Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud The Vocabulary of Comics: Icons

THE PREMISE Images are the basic vocabulary of comics. These images, or “icons,” are images used to represent information that can be, but is not necessarily visual. They can appeal to senses other than sight (taste, touch, smell, hearing) represent abstract thought and feeling. We allow ourselves to be manipulated or “fooled” by the visuals. By processing what are often highly simplified drawings or marks on a page, we hear, smell, touch, taste acknowledge concepts like time, speed, and emotion. Words are highly abstract icons, but abstraction levels vary when discussing pictorial icons.

EXAMPLE: FACES AS ICON This is not a face… but we can’t help seeing one, anyway!

We are programmed to see faces, even in inanimate objects “Facial Pareidolia”: We are programmed to see faces, even in inanimate objects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsxIJ32Eg2A Pareidolia: par-i-DOH-lee-a: a tendency to see patterns or meaning in even random data; the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in seeing a face in the moon.

Awareness of Others versus Awareness of Self: Close your eyes. Smile. What did you see when you smiled? How do you know you smiled? We see a detailed image of others’ faces, but we hold a constant, if sketchy awareness of our own faces (and, to a lesser degree, our bodies). This self-image is somewhat like a cartoon representation of our physical being. Connection to McLuhan / inanimate objects. Experiences: Sensual (external world) and Conceptual (Identity) = Form (tangible) and Ideal (abstract) = Matrix (artificial construct) and Real World (real…whatever that means) Sometimes combined (Disney)

Icons amplify meaning.

Icons universalize application.

Icons personalize the message.

IDENTIFICATION THEORY: We project ourselves into the more abstract faces and identify with and/or pay attention to them more easily. They engage us.