“Comics are not a genre, but a developing language” Chris Ware. Ware like many other artists were inspired by the 1820s artist Topffer who creates an unspoken and unnamed language using images and icons, which are hard to define but are made simply so they are immediately understood by all, forming the ‘cartoon language’. Like writing which is powered not by words but by sentences, Topffer suggests that picture stories were not singly fueled by individual signs but a combination of images working together in sequence, forming messages and stories.
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Figure 1. Topffer- ‘M. Cryptogramme’
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Figure 2. Chris Ware Mural at 826 Valencia
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Figure 3. "Quimby the Mouse"- Chris Ware
Ware structures his comics very precisely using grids and parallel lines, enabling the feelings to be built upon the strict structure and easily conveyed, as shown above in the ‘Quimby The Mouse’ comic strips. (Figure 2) Ware compares the importance of the composition of pages to music, suggesting that emotion is not expressed through the performance of music but how the music has been composed. Similarly, comics, like music is divided up using time, the single windows of time form a map encasing the beginning, middle and end of the picture stories.
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In response to my given task, and inspired by the research I had completed I produced this piece of art work above, based around Wares diagrammatic work (name images). I I found this is very interesting and resourceful task as I am using an artist who creates complex highly colored imagery, whereas in this piece I had to take my thoughts and simplify them into symbol like images to form, picture sentences as Topffer describes as a ‘cartoon language’. From this have discovered that images do not have to be placed in chronological order it order to tell a story clearly, you can use metaphorical images that can reveal more than one word could or a realistic image could. For this illustration to choose to illustrated anxiety through my experiences, just as Ware does, specifically focusing on educational stress, beauty expectations and social pressures.
Instead of telling a single example in my experiment I decided to use diagrams to express my feelings and experiment towards and of anxiety, my diagram contains three thought processes, including social life, beauty pressures and educations demands, with the Chris Ware inspire portrait featuring at the top of the image. Overall, I am satisfied with my illustration it encompasses the work of both Topffer and Ware, but still retains my story and my style, and I will definitely try to refer back to this exercise in my future work.
References
- "Rodolphe Töpffer". lambiek.net. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.
- 插画家 Chris Ware | Lackar Zhao". Lackarzhao.ivyb.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.=
- Raeburn, Daniel K. Chris Ware. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.
Bibliography
Books
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Print.
Oliveros, Chris. Drawn & Quarterly. Montréal, Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly, 2001. Print.
Raeburn, Daniel K. Chris Ware. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.
Ware, Chris. Mcsweeney's Quarterly Concern. San Francisco: McSweeney's Quarterly, 2004. Print.
Websites
"Cartoonist Chris Ware Talks About Tragedy And Comics To Aida Edemariam". the Guardian. N.p., 2005. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
"Chris Ware". Drawn & Quarterly. N.p., 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
"Rodolphe Töpffer". lambiek.net. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.
Jacobs, Dale. "Lettering: Visualizing Sound In Comics". Uwindsorcomics.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2009. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
Wivel, Matthias. "Interview With Chris Ware Part 1 Of 2 « The Comics Journal". Classic.tcj.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
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