Module Overview

Interactive Sequential Art

Week 1

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Jing Chiang
Module Coordinator

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What is sequential art?

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Sequential Art : Comics

Will Eisner Comics and Sequential Art 1985

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The term was coined in 1985 by comics artist Will Eisner in his book Comics and Sequential Art.
-Nearly
all programmes called Sequential Art offered in the tertiary education means they offer programmes on comics.
-

Juxtaposed pictorial and other images

in deliberate sequence
Scott McCloud Understanding Comics 1993

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Scott McCloud, another comics artist, elaborated the explanation further in his books Understanding Comics (1993) and Reinventing Comics (2000)

Juxtaposed pictorial and other images

in deliberate sequence
intended to...
* convey information
* produce an aesthetic response in the viewer
* tell a story

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Quick glance at some of the

earlier sequential artworks

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The tomb of Menna, an ancient Egyptian scribe

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Artwork here showed the daily life of the working people.

The tomb of Menna (TT 69), one of the finest painted tombs in Egypt, underwent extensive non-invasive analysis and documentation from 2007-2010 in a joint ARCEGeorgia State University-USAID/ARCE project.
The findings from Menna give important information about the tomb owner and the time in which he lived as well as artistic methods, work process, and the status
circulation of materials.

Trajans column, 113 AD

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Trajan's Column (Italian: Colonna Traiana) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was
probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the
Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113 , the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, that artistically describes the epic wars
between the Romans and Dacians (101102 and 105106). Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.

Michelangelo Sistine Chapel Ceiling 1511

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of the largest sequential stories in picture form.

-9One
scenes
from the book of genesis, 1st book of the bible.
-

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8 Deer Jaguar Claw, Codex Zouche-Nuttall, Mixtex pictorial codex

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An epic story contained in a pre-columbian picture manuscript discovered by Cortes around 1519.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Deer_Jaguar_Claw

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8 Deer Jaguar Claw, Codex Zouche-Nuttall, Mixtex pictorial codex

Source from: McCloud, S. Understanding Comics. pp. 11
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An epic story contained in a pre-columbian picture manuscript discovered by Cortes around 1519.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Deer_Jaguar_Claw

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Lucas Cranach the Elder The Paradise 1530

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Painting can also be a common ground for sequential art. For instance, in Lucas Cranach the Elder's "Adam and Eve" different scenes of the Biblical story
are shown in the same painting: on the front, God is admonishing the couple for their sin; in the background to the right are shown the earlier scenes of
Eve's creation from Adam's rib and of their being tempted to eat the forbidden fruit; on the left is the later scene of their expulsion from Paradise.

William Hogarth A Harlots Progress 1731

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The series shows the story of a young woman, Mary (or Moll) Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country and becomes a prostitute.
1: an old woman praises her beauty and suggests a profitable occupation, procuring her for the gentleman shown to the back of the image.
2: She is a mistress with two lovers.
3: She has become a common prostitute on the point of being arrested 4: She is beating up in Bridewell Prison
5: She is dying from venereal disease
6: She is dead aged only 23 in the last.
- A Harlot's Progress (also known as The Harlot's Progress) is a series of six paintings (1731, now lost) and engravings (1732) by William Hogarth. The series was developed from the third
image: having painted a prostitute in her boudoir in a garret on Drury Lane, Hogarth struck upon the idea of creating scenes from her earlier and later life. The title and rich allegory are
reminiscent of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Harlot's_Progress

Lynd Ward Frankenstein 1934

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Lynd Ward (1905 - 1985) was an American artist best known for his wood engravings in particular, his novels without words, in which he tells a story entirely through woodcuts. His style
combines Art Deco with German Expressionism.
Ward's woodcuts illustrated a 1934 edition of Frankenstein, published in New York by Harrison Smith and Robert Haas. These are outstanding, not only for excellence and power of design,
but especially for insights into a disturbing and powerfully poetic work.
More than any other illustrator, Ward grasped the ambivalence with which the author of Frankenstein, Percy Bysshe Shelley, portrayed the monster (also called Being, creature, fiend,
demon, wretch, and devil). As seen by Lynd Ward, theBeing is both pathetic and terrifying; his body is both athleticand deformed. You can pity him, sympathize and even identify with
him, without quite wishing to hold his hand or let him cry on your shoulder.

Rodolphe Topffer 1833 Inventor of modern comics

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Rodolphe Tpffer (1799-1846) is the pioneer of the bande dessine of francaise culture.
Tpffer's works show a careful theorician study, whose conclusions are contained in an illustrated essay about physiognomic published in 1845. This is what makes Tpffer the inventor of
modern comics. Since 1827 he realized his original histories en images settling a sequence of cartoons with short handwritten textes. The cartoons are separated by a thin ink line. They are
printed in 1833 for the first time and they are collected together in 1846 under the title Histoires en estampes. The names of characters are Monsieur Jabot, Monsieur Crpin, Monsieur Vieux
Bois, Monsieur Pencil, Monsieur Cryptogame, Docteur Festus, Histoire d'Albert,Histoire de Mr Trictrac. With them the swiss artist draws funny satirical pictures of the XIXth century society,
according to the great tradition of caricature in England (Hogarth, Rowlandson and Cruikshank) and in France (Grandville).
http://www.fanofunny.com/topffer_e.html

Sneak-peek weekly lectures

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Week 2: Closure, Panel, Transition

Scott McCloud Understanding Comics 1993

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Human imagination takes 2 separate images and transforms them into a single idea. Comics panels fracture both time and space, offering a jagged, staccato rhythm of
unconnected moments. But closure allows us to connect these moments and mentally construct a continuous, unified reality.

Week 3: Page layout, composition

Chris Ware Jimmy Corrigan:The smartest kid in town 2000

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The composition & layout is the way a sequential art is presented to the reader through the visual elements.

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Week 4: Image and Text

Chris Ware Quimby the mouse 1990-1993

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The texts & images contain the base information of a sequential art - its story.

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Week 5: Time and Space

Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons Watchmen 1987

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The term the 4th Dimension refers to a special relationship between space and time wherein the two conflate such that infinite multiple dimensionalities become
simultaneously present.

Week 6: Webcomics

Drew Weing PUP

http://www.drewweing.com/pup/13pup.html
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What are the differences in making/reading comics between print and screen?

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Week 7:Visual Narrative Structure

Organizational Chart
http://www.bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts/
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- Semantic/event structures are aspects of meaning - the message conveyed by a sequence of images (or words, sentences, or film shots).
structure is the system by which those meanings are presented.
- Narrative
This
is
why
the same meaning can be drawn in several possible visual sequences they convey the same meaning, but have different narrative structures.
-

Week 8: Dynamic

Disney Enterprises Tron Legacy

http://disneydigitalbooks.go.com/tron/#
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Examine the use of sound and motion (dynamic) in digital comics.

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Week 9: Interactive

Daniel Benmergui Storyteller

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Exploring interactivity - making choices and taking actions in interactive comics.

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Week 10: Review & Whats next

Neil Cohn
http://www.emaki.net/#
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Explore the current research in comics studies, for the academics and practitioners, future research possibilities.

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This is not a comics class.

What we do not cover:
1) Build characters
2) Teach you how to draw
3) Cultural studies
4) Superhero
This module gives you some ideas + practical skills
about how to tell interactive visual stories

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Assessment

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Assessment (100% CA)

Assignment /Projects

Individual (70%)

Group (30%)

Participation

10%

Tutorial submissions

10%

Assignments (4)

50%

Final Project (1)

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30%

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Participation (10%):
- Attendance
- IVLE forum: contribution to knowledge (I have subscribed all
of you to the forum)
- Lecture: class exercises & quiz

Tutorial submissions (10%):

- submission of assignment drafts
- critique/feedback session of assignments

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Assignments (50%):
- Total of 4 assignments
- Each assignment is designed to solve certain technical
+ conceptual problems
There are 2 submission deadlines for each assignment:
After one week during tutorial: Critique sessions.
After two weeks: Final submission (Friday)

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Final Project (30%):

Implementation: 20%
- Creation of prototypes
Developmental Process: 10%
- Documentation of the process

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Tools:
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Dreamweaver
Good to have but not mandatory some basic coding language (good to have)
e.g. JavaScript, JQuery, HTML5, CSS

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Next Week:
- Topic: Panel, Frame and Transition
- Read: McCloud, S. Understanding Comics: The Invisible
Art, Chapter 3, Blood in the Gutter, pp. 60-93.
- Quiz
More Information, please check IVLE lesson plan.

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Thank You.

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