I’m quite familiar with Scott McCloud’s mindset as I’ve read Making Comics for personal enhancement before. I must admit once again that his observations is impressive and I can relate to him as I also considered my self a dedicated researcher and an observer.
The subject that always fascinated me the most is the cultural comparison between American comics and Japanese Manga. What I found interesting is not only the different methods of crafting arts but also the different kind of appreciations of beauty that has been embed within mindsets of people from different cultures and how they interchange through time. I think there is some truth in McCloud’s words when he said Western mindset tend to be goal oriented while the Eastern mindset tend to be journey oriented, regarding the superficial level.
From my personal studies, Japanese arts has a long history of interrelation between things including lives and it’s impermanence. Zen art in general is all about the processes and changes, which explains why Japanese manga often reflect that essence of appreciation to the process of life (as suggested in the philosophy of Wabi and Sabi). In the deeper level, some Chinese ideas of Qi might have inspired the way they look at nature as having it’s own spiritual significance. That is why, like Romanticism, Japanese art including various Manga tend to express the world as being alive or in the state of being a character that progresses in harmony with other living characters (I suggest one of my all time favorite Manga called Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou as an example). These are some distinctions between two traditions, although this line tend to become more unclear nowadays. After all, Japanese manga was majorly inspired by American medias and the whole world’s millennial nowadays tend to be inspired by Japanese pop cultures.
Another idea in Scott McCloud’s Understanding comic that I found fascinating and directly related to myself is the stage of growth of an artist. Since I was young I always have a dream of creating things that have a power to inspire audiences’ internal being (McCloud mentioned this trait of Comic artist in his other book). I mostly focuses on Comics, Literatures, Animations and Musics because I’ve been highly influenced by them. At one point I reached what he called superficial stage where I’ve been through many practices but got separated from the very purpose of doing it. I was lost for a while until I started reaching for the purpose again and I seems to find it in the commonality within all of those mediums I mentioned. There is a magical degrees of sincerity and pure inspiration I found within good musics. Now I believe that in all forms of great art I regard to also possesses the same element.
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