Understanding Comics Reading

In Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics he discusses the idea of how we see things as icons. I really was intrigued with this part of the book because what he says I feel is very true. He discusses how we see things in such a realistic form, but when we view it back in our minds we see it as something so simplistic.

He discribes to us about how we view a face. I agree that we do always think of a truly artistic piece to be something that is almost lifelike in a way. But that can't really be an iconic image because if something is so realistic we can only mark that person or thing to one specific being. But when we take that realistic image and make it more simplified we begin making something that is much more relatable to a broader audience.

I also think this is true because when we watch a cartoon or read a comic, we tend to attach our lifestyle and way we want to be with someone that is well versed in that cartoon or comic. We try to make ourselves be more relatable with our favorite character, but what we don't notice is that the character we are trying to be like was made to be relatable to a wide range of people.

I was also very fascinated when McCloud brought up how our eyes can make a face out of a circle two dots and a line. We know that a face doesn't look like that, but yet our eyes and minds are able to make a face out of those shapes. I feel that we can do that because even as children when we would draw on paper we would make faces out of very generic shapes. So when we see a face like that drawn out we can easily read it as a face.