I really enjoyed Gemma Bovery (it seemed oddly invigorating after Jimmy Corrigan), and while I was caught up in the overall story (so much so that I’ve already finished), I did try to notice along the way how Posy Simmonds would strive for the little peaks at the end of each page (something that obviously was dictated by the original newspaper limits).
I think artistically Simmonds was forced to go “vertical” and in the end adapted quite well. While many of our readings this term have concentrated on how our eyes moved from left to right on a mainly square page, Gemma Bovery was the first to force our eyes up and down over a much longer vertical surface.
I’ll take one aspect of this which I found particularly captivating – the “stacked” level of artwork that would appear during the course of the novel, as can be seen in pages 6, 17, 28, 49, and 70, among others. We talked a bit in class about how it was often difficult to tell whether to read, then look at the artwork, or vice versa, or a bit of both, and in the end, I chose to do the last, reading a paragraph at a time before looking for the appropriate picture. It may violate our sense of how comics work (paging Scott McCloud), but I think in the end, Simmonds really manages to establish her own interesting stake in the larger graphic novel world.
And the vertical artwork seems to get stronger as we go on. Page 6 is really the simplest (just a series of panels illustrating each detail of the left-hand text), but in page 10, we’re already seeing some playfulness, as the photos appear to tumble out of Joubert’s hand. In 17, objects are beginning to overlap, and on page 28, there’s a subtle change to the artwork, as gray wash gives way to the black ink of the bottom right corner.
Page 70 is the best of these, in my opinion. Here Simmonds manages to convey a “crown” of sorts above the main character (no gray wash here either), a black-inked Francophile daydream sprouting upward as a tree. Everything works here, and by placing this in the upper left, Simmonds has really highlighted this montage. Our eyes fall upon it as we first turn to the page, and as we read through the text, we are drawn back piece by piece to the artwork, our eyes moving from the main character to the second level, and lastly to the nest and baby at the top. We return to the bottom, and see Herve's reaction to all this - his "deer caught in the headlights" look of shock. This is one of my favorite pieces of art from the book and not coincidentally, it signals the beginning of the end of Gemma’s fortunes.
Voyez-vous lundi!
I think artistically Simmonds was forced to go “vertical” and in the end adapted quite well. While many of our readings this term have concentrated on how our eyes moved from left to right on a mainly square page, Gemma Bovery was the first to force our eyes up and down over a much longer vertical surface.
I’ll take one aspect of this which I found particularly captivating – the “stacked” level of artwork that would appear during the course of the novel, as can be seen in pages 6, 17, 28, 49, and 70, among others. We talked a bit in class about how it was often difficult to tell whether to read, then look at the artwork, or vice versa, or a bit of both, and in the end, I chose to do the last, reading a paragraph at a time before looking for the appropriate picture. It may violate our sense of how comics work (paging Scott McCloud), but I think in the end, Simmonds really manages to establish her own interesting stake in the larger graphic novel world.
And the vertical artwork seems to get stronger as we go on. Page 6 is really the simplest (just a series of panels illustrating each detail of the left-hand text), but in page 10, we’re already seeing some playfulness, as the photos appear to tumble out of Joubert’s hand. In 17, objects are beginning to overlap, and on page 28, there’s a subtle change to the artwork, as gray wash gives way to the black ink of the bottom right corner.
Page 70 is the best of these, in my opinion. Here Simmonds manages to convey a “crown” of sorts above the main character (no gray wash here either), a black-inked Francophile daydream sprouting upward as a tree. Everything works here, and by placing this in the upper left, Simmonds has really highlighted this montage. Our eyes fall upon it as we first turn to the page, and as we read through the text, we are drawn back piece by piece to the artwork, our eyes moving from the main character to the second level, and lastly to the nest and baby at the top. We return to the bottom, and see Herve's reaction to all this - his "deer caught in the headlights" look of shock. This is one of my favorite pieces of art from the book and not coincidentally, it signals the beginning of the end of Gemma’s fortunes.
Voyez-vous lundi!
2 comments:
Out of all the pages you pointed out that "stack" well, I find it interesting that all but one (page 17) employ Eddie Campbell's idea to include at least one pair of feet on every page. Given that other students have pointed out Simmonds' stylistic choices for Gemma Bovery as misrepresentative of comics, somehow it seems important to point out something that perhaps works well - that is, how well the scenes shift in perspective from facials to full-body.
I'm so glad to see that the feet rule is proving useful! (Seriously!)
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