oh hey i was a finalist for the comic contest cool

and i got a certificate in front of a bunch of people including scott mccloud haha

i am super honored

despite kinda not doing as well as i should have

but yaaaaay $10 gift certificate to the comic book store!! :D

The short conversation I had with Scott McCloud after his lecture on Comics & Visual Communication last night got me thinking about the connection between information and the medium it’s on.

It was a really hilarious, entertaining, informative, and inspirational lecture.  One point that stood out to me the most was his argument that the comic needs to be created for the medium/device it’s on- not forced into that medium/device.  Our two eyes view the world in a horizontally-fat landscape mode; the same shape as our computer screens, TV, and open books.  Despite having the career goal of being an industrial designer at one point, I had never had this idea explicitly shown to me.  It got me thinking.

I was able to have a short talk with him while he was signing my book, and I am really glad I did.

I was reflecting on webcomics (yeah, that thing that kinda fills my Google Reader subscription list to a little over 100 as of now *sigh*) and their “old media” adaptations.  Ever since I got in college, got a credit card, and moved out, I’ve been supporting my favorite webcomics sometimes.  This usually takes place in the form of buying their print formats.  Doesn’t always turn out as pretty as it did on screen.  Don’t get me wrong- the art still looks gorgeous as ever; if not even moreso than before.  Comics that were already in a book-ish format usually do fine.  In others, it’s just that paneling and nuances (hover-overs, animated segments, easter eggs, rant, community and such) that are found in the internet version just don’t translate well into physical book form.

Of course, with creating a print form of a webcomic, it’s still a tolerable subtraction, so I didn’t mind it much.  I saw it more like an annoyance than anything.  But what really bugged me was the Kindle version of a webcomic.  It’s a comic book shaped webcomic, so I thought it’d be fine.  I downloaded a preview, just to be safe.  It was terrible.  First of all, on a small Kindle, it’s impossible to perceive any bit of detail.  Speech text turns into squiggles and dots.  And the zooming feature of Kindle sucks- quality is horrible.  Then moving around the viewing box after zooming in is even worse because of the e-ink refresher spazzing out.

Needless to say, I’m really glad I only downloaded the preview instead of buying it.

Is it possible to create a comic that is effectively engaging and interactive on a really limited format, say, KINDLE?  We’ve done wonders with paper and ink in the past, so shouldn’t some extra buttons and complex codes make the potential of the art expand like webcomics do online?  Or is Kindle just limiting because it keeps some some properties of paper while being electronic- all while having less function than the modern cellphone?  Of course, it can’t be blamed because it was made for reading (textbooks that have graphics and diagrams look bad by the way).  Not for comics or pictures, oh no because they are so different and should be kept separate after age 3 what are you thinking you heretic bad bad bad.

I can’t help but thinking that maybe there is a way to effectively produce comics for kindle- even though every example I’ve looked at so far is just a pathetic copy-paste from print.  Maybe one that doesn’t have to use that disgusting zoom feature that comes with it.  Maybe a better use for that e-ink page refresher too.

I feel like it’s really got no potential compared to the PC or smartphone… but I still feel compelled to try.

A bit of a side project of sorts.

Stay tuned.

I feel like I’m the only one mourning the loss of Google Reader.