Chris Ware Response

"I couldn’t plan anything piece by piece in script form before I drew it. The drawing is as much the writing, if not more the writing, as the actual words themselves."


I really liked this statement by Chris Ware. Since he happens to draw comics, that might be why he thinks that way. However, I still think this holds true to other artists or anyone for that matter. I know it helps me very much to have a picture in handy in order to conjure up the words to go along with it. It is like how the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words". In this sense, the drawing can probably be more than the writing as Ware states. In my opinion, it is harder to write or describe something and then try to reflect a drawing out of that. To me, that is like working backwards. It feels more natural to draw something up and then just describe it with whatever words come to mind. Somewhat similar to how we describe the art that we see in class. 

I decided to use this picture by Chris Ware because it reminded me of a cartoon I used to watch growing up. He mentioned in the interview that he attempted to make a comical story without using words; he also found that drawing cats and mice made the attempts much easier. He was trying to tell an informative story using everything he can (character music themes, drawings, settings, and gestures) except words. This part specifically reminded me of the cartoon Tom and Jerry. I used to watch this everyday as a kid before I went to school. Basically, the whole show revolves around a cat and a mouse; there are now words or speech I should say besides the occasional cry of pain. Typically, all the show contains, are music, gestures, and setting. With just that, the show did a well enough job at illustrating the story. I completely understood what was going on, without any type of speech needed.