LiveBlogging: Scott McCloud

“I am just a little guy walking back and forth.” Scott McCloud is giving a speech to our school. We have fourth and fifth graders in with seniors. Very cool. He and his family wandered all around USA, UK, Spain and some cities in Canada. he makes his living making comics…and speaking. He is using Keynote to make the presentation. So far, only one word has been on…in 50 slides. Just one word: Comic..

every medium tells it story in different ways.
They all have something in common. You want to loose yourself in the stories.

Telling his story, he mentions his dad graduated from Harvard and the kids gasp. Seriously they gasp. He confesses he was a nerd. Loved Chess–a kid calls out yes.
I was a fourteen year old boy living in America. Of course I loved comics.

Good career road map.
Started in high school, had great friends who were really into it. Passion is born. Went to Syracuse University and studied illustration and went to work at DC and god his own comic called Zot.

Still no words. Most images on screen has been four.

We are all human beings we all look for structure we look for connection.
temporal map-map of time

what happens when this art form moves from paper to digital.
We read and write facial expressions, but we never quite understand them. Go play with grimace project.

Some examples:
pup comics
e-merl.com

This presentation fascinated me on four levels:
1) He did not just talk about tell stories, but told stories well.
2) I love comics, so that was a given.
3) His use of keynote was masterful and elegant.
4) He delivered this presentation to students as young as 9 and as old as 18 (not to mention 25 or 30 teachers there) and kept all engaged and energized.