Notes from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics

I was reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics (1994) and I learned a lot about comic theory and the ways that time can be conveyed through panels,

• Panel transitions
• moment to moment
• Transition moment to moment,
• action to action
• aspect to aspect

Panels are contained time capsules. the length can determine the space and time of the panel. how long a moment is acts as a gesture to show you when time  is divided. The number of speech bubbles along with the direction they are placed in can suggest the length of time is taken between them.
One panel does not mean that each panel last one moment. (McCloud 1994 p. 97)

A timeless feeling can be conveys when there are no borders on a panel. It helps provide a sense of space and can establish mood.

 Panels can provide closure he gutter. the phenomenon where once can see part of  one thing but is able to be aware of the whole thing. (McCloud 1994 p.82-83)

The use if lines in comics can reflect the artist's moods lines used for suggesting an invisible representation. A visible symbol can end up becoming an invisible symbol. the use of symbols in human civilization is constantly developing. It can even evolve in different places such as eastern symbols have develop in a different direction to western ones. (McCloud 1994 p.124-131)

References

McCloud, S. 1994. Understanding comics. New York: Harper Perennial