The first meeting with my ancillary supervisor, Dr Peter Moyes went down in early June. He had some cool suggestions, and introduced me to the delights of a Japanese desert I had never tried before. A very productive meeting! Some thoughts that were thrown around…

Truth as an area of inquiry is very slippery. It comes through in the visuals and words. Peter says its important to show how I’ve researched the schools of thought on things such as truth and then demonstrate my selection based on that, as opposed to just declaring all art is a mix of truth and fiction and doing whatever the hell I want. 

Are autobiographical comics merely a form of public grandstanding, a means of confession and self-flagellation? And if so, does it matter? To this I say yes, it’s at least partly a selfish pursuit; narcissistic navel-gazing as therapuetic self analysis. However these stories have a chance of reaching out to others and making a change in people’s lives, however small. For all of these reasons it is worthwhile.

What is the author’s freedom to traverse word and image as narrative modes and opportunities for storytelling and communication beyond the narrative dimensions of the word. Here we are talking about conveying a message purely through image, symbol, icon and panel layout. I have already partially covered this in a paper I just delivered on the use of diegetic and mimetic modes of storytelling, which I will condense into a blog post soon.

Scrapbook approach of using ‘ephemera’ and visual diary entries as a storytelling technique, as a backup to the narrative and reinforcing the ‘truth’ angle. Attaching love letters, photos, cinema ticket stubs, letters from others where it reinforces the story. Hello, lawsuits!

Scroll narratives as an inspiration in terms of display method. As a continuous linear narrative tool it is an interesting proposition. Maybe as a display method for my work in an upcoming exhibition. This kind of thing is most easily achievable using modern technology, and we see a similar mode of communication used in blogs and sites such as Tumblr, where you spend most of your time scrolling, scrolling, in an endless display of product.

That’s it for this post, short and sweet!