurtured.
Within us all lies the incredible potential to build
beautiful things no matter what our vocation or walk of life.
High Art and Design
Personally, I've always considered comics a high form of
art and a veritable record of modern mythology. I
therefore did not read this book in order to understand what
comics are. I read this book in order to get a different
perspective on that all important facet of human creativity:
*Design*.
Comix, as an art form, is difficult to fathom. The
difficulty lies in the *cartoon* nature of most comics
as well as the typical iconography we've been exposed to.
To an extent, I think much of the popular modern art
suffers the same fate. We are so imbibed with the
superficial that we can no longer perceive the core.
Scott McCloud solves this problem and with one broad stroke
of his brush, he wipes the fog away from the readers eyes.
This book is not about Comix, it is about the evolution of
modern art. It is about what modern art can evolve into.
The 6 Steps to Creative Expression
Every Creative expression goes through six stages: Idea/Purpose,
Form, Idiom, Structure, Craft and Surface.
While the intricacies of each of those steps are better
learned by reading the book, there's a valuable insight he
reveals in his discussion.
All too often we have to experience or learn art and design in
reverse order. We first learn or are attracted to the
surface appearance of the Art. Many a time this period of
learning coincides with the point at which our taste is at
an all time low. Note also that few people every progress beyond
this superficial appreciation of Art.
The reason for this is because the expressiveness of Art
doesn't lie in it's appearance *as such*. The
expressiveness of Art lies in the *treatment* of it's
appearance. This treatment then finds unity in something
much deeper than colour, line and shape. The reason High Art
is High Art is because it possesses Qwan, that Quantity
Without a Name.
This Qwan is what Scott seeks to impress upon the reader. He
therefore proceeds to teach these 6 steps in the prescribed
order. The effect of his lessons is an inside-out
understanding of what true creative expression involves.
This perspective is on the opposite side of the pipe we're
so used to staring down. It is as though we thought the
world was flat, then we managed to view the planet from a
spaceship!
Simplicity
Scott also attempts to emphasise the importance of
simplicity in good design. The book's language is direct
and clear. His artistic artifice is also shockingly
simple without be empty. This pattern of simplicity creates such elegance
that it's impossible not to see the lesson::
All high art and good design is simple.
When I think about it more deeply, simplicity in design now
makes perfect sense. How can you truly have understood a
given topic if you can't decompose it into it's simplest
form just as Scott has done?
Conclusion
I seem to have the gift of finding and reading the best books.
*Understanding Comics, The Invisible Art* is one that
surpasses my highest expectations.
This book is mandatory reading for anyone in *any
field* practicing *any vocation*. Humanity's
greatest ills come from the inability to communicate
effectively with others, and most importantly, with
ourselves.
Scott McCloud, an artist who thinks deeply about self expression,
has managed to elucidate and even codify all the knowledge
one needs to get started. If you have the *desire to be
heard*, the willingness to *learn* and the ability
*to see* (which most of us also have to learn), then
you are an individual who can achieve the highest levels of
self expression.
Self expression is Art and as such we can all be great
artists. The rewards are exponentially greater than any
effort we could put in. This is the seductive proposition
that Scott Mccloud's presents to us.
Summary of Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, this innovative comic book provides a detailed look at the history, meaning, and art of comics and cartooning.A comic book about comic books. McCloud, in an incredibly accessible style, explains the details of how comics work: how they're composed, read and understood. More than just a book about comics, this gets to the heart of how we deal with visual languages in general. "The potential of comics is limitless and exciting!" writes McCloud. This should be required reading for every school teacher. Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegelman says, "The most intelligent comics I've seen in a long time."
Graphic Design Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Graphic Design Books
Rendering Fashion, Fabric and Prints with Adobe Illustratorby M. Kathleen Colussy, Steve Greenberg
Prentice Hall; Published: 2006-09-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.98
Price in other shops:
Inside Fashion Design, 5th Editionby Sharon Lee Tate, Mona S. Edwards
Prentice Hall; Published: 2003-08-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $59.95
Price in other shops:
Graphic Design: Vision, Process Productby Louis Ocepek
Prentice Hall; Published: 2002-12-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.75
Price in other shops:
Designer's Guide to Print Productionby Kayanna Pace
Prentice Hall; Published: 2001-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.34
Price in other shops:
Instructor's Manual Set for All Wordperfect 5.1 Texts: Text and 5 1/ 4" IBM Data Diskby Gonzalez
McGraw Hill Higher Education; Published: 1991-05-01; Paperback; Book
Talking with Artistsby Pat Cummings
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Published: 1992-03-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.35
Price in other shops:
American Picturebooks from Noah's Ark to the Beast Withinby Barbara Bader
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1976-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $112.12
Art of the Hobbitby J R R Tolkien
Harpercollins; Published: 2011-10-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.01
Comics (Learn to Draw)by John Byrne
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-03; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Printmaking: History and Processby Donald Saff, Deli Sacilotto
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 1978-01-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $98.89
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
One Hundred Demonsby Lynda Barry
Sasquatch Books; Published: 2005-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $63.28
Graphic Design History: A Critical Guideby Johanna Drucker, Emily McVarish
Prentice Hall; Published: 2008-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $71.55
Price in other shops:
The Complete Persepolisby Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon; Published: 2007-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops:
Black Holeby Charles Burns
Pantheon; Published: 2008-01-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.48
Price in other shops:
Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist (Will Eisner Instructional Books)by Will Eisner
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2008-08-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earthby Chris Ware
Pantheon; Published: 2003-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops:
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomicby Alison Bechdel
Houghton Mifflin Company; Mariner Books; Published: 2007-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.80
Price in other shops:
Watchmenby Alan Moore
DC Comics; DC Comics; Published: 1995-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Taleby Art Spiegelman
Pantheon; Published: 1996-11-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.92
Price in other shops:
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novelsby Scott McCloud
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2006-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.68
Price in other shops: