The Masking Effect Growing up in France, I was enthralled by bandes dessinées, or Franco-Belgian comics, so I was particularly drawn to Scott McCloud’s description of the masking effect, which consists of very iconic characters combined with unusually realistic backgrounds. I remember always enjoying reading comics such as Tintin or Asterix because I felt transported to a different world, thanks to the detailed and sensually stimulating world depicted. However, while reading them, I never made the observation that the characters were very simplistic in comparison, but I now understand this phenomenon of viewer identification a lot better. Being less familiar with the Japanese style, I also appreciated that McCloud detailed how the masking effect was virtually a national style there for a time, yet has evolved very differently from the West towards more realism in certain aspects.

Expressive Lines McCloud’s description of the variety of lines and the moods expressed through those lines ties right back to Dondis’s explanation of how lines hold tremendous energy and character. I especially appreciated the comparison between Rory Hayes’s style and Charles Schulz’s style. This comparison highlighted how expressive lines don’t necessarily have to convey intense emotions; they can also be expressive in the sense that they communicate calm, reason, and introspection. McCloud then went on to show some of the ways that line choices can affect their interpretations, and specifically highlighted direction as one of these stylistic choices, which connects back to the elements of visual communication that we read about in Dondis’s text.