Understanding Comics

Scott McLeod uses the word Icon, to mean any image used to equal a person, place, thing, or idea. He explains that words are a form of abstract icons and cartooning is a form of amplification through simplification. Speaking of cartoons, McLeod explains the more cartoony a face is the more people are able to describe it. We as humans often assign emotions and identities on places where none exists. McLeod compares the difference between realistic images and cartoon. We see ourselves when we look at cartoons, but we only see another person when looking at realistic images. Furthermore, a combination of realism and cartoon like the movie The Adventures of TinTin, this allows the readers to Mask themselves in that particular cartoon character while still entering the realistic world simultaneously. I especially like this quote, "Icons demand our participation to make them work."

Two things to remember:

1.) Pictures more abstract from reality require greater levels of perception.

2.) Words that are more direct, they require lower levels of perception.