Before creating my own comic, I had to read two graphic novels that I found very intriguing. Both, Fun Home and Vietnamerica are extremely well written and illustrated. I was completely captured by both styles of illustrations even though they were opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of complexity. Fun Home gives off a stronger "cartoon-ish" vibe than that of GB Tran's work. Vietnmerica came out looking a lot more sophisticated and well planned out. In my opinion, the images in Vietnamerica added more to the story than those of Fun Home. A lot of the visual impact is drawn directly from one page. Above is a picture of pages 136 and 137 from Tran's graphic novel, a great example of what inspired the style seen throughout my comic. Out of the 280 page book, Tran decided to include real-life photographs on one page and one page only. 1 out of 280 seems like an insignificant fraction, but the impact was felt nonetheless. This page was the one that really brought the characters to life. These images allow the reader develop a better sense for the story that is being told and helps the reader envision the rest of the novel. Now there are less assumptions that need to be made by the reader when imagining the scenes.
This is what I tried to achieve. To do that, I included 4 photographs in my 16 frames. I was very cautious of overloading the comic with photos because then it loses the comic-feel that the drawn characters naturally possess. I view this 1:4 ratio as just enough to keep the interest of the reader without turning it into a slideshow.
This is what I tried to achieve. To do that, I included 4 photographs in my 16 frames. I was very cautious of overloading the comic with photos because then it loses the comic-feel that the drawn characters naturally possess. I view this 1:4 ratio as just enough to keep the interest of the reader without turning it into a slideshow.