Scott McCloud, Character Development, and the 6-fold Path
Or "Why there will never be a good wolf comic to come out of deviantART."
So I just got finished reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics which is probably one of the most interesting books I've ever read. In one of the last chapters he describes a 6-fold-path for "pure art", as in art that is created for the purpose of being art. The six parts can be discovered at any point, and in any order, but "pure art" will never be realized until all 6 are achieved by the artist. They are:
Someone who only knows the Surface of a work is someone that basically copies other people's work: they have no concept of how to create something unique, the mechanics of the Craft elude them. According to McCloud, unless they can break into another layer, they will NEVER be able to create anything worth while. I think we could agree on this, right? I mean, people who just mimic what they see other people drawing are not able to understand WHY things are drawn the way they are, and if all there is to their art is the surface level of appearance, it's not necessarily interesting.
Someone who knows Surface and Craft might be able to get into the comics industry as an assistant. They can imitate, and the know the mechanics of creating a comic and what must be done, but storytelling/art direction/purpose eludes them. They can't support themselves, they don't have the skills to be able to create a comic without help. We can probably agree with this too. A standard wolf comic on DA is usually drawn fairly well and they can put a comic together, but the story is shit and their layouts are messy.
Someone who masters Surface, Craft and Structure can create something for themselves. They know how to tell a story, the know how to construct a comic, and they get the art direction they wanted. But what they create won't be unique. They'll be able to get by in the industry, but they tell the same tired stories because they don't understand how to bring something unique to the table. I think we'll agree a lot of comic artists on DA are here: they can draw well, they can put the story together, but it's BORING. It's been done, or even if it hasn't been it's not being presented in an interesting way.
Someone who masters Surface, Craft, Structure and Idiom, though, this is when people bring unique and interesting perspective to otherwise tired material. These are the people who can make cliched stories WORK, because they bring their own flair to the story and are able to tell things in ways that are unique and exciting. These people (and the ones below) are the ones that the Surface artist are immitating- they are good. They can tell a story well. The Surface level artist will not be able to understand why.
The last two tiers, Form and Idea/Purpose go hand in hand. Basically, to obtain these levels, the artist must answer:
Why am I doing this? (Idea/Purpose / Form)
Am I trying to say something WITH my art? (Idea/Purpose) aka convey a message/story and art is just a tool
Am I trying to discover what art is capable of? (Form) aka art becomes the purpose/idea
SO. What are we learning here? Well, here is what I took away from it.
Art is meant to inspire. And art is never going to do these things if the artist hasn't discovered all 6 levels of the path. And no one is ever going to succeed writing the same tired stories about THIS WOLF PACK IS FIGHTING THIS WOLF PACK AND THE WOLVES ARE BLOOD RED AND THEY FIGHT BECAUSE THE OTHER WOLVES ARE EVIL AND STUFF. ALSO THE MAIN CHARACTER HAS MAGIC POWERS.
I wish there was a way to SHOW people the path, like, force them to see it, but the discoveries are a part of the subconscious, and can't be forced. When I look at this I think of the millions of people on DA (myself included) who are TRYING to tell good stories, but can't because they are stuck on one level or another. We're all missing something. We're trapped in the ideas that "I don't have to develop a backstory to have a good character, the design is enough" (Surface), "I'm very weak in certain areas but people will overlook those things for the strength of my other areas" (Craft), "Yeah wolf stories have been done before but if I make the wolves red it will be unique, right?" (Structure), or even "My comic is good, my story is good... but I don't really have a reason for doing this" (Idiom).
Right now I feel like all I have is the Structure and the Idiom, and I'm missing everything else. I don't know where you guys stand, but I have to say that it makes me want to try even harder to master my crafts.
So I just got finished reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics which is probably one of the most interesting books I've ever read. In one of the last chapters he describes a 6-fold-path for "pure art", as in art that is created for the purpose of being art. The six parts can be discovered at any point, and in any order, but "pure art" will never be realized until all 6 are achieved by the artist. They are:
- Idea/Purpose: the content of the work, the impulses and emotions that are behind any piece
- Form: the medium that the content will take up
- Idiom: basically this is the style or genre of the piece that is unique for each artist
- Structure: how it is composed
- Craft: the physical knowledge required to complete the craft
- Surface: the outward appearance of the work, or the finished product
Someone who only knows the Surface of a work is someone that basically copies other people's work: they have no concept of how to create something unique, the mechanics of the Craft elude them. According to McCloud, unless they can break into another layer, they will NEVER be able to create anything worth while. I think we could agree on this, right? I mean, people who just mimic what they see other people drawing are not able to understand WHY things are drawn the way they are, and if all there is to their art is the surface level of appearance, it's not necessarily interesting.
Someone who knows Surface and Craft might be able to get into the comics industry as an assistant. They can imitate, and the know the mechanics of creating a comic and what must be done, but storytelling/art direction/purpose eludes them. They can't support themselves, they don't have the skills to be able to create a comic without help. We can probably agree with this too. A standard wolf comic on DA is usually drawn fairly well and they can put a comic together, but the story is shit and their layouts are messy.
Someone who masters Surface, Craft and Structure can create something for themselves. They know how to tell a story, the know how to construct a comic, and they get the art direction they wanted. But what they create won't be unique. They'll be able to get by in the industry, but they tell the same tired stories because they don't understand how to bring something unique to the table. I think we'll agree a lot of comic artists on DA are here: they can draw well, they can put the story together, but it's BORING. It's been done, or even if it hasn't been it's not being presented in an interesting way.
Someone who masters Surface, Craft, Structure and Idiom, though, this is when people bring unique and interesting perspective to otherwise tired material. These are the people who can make cliched stories WORK, because they bring their own flair to the story and are able to tell things in ways that are unique and exciting. These people (and the ones below) are the ones that the Surface artist are immitating- they are good. They can tell a story well. The Surface level artist will not be able to understand why.
The last two tiers, Form and Idea/Purpose go hand in hand. Basically, to obtain these levels, the artist must answer:
Why am I doing this? (Idea/Purpose / Form)
Am I trying to say something WITH my art? (Idea/Purpose) aka convey a message/story and art is just a tool
Am I trying to discover what art is capable of? (Form) aka art becomes the purpose/idea
SO. What are we learning here? Well, here is what I took away from it.
Art is meant to inspire. And art is never going to do these things if the artist hasn't discovered all 6 levels of the path. And no one is ever going to succeed writing the same tired stories about THIS WOLF PACK IS FIGHTING THIS WOLF PACK AND THE WOLVES ARE BLOOD RED AND THEY FIGHT BECAUSE THE OTHER WOLVES ARE EVIL AND STUFF. ALSO THE MAIN CHARACTER HAS MAGIC POWERS.
I wish there was a way to SHOW people the path, like, force them to see it, but the discoveries are a part of the subconscious, and can't be forced. When I look at this I think of the millions of people on DA (myself included) who are TRYING to tell good stories, but can't because they are stuck on one level or another. We're all missing something. We're trapped in the ideas that "I don't have to develop a backstory to have a good character, the design is enough" (Surface), "I'm very weak in certain areas but people will overlook those things for the strength of my other areas" (Craft), "Yeah wolf stories have been done before but if I make the wolves red it will be unique, right?" (Structure), or even "My comic is good, my story is good... but I don't really have a reason for doing this" (Idiom).
Right now I feel like all I have is the Structure and the Idiom, and I'm missing everything else. I don't know where you guys stand, but I have to say that it makes me want to try even harder to master my crafts.