Because I spend quite a bit of time on the bus everyday I have found myself with lots of reading time (my mp3 player broke.) And one of the books that I’ve been wanting to take a look at for some time now is “Understanding Comics” by Scott McCloud. Many have recommended this book including Ernast Adams in 50 books for Everyone in the Game Industry and it shows up on many lists of ‘Game Designers Recommend’ collections, even though it’s not even about video games. “Understanding Comics” is a comic book about comic books.

Now, I’m not really into the whole graphic novel thing, Sure, I had a comic book collection when I was younger but I found this book both insightful into how comics and how art in general is percevied. And the creative process that goes on in graphic art. (To which Scott devotes a chapter.)

Scott has a nack for visual storytelling – He is a comic book artist after all And I chuckled out loud in a number of places. As you accompany him throughout the book he seeks to find answers to some of the more ‘important questions’ surrounding his art. And yes, that is one of the questions he pursues, can comics be considered ‘art’? – His answer is of course a resounding yes.

There has been quite a lot of debate recently about whether video games can be considered art or not. I’d like to stay 10 miles away from this argument (I once took a philosophy of art paper at university, and we failed to even define what art was, which is a bit of a problem if you ask me.) But Scotts treatment on comics as art surely aids those who wish to show that games can be art too, as they share alot of common ground. Both are visual mediums, both are additive just as much as they are subtractive when it comes to design – The huge growth in casual games shows the subtractive side of game design, ie how to we simplify, refine, remove and still get our intended meaning across, without limiting gameplay. And both involve a “reader” who can impose themselves apon the work. The chapter in Scotts book concerning reading-in-between-the-frames, as well as the treadment of icons and abstractions in comics show just how much the control the reader has over the story.

So if you even just a passing interest in comics, or art or videogames you should give “Understanding Comics” a try – it’s quite insightful.

I just finished reading Peter Jackson : A Film Makers Journey by Brian Sibley and its a very insightful read.

Note: I tried to find and link to this book on Amazon but they don’t have it. It’s possible that the publisher decided to slate this book as a New Zealand only release, or maybe we are just the first country to get it and it will become avalible at a later date.

When I first heard that Peter Jackson was going to tackle the seemingly impossible task of bringing The Lord of the Rings to the silver screen I took a double take. Being from New Zealand myself I was already familiar with Jackson’s works. I liked his earlier films and I new he was quite talented. But we were talking about The Lord of the Rings here, a movie that would probably be as huge and as difficult to film as the Star Wars Trilogy. To be perfectly honest I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure if the bearded film maker from New Zealand could pull it off.

But I didn’t know Peter personally, and if I had, I’m sure I would have thought otherwise. After reading through his biography and seeing the shear will and determination that he expressed in his early work, in retrospect it seemed almost obvious that he would someday amass the skills required to direct the Tolkien epic.

Some fragments from the book that I really liked:

Peter’s first film Bad Taste was filmed over a 4 year period shooting on weekends with a bunch of his mates with no pay and no script. He was repeatedly turned down by the New Zealand Film Commission based on the commercial viability of the product before they would finally give him money to finish the film. The moral: Hard work and determination pay off – If you can’t find funding for your projects, you’re not dead in the water yet. You have to soldier on, even if it means paying through your own pocket. It was only until the film was 80% complete that the film commission finally understood what Peter was doing and agreed to fund the rest of the film. That film went on to screen at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and received a standing ovation. It was sold to over 20 countries for distribution and received many awards.

Quote from Peter on problem Solving:
“You may have problems to solve but for every problem there is always a solution. It’s a positive-and-negative thing: You can’t have a problem without there being a solution. There always is. Your job is to find it.”

At the end of the book Peter reflects on his achievements and what he wants to do next. He’s won an Oscar, produced low-budget splatter films. Tackled The Lord of the Rings – probably be the most complex movie he will ever shoot. Remade King Kong – the film that got him interested in movies when he was a boy of 9 years. And he’s done it all in his home country. Now he’s free to work on whatever he wants. He can just focus on making the movies that interest him, with no particular association with genre or budget.

And that is the ultimate in creative freedom. Well done Peter Jackson.