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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What combination has pictures that illustrate but don't significantly add to a largely complete text?

2. What aspect of comics has been especially sensitive to changes in technology?

3. What is the most widely-used, most complex, and most versatile synaesthetic icon?

4. Which style of painting was an honest expression of the internal turmoil of artists?

5. The bold lines, obtuse angles and heavy blacks in Dick Tracy were meant to suggest a _________ of adults.

Short Essay Questions

1. How can an artist depict emotion in a comic?

2. Why was the four-color process created?

3. What three aspects of art benefit humans from an evolutionary standpoint?

4. Describe the process of creating art using the six-step path.

5. Describe the typical artist who starts with an idea/purpose and then creates art.

6. In Chapter 7, how does McCloud see, or define, art?

7. What are the disadvantages of color in comics?

8. How can backgrounds indicate invisible ideas such as emotions?

9. What happened to comics after the invention of printing?

10. What is synaesthetics?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In comics, a great deal of the storytelling occurs between the panels and the reader must use his/her imagination to tell the story. Is McCloud accurate in saying that comics requires more reader participation than any other artform? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

McCloud writes that when he was a child, he believed that the world ceased to exist unless he was present. As he grew older, he began filling in gaps with assumptions in order to get closure. What are strategies and evidence we use to convince ourselves of the existence of things we have not experienced first hand? To test these definitions, consider whether they would stand up to the question of whether extraterrestrial life exists.

Essay Topic 3

The invention of printing played a significant role in the history and the world of comics (and the written word). Think of another invention that had a significant impact. What were the effects? Did it solve a problem or enable further development? Where would we be without the invention? Be specific and select a physical invention - do not use "technology" or other broad concepts.

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