Chris Ware- Slowness of Time

Chris Ware is a genius when it come to the speed of his comics, He toys with the narrative speed of his stories, by drawing different sized and quantity of panels he creates a paradoxical of effects “that give the readers pause and quicken their pulse at the same time (1)”, as demonstrated in the Jimmy Corrigan comics.

Fig 2 Chris Ware- Jimmy Corrigan The Smartest Kid on Earth

Unusually Ware’s comic comprise of blank images, like pauses or nudges of memories in the time line, allowing the reader to absorb more information. Ware comments: “What you do with comics, essentially is take pieces of experience and freeze them in time”, allowing people to relief your experiences at a different time. 

Fig3 Chris Ware Fragment of trees with bird

Ware is able to due to his structure, slow time right down allowing the reader to fully immerse in the time, and take time enjoying the story they may be able to relate to. 

So in response to the research I had completed surrounding Chris Ware’s use of time I took inspiration in particular from ‘Fragments of trees with bird’, the image above I produced to images below.

I really like the idea of taking a theme like waiting for street lights to turn on, another comic of Chris Ware’s, and simply dragging out the time, I feel you appreciate the time more so, especially scenes that we see every day and take for granted and turn it into something beautiful. Personally I am not completely happy with the outcome of this piece I think that I could have taken more time in drawing out the trees, and ensuing that the top three images remain identical for full effect. I continued to use a limited palette, which is what I using struggle with, with my own work, by adapting one of his colour combinations. Despite this I feel that I have learnt a lot about how to use time to my advantage to depict a certain emotion, whether that be tension, sadness or suspense, and this technique will definitely feature in my later work. 

References

1. Ball, David M and Martha B Kuhlman. The Comics Of Chris Ware. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. Print.
2.  Irving, Christopher. "Chris Ware On Building A Better Comic Book". Nycgraphicnovelists.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.
3.  D'Averc, Alex. "Chris Ware: Interstice Storyteller. By Alex D'averc". O Production Company. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.

 Bibliography

Books 

Ball, David M and Martha B Kuhlman. The Comics Of Chris Ware. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. Print.

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

Ball, David M and Martha B Kuhlman. The Comics Of Chris Ware. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. Print.

"Cartoonist Chris Ware Talks About Tragedy And Comics To Aida Edemariam". the Guardian. N.p., 2005. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

"Chris Ware - Building Stories". Adambaumgoldgallery.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

"Chris Ware". Drawn & Quarterly. N.p., 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2016

D'Averc, Alex. "Chris Ware: Interstice Storyteller. By Alex D'averc". O Production Company. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.

Jacobs, Dale. "Lettering: Visualizing Sound In Comics". Uwindsorcomics.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2009. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Irving, Christopher. "Chris Ware On Building A Better Comic Book". Nycgraphicnovelists.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Print.

Wivel, Matthias. "Interview With Chris Ware Part 1 Of 2 « The Comics Journal". Classic.tcj.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.