Word and Image as Presented by Brian Fies

           On Nov. 2, 2010, Brian Fies, the author and illustrator of Mom’s Cancer and Whatever Happened to The world of Tomorrow? presented to our Design 001 class. I really enjoyed his presentation because he was completely honest and he also gave us some tips and ticks for when we become professional designers.

            One of the many useful design elements that Fies talked about was how words and images work together to communicate effectively. This is especially true in comics where if you don’t have the words to the picture you couldn’t understand the message and vise versa. Pictures tell you a lot so the words you read can say something else. Fies compared the words and pictures in comics to the words and songs of rock music. He said that you can take bad lyrics to rock music and combine it with a song to produce a song that many people will enjoy. Similarly, Fies said that you can take a mediocre writer and a mediocre artist and together they make a good comic artist. As Fies pointed out, the language of comics allows one to communicate differently because the words could be dead serious while the pictures could be ridiculous. Through comics the author is allowed to use metaphors to illustrate drama and conflict in a ridiculous way. 

Image from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/7/14/1279113726938/Moms-Cancer-comic-by-Bria-001.jpg

Just like here when mom is waking on a rope and there are alligators underneath. The words on the other hand are not describing the pictures but they are telling a story, which the pictures help bring out in a ridiculous manner.

            Another element that Fies analyzed was how in a comic you are allowed to play with space and time, in where time passes very quickly or not at all.

Image from: http://www.helenjaques.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Moms-cancer-300x222.jpg

Here we see that a lot of time has passed and this is mainly due to the pictures. Sure the words have a lot to do with it like the reason behind the cancer but the pictures are our dead give away that time has passed.

            Fies did a great job in explaining the terms and concepts that I read in Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics. I feel that his examples really added to my previous knowledge that I had about comics.