Oh, no! My comic book pretentiousness is showing...

So, I like to experiment. Whatever I happen to be working on, I always like to explore the medium, how it's used, and how I can approach the work in a creative way.

For Kissing Chaos: 'Til I Die, one of my goals, at least visually, was to explore how comics are used to tell a story. While art styles, visual cues and varying use of layout change over the years, for the most part, the type remains the same. The fonts change, but word balloons, caption boxes are mainstays. This led me to ponder the blurry lines that's define/differentiate comics/cartoons/picture books/ prose as creative story telling mediums.

One of the most widely used terms used to define comics is sequential art. On Wikipedia comics are described as a graphic medium in which images are utilized to convey a sequential narrative. Generally, the visuals take prominence over the type.

I like to think of comics as a synergistic union of text and image. The effects produced by a story told the comic medium is hard to replicate in other forms.

That said, there are some great comics where text is completely removed out of the picture. Powerful stuff, but still considered equal to comics that use text and image in tandem.

This, I find interesting.

If we use the Opera as an example, if one were to remove one of the key elements, whether it be music or the stage performance, it would cease to be Opera. Yet, we remove text from comics, and it's still comics.

With KC:'TID, I wanted to explore what would happen if we did the opposite.

Early on in the webcomic, I would use artsy fartsy typography to present text in a visually interesting manner, all the while moving it to the forefront of this particular comic's experience. I went so far as to have almost an entire chapter be entirely comprised of type. What I did there was quite literally, remove the artwork, so we were left with the words that would normally be there, if it were a normal comic.

Though that seems a little extreme, it was basically one small change to the comic formula.

What I attempted to do with the latest episode of KC:TID, was truly strike a balance between text and image. I tried to combine prose story telling (text proper, if you will), with sequential artwork. Hopefully, the text and the visuals filled in the blanks for each other, creating a seamless storytelling experience.

Who know. I'm just fucking around. Though, personally I'm happy with this weeks results, and I think I'll keep exploring comics on this tangent.

thoughts?

ADC