Response to The Secret of Drawing 2: Storylines 

I found this documentary interesting because it first portrayed comics and story-telling drawings as dark and sometimes depressing. When I think of comics I usually think of humor or jokes, but when I look at them deeper (as this video showed) I do see the darker side. One theme of this film that stood out to me was the idea that comics provide a way to say something that cannot be expressed in words. I think this was especially true for some of the more serious work of Francisco Goya with his depictions of war. He was able to capture deep painful emotion in a more profound way than words can. Images are also often more capable of telling stories than words. I enjoyed viewing the work of story-board artist J. Todd Anderson because he showed what goes on behind the scenes of film. I think this touched on an important concept that drawing is a universal language. Everyone, no matter how they think or speak, could understand the plan for the film from Anderson’s drawings. Drawing for planning a film is one thing, but turning comic-like sketches into animation is a daunting task. I appreciated seeing the effort and time it took Sylvian Chomet to create an animated film from his drawings. Every movement of every character had to be drawn before it could be put in the film. His work truly does show dedication to storytelling through art. Many of the artists from this film found unique ways to capture feelings or thoughts that are often shared but unsaid.

6-Bullet Points to Caitlin McGurk’s talk

• Billy Ireland Cartoon museum is the largest collection of comics and comic related items in the world.
• Milton Caniff was an OSU student from 1920s and successful cartoonist. He made adventure comic strips including “Terry and The Pirates.”  He wrote the comics for every day of the week and used cinematic elements such as camera angle changes. He even received a letter from John Steinbeck
• Will Eisner collection- touched every aspect of comics from the comic strip to teaching with comics and advertising; He is the father of the graphic novel format and published a graphic novel in the late 1970s.
• P. Craig Russel collaborates with Neil Gaiman; Russel is an Ohio based artist who helped create Coraline and he is also one of the only artists to adapt a piece of music into a comic.
• Jeff Smith is the author of Bone. He began his drawings as an OSU lantern comic strip and has created a popular young adult graphic novelist; He used the idea of masking for his main character to make it more relatable.
• Edwina Dumm was the very first woman in the United States to be hired as a full time cartoon artists. She was hired to create political cartoons for a Republican magazine at a time when she didn’t even have the right to vote.