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Directing the Eye
Directing the Eye Composition in Visual Storytelling How the eyes read an image depends on what is depicted and how all part relate to the whole picture. In the visual arts this… -
Framing and Capturing in Graphic Narrative
The Law of Enclosure Framing and Capturing in graphic narrative and visual storytelling The background has a strong effect on the sense of unity, it provides context and guides our understanding of… -
Tipping the Balance
A Question of Dominance The Figure/Ground Law in Graphic Narrative and Visual Storytelling If we see an image, we immediately try to separate the foreground from the background. This can create an… -
Simplicity and Responsibility in Graphic Narrative
The Power and Dangers of the Law of Simplicity The Law of Simplicity or Prägnanz Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000) The Law of Simplicity is also known… -
Using Blanks and Creating Chaos in Graphic Narrative
Cutting Edge Editing for some Piece of Mind The Laws of Closure, the Filled Gap and Continuity Brecht Evens, Wrong Place (2010) Used with kind permission This Gestalt principle is often divided… -
The Power of Suggestion and The Law of Equal Destination
Guiding the Eye and Moving the Mind and Law of Equal Destination or Same Fate This principle or method is about movement or, of course, suggested movement. We experience objects as a… -
Judgment by Comparison and the Law of Proximity
Digging the Right Grave and the Law of Proximity Edward Gorey, Ashes in Urn (not dated but somewhere between 1925 and 2000) Elements that are close to each other are considered a unit.… -
Despair and the Law of Similarity or Equality
Despair in Graphic Narrative and the Law of Similarity or Equality André Franquin, a frame from a comic from Die Laughing (1988) We see things that are similar to each other as… -
The Parts Versus the Whole
The Parts Versus the Whole And how to distinguish them... Director Alexander Mackendric (1913-1993) states: "What a film director really directs is the audiences attention." That goes for every visual storyteller, of… -
Details…
Details, and that strange reoccurring unicorn dream... In 1998, just before I graduated from the Design Academy, in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), I did my internship with Ben van Os. At the time…
Getting Graphic
Research and thoughts on
visual storytelling
and graphic communication.
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This blog will be a collection of interests related to narrative drawing. (For examples of my commercial work check my portfolio.)
I remember pondering about choosing a profession when I was little, I remember thinking I wanted to do something I would love to keep learning about. Something that didn’t end at 5 or at the doorstep of the office.
And I did. And I do. I keep learning. Studying all kinds of visual storytelling. Reading books and comics. Watching movie. Watching movies about movies. Following tutorials, visiting workshops, doing courses (or a master for that matter), experimenting and practising. Asking myself questions like why classics have become classics. If knowledge of anatomy really is important or if it really isn’t. How to capture the essence of a character. How to give a flat surface meaningful depth. How the composition you choose influences the story you tell. How important seemingly meaningless details can be. How to capture and manipulate the reader and if all power corrupts …
My collection of interest might become a collection of bits and pieces with some fragments of insight. I hope my list of categories might guide you to something that might interest you too.
Happy hunting…
And if you’re not a robot please feel free to add a comment, pass a suggestion or contact me.