McCloud, chapter 6, displayed the comic box shown above; this interested me, I never thought about the division that took place in painting and writing over the past. This comic juxtaposed both writing and painting and chronicled their ever-entangled past producing an interesting yet educational comic. The above comic depicts the divide between writing and painting through art and writing itself. Making it a wonderful example of the potential power sourced in combining these two art forms.
Beyond the face value message of this comic, I was able to connect on a deeper level as I find myself gravitating towards painting even though I chose to write awhile back. I look at writing as an art, just as much as painting so it really isn’t all that hard to combine the two for me. It will be interesting to watch these two art forms and see where they end up.
“The computer got us this far; the crayon might get us even further” (Clive Thompson on the power of Visual Thinking)
This article reminds me of my childhood and all the coloring books I scribbled through. But, that scribbling wasn’t child’s play, it was the future, Thompson believes.
‘“Using one of my son’s Crayolas, I drew doodles of all the laptops and covered them with little icons depicting the pros, cons, and cost of each. When I stood back and looked at the pictures, the answer leaped out. I could now ‘see’ at a glance which deal best fit my needs and pocketbook…” (Clive Thompson on the power of Visual Thinking).
I don’t know if he envisions the future filled with crayons and notebooks, like Blues Clues. But I can speculate he is envisioning a more artistic, rather than linguistic, society. Where people communicate and work in an environment more shaped by the ‘’apple style” than the ever fading “dell style” we are currently working our way out of. He speaks of a poster sized iPad that will help us communicate and work in a new dimension, much more efficient than our current one. I wonder what other instances could be effected by shifting our focus from words to pictures, though I doubt words, in this sense, will ever become obsolete.
I like the "apple" vs. "dell" metaphor. I'm sure that will push a few buttons among PC lovers.
ReplyDeleteIn the first frame you posted, it's interesting how precarious the balance seems—how is he holding all of that up with just two hands? I wonder if that is a metaphor for the inevitability that the two will come together. Each one standing alone is bound to topple over; they need each other.
Apple's logo uses the IMAGE of an Apple while Dell's just have a dull logo with the word "DELL". Interesting. I don't think words will ever become obsolete because there are fields that are still and will continue to be dominated by them (law, for example).
ReplyDeleteMcCloud seems incredibly "proud", as Karen put it, of comics, because they are one of the few forms of communication that have retained the use of images and words to seamlessly tell a story. It will be interesting to see where the two inevitably end up, especially in an academic sense. In ten years, perhaps most literature text books will be dominated by graphics, but only time will tell.
Karen, I agree it seems inevitable the two will collide. Keep in mind the great equalizer is time, so most likely in time the two will be inseparable.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, I can't even explain how happy I would be if in ten years, academics were more visual. But, I just can't see a professor in ten years being that chill. They love their books...