Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud was a very interesting read and I thought is was very engaging. This reading has given lots of ideas on how to think about our next assignment, the visual narrative. What really stood out to me was the importance of negative space, or “gutters” in comics. The use of no content actually makes content that the reader creates on their own. This creates the imagination of the viewer to kick in, almost animating the scene in their heads. Each different viewer could have thought how a scene played out differently. This gives a sense of creativity and thought to your work. I will use negative space in my next work as a tool and will use it thoughtfully. Another interesting subject McCloud talks about it “Time Frames”. Time is a very tricky thing and can get really confusing very easily. The example McCloud gives where time moves in one single frame was very mind boggling. I never really took the time to think how comics can progress time in a single frame. When I create my visual narrative, I am going to make sue how to convey time with meaning. I also saw a neat connection between Japanese styles of plot and imagery. In Understanding Comics McCloud discusses how the Japanese comics provide a lot of scene development and are very, in the moment, than goal oriented. I can’t help but draw a connection to the Kishōtenketsu plot structure we have been talking about in class. Both of these, coming from Japan, really focus on creating an atmosphere and being in the moment. I really think I want to implement that kind of structure in my next project.