Chapter 2

I thought McCloud’s idea that the cartoon face is easier to identify with because of all the features that have been stripped away is interesting. I always compared animated movies with their live action counterparts under the lens that cartoon faces can be more expressive, and thus amplify the emotion that is trying to be conveyed. I thought this amplification was the biggest drive for stories being told in animation vs live-action. At first I had trouble with his idea that we attach to cartoons because we see ourselves more easily in them, but then I thought about the trend of “what would I look like in this cartoon.” I’ve seen some artists do multiple renditions of themselves in different animation styles, and never realized that this self-identification might come from the less than accurate self image we have of ourselves.

Chapter 5

I liked the comparison McCloud made between the power of describing the invisible that images have vs words. His idea that words have a “cumulative” effect makes sense to me since it takes time to read and process a piece of text, whereas an image has an immediate effect because of our ability to see the whole thing at once. I have a much better understanding of how the build-up and pace of words can lead to a desired effect, but much about why I want to take this class is learning how the different elements of the visual can create a similar experience.