In the book Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud describes Magritte’s painting “The Treachery of Images”. In the painting, the subject clearly represents a common pipe. However, the message of the artist suggests that it is neither a pipe nor a painting of a pipe. Instead, this occurrence, as McCloud elucidates, connotes a concept of amplification through simplification. One should consider that McCloud’s primary pages that portray the painting embody and resemble one copy. He employs this technique to validate the use of images to characterize a person, place, thing, or idea.
As mentioned by McCloud in Chapter 2, comics are cartoons. They are images that magnify traits by simplifying other figures and expressions. Using the same technique, McCloud visibly over-emphasized the images to mean something better than the other. The provided comic strip above, for example, illuminates the technique of amplification through the use of dark shade on the dialog with the picture of person with mouth wide open. While other strips are drawn normally, the third block of strip connotes a strong force or emphasis, which results in the fourth stating “What? You Don’t Have to Scream.” Truly, comics explain the method of amplification through implication, and they do that.
Overall, McCloud clearly employs the concept of amplification through simplification throughout the sequential images and cartoons. In this discussion, the illustrated perception represents clarity of messages being conveyed. McCloud’s way of incorporating abstract pictures, signs, or figures in cartoons is genius as he clarifies his thoughts. As he asserts, he believes that artists can amplify and simplify those images to suggest its vital meaning.
Works Cited
McCloud,
Scott. Understanding Comics: The
Invisible Art. Northampton, Mass (1993).
Gibson,
Andrew.
The
Celebration of Cartoons and Comic Strip Art. Smashingmagazine.Com.
28 Dec. 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
Ahmad, I think that you really understand what simplification and amplification really are. The comic that you chose shows simplification in a lot of ways. The lack of color and detail allow us as the audience to play with the images in our minds to make them look how we want or to add the colors of things that we may want to them. I feel that we could even put this comic strip to a real life situation because I am sure that most people as kids have done this to their parents and their parents have responded in a similar way. By simplifying the artwork the author was able to amplify the meaning behind the comic, the meaning being that when kids annoy their parents, their parents will most likely snap and yell back. Parents responses are not always like this, but as kids pester their parents, parents are more likely to react in an annoyed manner. I think that the author did a good job with balancing the two methods and that they show very well here. Good work again with this blog!
ReplyDeleteAhmad, you really explain the way you understood amplification and simplification and they both are really well explained. We both approached this blog with different views and I like the view that you chose to take focusing on more of the art part of the comic rather than the meaning behind the words. I like how you mention how the third square really displays dark bold words that lead up to the fourth square smooth and makes the last square seem stronger even without the big bold words like the third one. I learned a different side to this blog by reading your blog.Keep up the good work!
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