Initial Exposure to Comics

Torrenting animes and new manga chapters at the age of 7 was my first exposure to comics. I first started the anime Naruto - then when the episodes were still coming in, I moved onto the manga. I loved comparing the anime to the comics, and how my mind created their own action scenes the original animation didn't display.

I grew a fascination for anime/animation/cartoons, comics not so much for some reason. Prior to ITP, I was an animation/motion designer for a medical education/technology company, creating storyboards for educational videos for medical professionals. I realized my job was creating a form of "comic".

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Comics = "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer."

What's challenging about comics is that everything is conveyed with such few images, and it trusts the reader to fill in the "gutter" in the way the creator wanted them to. Yet everyone has their own unique, created experience with reading comics, I think it takes much talent to keep having the reader engaged.

Shen Comix used to be one of my favorite Instagrams 5 years ago, told short stories with just 4 panels. Many about relatable life and popular culture:

This also goes for instructional diagrams, which I never thought of as a comic until this reading. During my job storyboarding, there was much back-and-forth with the animator, head designer, and I making sure certain iconography, illustrations, and motions were understood the same way for everyone. Emphasizing universality with simplicity is extremely powerful for both art and design.

Importance of storytelling

"All media of communication are a by-product of our sad inability to communicate directly from mind to mind - all problems in human history stem from this inability."

This is a large part to my interest for ITP as I want to strengthen my storytelling skills through interactive art, design, and performance. I believe communication is one of the largest problems, and to help build the bridge through storytelling from both the screen and off-the-screen to the audience is something that can always be unfolded. As our media attention span shortens as time goes on, comics are as relevant as ever without many realizing. ~invisible art~