Briana's Blog

For this weeks reading, I decided to read some of the panels from the Peanuts collection. Though I never really grew up reading or watching anything relating to the Peanuts characters, I did find myself enjoying these comic strips quite a lot! I think one of the first things I enjoyed about this comic was that is was so simplistic. It doesn't need a whole lot for it to be entertaining or impressive. As long as it tells a decent story, I'm happy. In a series of four panels, the reader is able to get a quick understanding of what's happening, which I prefer in comics. Something that's even more impressive to me is the simplicity in art style. The characters and their environments aren't colored and aren't super rendered either - yet, it's still just as fun to read and look at. In addition to this, I really enjoyed the characters themselves. They each portray such relatable characteristics of myself, people I know, or people I wish I didn't know. The li...

Growing up, I never read comics. It was never because I disliked them, it's just that I never had the chance to ever read one until I reached middle school. Studying them now, though, I'm surprised at just how much it takes to create and comic. It isn't just pictures and words. Comics require lots of careful planning and time in order to flow properly and make sense overall to the reader. One of the most significant things that stood out to me while reading Understanding Comics was the section about gutters. I found it really interesting how easy it is to sit and watch TV or a movie and have every second filled in - there is never a gap that leaves us guessing. That's probably due to the pacing of everything. With comics, though, it's different. The pacing is completely unique to the reader and the "gutter" allows for the second of interpretation as to what could happen next. In addition to gutters, I also found the different types of closure for com...

The stylistic approach to this particular comic is one that is easily understood by anyone. It is for this reason that The Arrival can be successfully told without the use of words. More specifically, this comic uses a style that is more rendered and realistic. This approach helps the reader identify specific shapes, tones, and shadows that are all seen in real life. In addition to this, Tan uses clear depictions in the beginning of the story of items that many of us know of. These items include things such as clocks, bowls, paper cranes, etc. These items don't need an explanation for what they are. This obviously changes further into the story, but that is a tool used purposely to put us into the characters place of feeling confused and uncertain about his surroundings later on. Furthermore, Tan illustrates facial expressions and physical gestures in a very successful way. There is always a clear depiction of what type of emotion each character is feeling (sad, angry, happy, c...