The concept of amplification through simplification in McCloud's second chapter of The Vocabulary of Comics explains how viewers relate to simplified drawings versus complex drawings. If a character is drawn simply with basic shapes and lines, then this character can look like anyone. A viewer can relate to a simplified face because they can associate simplified features with someone they know or possibly themselves. An artist can amplify this association by contrasting the simple character with a detailed background.
The recommended website for Ninjai displays amplification through simplification. The demons are simply drawn, with a face that has simple features. The colors of all the characters are plain with little shadowing or detail. In chapter one, Ninjai never shows his face, further simplifying his character so that anyone can compare themselves to him. Similarly, in the link to Landscapes, the creator uses simple shapes that create the image of a landscape. The background colors could possibly come from the Microsoft Powerpoint color schemes. Real life pictures that depict random images (or not?) are positioned somewhere in the landscape. My eyes are first drawn to the pictures, which I keep in mind as I study the landscape. Through simplification, I can place my associated thoughts to the pictures in any landscape I choose.
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3 comments:
Nice details.
I also liked the use of Amplification through simplification because it gives the reader (as you've said) the freedom to associate a simple image with any of the billions they have stored in their memory. You use a great example of the face in shadow, because a face in shadow can be anyone we know, but will probably be someone that we're afraid of, due to the ominous quality of the shadow. Good postz.
I would be hard pressed to offer any advice on this-very descriptive. I guess you could go at it from the narratology perspective in that-no, I think you've done an excellent job with this. I was going to suggest using some specific terminology but I don't really feel like you need to. You do address audience and how the "writer" is "speaking" to the audience and etc, so you do address narratology in my opinion.
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