First of all, this book was especially relevant and eye-opening to me since I hope to pursue making comics/graphic novels, it really helped me get a deeper understanding of what really goes into a good comic and the psychology rather than many other instructional guides that only talk about stylistic methods and techniques.
Reading about applying some of the understanding of how our brains work into comics was really intriguing; one part in particular was about the tendency for viewers to identify more with stylized/iconic characters. I definitely agree with that idea and also that when artists try to go too photo realistic it can start to get a bit stiff and lifeless. I couldn't help feeling however that McCloud was a little too bias towards fully stylized cartoons and that the closer a character moves to realism the less effective it will be at staying memorable/recognizable and allow the viewer to connect with the character and story. Maybe I'm misunderstanding or maybe it's my own bias coming through but personally I feel that it's possible to be closer to realism and retain those qualities by presenting the iconic look through things like body features, clothing, hair style, accessories and even more subtle things like body language and attitude; this can even be shown in video games and some animated films that are clearly striving for realism yet manage to keep the characters striking and memorable.
The final portion that really struck me was the section about surface, craft, structure, idiom, form, and idea. I thought it was really interesting the way McCloud wrote about the different levels of comic illustrators that either settle on what they're good at or decide to strive for greater things. Many artists get caught up with making a comic pretty on the surface but often end up hallow and unmemorable but the artists who begin to dive deeper towards good form and ideas are the ones who obtain recognition and last through time.
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