Visual Elements of Frank Miller's "Batman The Dark Knight Returns"

This is a comic page taken from the book "The Dark Knight Returns"  written by Frank Miller.  This entire picture makes use of positive and negative space.  Batman himself is all negative space, he is rendered completely black.  The contour lines of batman himself, show his muscles and parts of his costume.  The bat in the foreground has gestural qualities of his cape and  bat wing on the end of his rope.  His eye line runs with the cape well and it makes your eye move.  The curve and directional lines leading down the cape make your eyes travel back into Batman's form.  The background has a decent tonal range.  It ranges from a dark almost grey-blue to a lighter blue.  The words in the corner are grey and yellow.  The grey is easily missed but the yellow draws us in.  Yellow is a complementary color of blue, and since it is so much lighter, it provides a high contrast and sticks out.  I feel like this perspective of his body leads us to believe we are looking slightly up at him, but mostly straight forward.  I believe this is to show his sheer aesthetic strength.  His body is in a position where he could spring into action at any second and even leads the reader to believe that he is actually involved in a battle.   Lastly, I believe the visual text of this entire picture is to display Batman's awesome strength and offer intimidation to any who cross him.

New meaning to previous picture post

This photograph represents joy and hope. Seeing my little sisters laughing and smiling makes me more happy than i could explain. However, it also makes me think of all the other children who have yet to become part of a loving family. I think those children would look at this photo and feel inspired that someday they will be happy and feel loved. This photo also represents faith. These little girls have re-instilled me with a sense of faith in people that i thought i lost growing up. They do this with such ease, it makes me wonder why my family was so lucky to have gotten the chance to share our home and love with them. Other words that come to mind are innocence, pure, and honesty.
When this photo was taken, i was playing outside with them. When i look at it, I remember them laughing and having such a great time by just running around outside. This is why my photo represents what being a child is truly about. It reminds me to have fun and not take life so seriously all the time. It makes me see how i sometimes forget what's important, and inspires me to be a better brother and person.  It reminds me how much my sisters mean to me and how thankful i am to have them part of my life.

This photograph represents love

My little sisters encompass everything i see love as; They are so full of life and a laughter that can be best described as uninhibited bliss. Tessa and Matthea have brought more happiness to my life than i could put into words. Adopting these baby girls from the territories of southeastern China involved a lot of sacrifice and patience.   The effect my family has had on them and vice versa cannot be described in any other way than love.
     My step father and I met when I was about eight years old.  He is very old school and has a hard work ethic.  Throughout my childhood growing up, he was strict, religious, and a workaholic.  My stepfather and I never really got along growing up, on account of our many differences and in my opinion, it was because he can never accept anything less than perfect.  However, when my sisters came into our family he changed from being strict and hard-edged to being soft to them and bending to their will.  My sisters completely changed him for the better.  There is a similar trend with my mothers father.  A man who used to smoke two packs and work two factory shifts a day is now wearing a crown because he won "Pretty Pretty Princess".
     My sisters have had a great effect on me.  I've learned alot from them, alot of things I used to know but then i "learned" to be an adult.  Its great to spend a day playing pirates then go on an African safari and you forget these things as you get older.  Through spending time with them and teaching them I've developed a specific love for my sisters that could not be replaced by any one else.
     All in all, my sisters represent love.  They strengthened the bonds of love in my family, each other, and with me personally. 

How does Sensory Experience Translate to Visual expression

     As human beings, we are forced to use our senses everyday for virtually every action we take.  Whether its smelling a burning building or smelling overcooked food on the stove we use our senses for life-threatening situations and mundane tasks.  However, among all five of our senses one sense seems to reign supreme.  That is our sense of sight.  Often we can rely on our sense of sight so much that we give our other senses less credit.  When we experience a sense other than our sight and to translate that sense into a visual message, we then become translators of our senses.
     One way that Sensory experience translates into visual expression is emotion.  At a most primitive level humans will evoke emotion from the things that influence them.  When we hear music, for example, we incite specific emotions that are associated with a specific genre or style of music.  When we have these emotions we can translate them to paper or some form of visual medium.  So basically as humans, sounds incite emotions that we feel and with our particular classroom activity, we used our emotions to channel visual creativity.
     A second way that we channel creativity from our ears to our hands and eyes is through symbolism.  Throughout our lives we are shaped by society and institutions around us to recognize symbols.  Because of this, we often draw symbols in reaction to specific tones, melodies, and rythmns of music.
      Lastly, sensory experience can also have strong ties to memories and experiences.  Therefore, a noise or a smell that makes us remember something could cause our hands to draw something from those past events.
     In conclusion, our senses are intertwined and reflect each other.  As humans we use emotions, symbols, and memories to relay to our brain our sensory experience.