Comic panels

For this assignment, we were to construct a comic based on Cott McCloud’s 6 transitions. We were also given four pictures and in our first narrative scene of four frames, we were to use one of Will Yurman’s photographs, and in the second narrative scene with four frames, we were to use just two of his photographs. I wasn’t sure how to incorporate two of his photographs to complete/tell a story, so I first thought I was going to use the four young boys playing soccer and them drinking water because it looked like they had to go to the bathroom, but then I found out that I was them preparing for a goalie kick. So, then I came to the conclusion from the look of the four middle aged men in a foggy background with masks on that I could use the theme of pollution and the man appearing as if he is praying to feel the loss of someone from pollution.

            Together I put my pictures together, but made sure I had gutter space, which is the white space between the comics (or pictures), which “plays a mystery and is the heart of the comics”. This strip of pictures also incorporated closure, which allows the viewer to connect these pictures and “mentally construct a continuous, unfired reality”. With pollution, I consider this a unified reality that the everyday population deals with. The transition I think my pollution comic portray represents is scene to scene. I could be wrong but from the presentation in class, I really understood that is was a transition that involves deductive reasoning “which transports us across significant distances of time and space”. For instance, there is much time and space between the pollution and how OVERTIME it gets into our body and effects us, then over time AGAIN, our bodies become ill and most people will die from this (for example in the strong polluted areas like China) and then once these people die, loved ones of their grieve and pray.

            Next comic layout I constructed was of a girl who goes through the forest while following a rabbit, comes to a secret garden door and enters, where she then finds herself at a tea party (from Alice in Wonderland). The transition that this one represents is more of a subject to subject. I say this because, from the definition, it’s “staying with in the scene or idea” and it involves the reader to translate certain messages or actions. Each picture presented is connected and is used to tell a story. For this one, I also can compare this one to the comic with the boy and his pants. We all assume he has pants on just from our experience but in fact he doesn’t. However, for my panel, I wanted the viewer to assume (from the pictures) that Alice was chasing the rabbit and entering the door to the tea party. You can’t exactly see her doing this, but that’s the point of some comics and their transition idea.

So, furthermore, due from our experiences it tells us what to think. Both these comic panels I constructed possess time and space which adds a “jagged staccato rhythm to the connected moments”. Hopefully from someone else’s perspective they can understand the transitions my comic panels had, as well as understanding the provided story line.