We've
just celebrated Batman's first appearance in comic books, and
today we celebrate cartoons and cartoonists.
Which
made me wonder, what's the difference between cartoons and comics?
Most
people will tell you that cartoons are animated features with moving
pictures and sound, whereas comics are still pictures, either printed
or online, that tell a story through a series of drawings, usually
with narrative words and dialogue.
However,
that isn't completely correct. Otherwise, why would we call the
still, printed political cartoons “political cartoons”?
“Cartooning”
is actually a simplified style of drawing that exaggerates features,
either to be humorous or to make a point. A synonym for cartoon
is caricature. (Check out this explanation of how the word cartoon came to be.)
The
word comic comes from comedy and means, of course,
humorous. Most comic strips are indeed funny (and “the comics”
section in a newspaper is often called “the funnies”). But some
comic strips and comic books are not at all humorous.
Many
comic strips and books are drawn as cartoons. In other words, the
drawing style is simplified and exaggerated. However, many comic
books (and a few comic strips) feature very detailed and even
realistic drawings. And some even use photographs!
Today,
we use the term graphic novel for a long story told in comics,
when the publication looks like a book, and we use the term comic
book for comics published in a magazine format.
So...cartooning
is a style. A lot of comic strips, comic books, and animated movies
are drawn in cartoon style.
Comics
is a genre that features pictures, captions, speech balloons, and
sound-effect words as it tells a story or conveys information. Comics
includes comic books, comic strips, political cartoons, graphic
novels, and webcomics.
(By
the way, for anyone who is interested, there is a book called
Understanding Comics that tells the history and theory of
comics WITH COMICS. How brilliant is that?)
Today...
- Read a comic book, or the funnies, or a graphic novel.
- Watch a cartoon.
Create
your own characters for a comic strip. Think of simple stories that
can be told in just a few drawings arranged in a panel. For example:> Boy sees leaves blowing, gets a huge smile on his face.> Boy gets his kite and runs up a hill. The kite looks very unhappy.> Boy is high in the sky, looking terrified—and the kite is grinning as he holds the string and “flies” the boy.
Remember that humor can
occur because of a “switcheroo,” like the boy-and-kite story
above. It can occur because of an unexpected ending or irony or plain
old silliness. Also remember that not all comics are funny!
By
the way...
If
you were wondering, “Why is National Cartoonists' Day today, of all
days?” it's because today is the anniversary of the first-ever
color cartoon, The
Yellow Kid,
in 1895.
Also on this date:
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