Dear Rappers,
We chose the book “Mutt Dog” to examine Stephen Michael King’s excellent illustrating techniques. We completed Rap Sheet 3 and realised that two of the most common techniques used are size and direction.
Stephen Michael King uses size in his opening double page spread, by making the buildings very tall. This makes Mutt Dog look very small and insignificant. This causes the reader feel sympathetic towards Mutt Dog because he is all alone. It also gives the message that some people care only about themselves, not others.
On page 4, Stephen Michael King has drawn the fly larger and out of proportion to the dog. We get the message that Mutt Dog is so desperate for food that a small fly becomes large and fills his whole mind.
Size is also used well on page 6 when the tall man is overpowering Mutt Dog, making him feel powerless, sad and small.
Direction is another important technique and Stephen Michael King uses this on pages 7 -8 to show a very busy street where everybody is moving the opposite way to Mutt Dog. This makes Mutt Dog look very alone and the reader feels sympathetic towards him once again.
The direction of Mutt Dog’s body and face, when he looks upwards towards the half way house with hope, makes the reader feels hopeful too, despite the sign saying “No Pets”. Towards the end of the book, Mutt Dog is often drawn in the centre of the page, sitting or lying still, rather than moving away. This shows that Mutt Dog is happy to be where he is, in his new life with his family.
We have also been discussing how size and direction are often used in television advertisements. People advertise to sell their product and make eye-catching ads, often using size and direction techniques to gain our attention and persuade us to buy. Ads appeal to our emotions without giving us all the important information.
The size of the writing is important so we can quickly see what they are wanting us to buy. Size is also used to emphasise a selling point. e.g. “50% sale” “half price” “only $9.95” so the size of the words makes this information eye-catching.
Sometimes images are larger than the real thing to convince us that the product is the best and we must have it. For example, car ads just don’t show a picture of a car, they show important sections e.g. the tyres, power windows, ‘turbo charged’ engines in larger than life size.
We also considered the use of direction in TV ads. The anti-smoking ad showing us how smoke affects our bodies catches our emotions by the camera moving in the direction the smoke takes, once it enters our mouth. The camera is able to show exactly where the smoke goes through our oesophagus and into our lungs, giving us a strong message. The ad also shows the damage the smoke causes. The ad was very powerful and we think it will have a positive effect on us.
Happy rapping!
5/6H Wollondilly School
