The Paupers Bible: The Design Of Cartoon Strips

Comic strips (cartoon strips) are drawings, or a collection of multiple drawings, which tell a story; they are often combined with words to help tell the story, or give the punchline. This form of story telling (through imagery) has existed since Ancient Egyptian times, as well as textiles from medieval Europe. The Paupers Bible is a tradition of picture bibles beginning in the later Middle Ages, which depicts biblical events with words spoken by the characters written in scrolls (Appendix A). This, to some degree, makes them ancestors of the modern cartoon strip, which emerged in North America during the 19th century. Gary Clark is a cartoonist from Brisbane, who produces cartoon strips called 'Swamp'. These original cartoon strips are published
in newspapers, magazines and books. This essay investigates the use of colour, tone, line, shape and texture (elements of art); it also investigates the balance of the strip, the personality created for the character and how the text affects the story (the design) in the cartoon found in Appendix B.
The colour and tone are an important part of the cartoon, as they give a depth, and show distance. First, the frog and the grass behind him, which are both green, are different shades. This not only helps the audience to differentiate between them, but also adds a sense of shadow, and reality. Both the sky, which is a pale blue, and the water, which is a darker turquoise colour graduate to lighter shades as they near the horizon. This shows distance as well as making the main character and foreground pop out more, and become the centre of attention. The sand is a pale yellow orange, however, it is quite a bold contrast to the pale background. This helps to draw attention to the main character. The only other character in the strip, the duck, is only a plain black silhouette the with a small white eye, thus drawing attention to it. It also has a high contrast with the very pale, almost white, sky behind it. The sky in the second cell has no colour, as well as the thought bubble being coloured a bright yellow instead of white. This draws attention to this cell in particular, and also keeps the cartoon interesting. The cartoon is completely based on realistic colours which reflects the natural environment of the swampland the cartoon is based on. By the use of colour and tone, Gary Clark has created a realistic cartoon which uses a gradation of colours to show depth.
The other elements of art, line, shape and texture, are also important, as they create the character, as well as its surroundings. All lines are free flowing, organic lines which show a natural environment. However, the clipboard, paper and pencil are all very linear and are created with geometric lines, as they are man made. These man made objects are also made up of geometric shape, namely rectangles, triangles and circles. The other shapes, of natural elements, are all organic shapes. All cells are of different shapes and sizes which keeps the cartoon interesting. The second cell also has no border, which gives it greater emphasis. Repetitive angled lines have been used to show the texture of the grass, opposed to using jagged triangles. The claw marks created on the sand are simple black lines giving the impression, instead of shading and making them look like actual scratches in the sand. The sand is simply represented by some scattered dots and ripples in the water are shown by using curved lines radiating outwards from a set point. The texture of the wooden clip board is shown through waved lines on the back. Line, shape and texture have been used in minimal ways to represent what is shown, instead of being very detailed. It also helps us make the difference between man made and natural objects.
The design of this comic strip through the balance of the cells and now text is used helps to keep the interest of the audience.
Most cells of the cartoon strip are well balanced. The first three are a good size, and the main character is centred. The speech bubble is above him, and the items being listed below, balancing the layout of these cells. The fourth cell however has some unused space on the left size of the cell. This was put there so the frog is centred, but if does appear to be very empty with the focus on the right half. This unbalances the layout of the last cell. The text is one of the most important parts of this cartoon, as without it, the pictures alone would not make sense. First, the text simply states the obvious, but then in the last cell the punchline "Ducks hate being drawn badly!!" Is written, which is needed for the cartoon to be understandable. The personality of the main character, a teenage frog called Mort, changes significantly throughout the cartoon. At first he is curious, and wonders what happened. Then as the story progresses, he becomes more and more worried until he figures out what has happened. In the last cell his expression is the most worried. The personality of the duck has been portrayed as being evil, or mean. Through the cartoon it is shown that the duck dragged the artist into the water, and it can be assumed that the artist was drowned. This makes the duck an evil character. However, he could also just be very sensitive, and was upset and hurt by the way he was
drawn.
Through the evidence collected above, it can be concluded that through the use of the elements of art (colour, tone, line, shape and texture), as well as elements of design (balance, use of text and the character's personality), Gary Clark has created a humorous cartoon strip. This cartoon not only is humorous, but can also be understood by the reader without difficulty, due to the punchline delivered in the last cell. The comic also reflects the natural environment of the parks, bushland areas, creeks, dumps, a tannery and sludge pond which inspired the cartoon strips.