Second pre-writing assignment

When I first looked at my sculpture I wasn't sure what to think of it. I had never really seen a piece of work like it, the sculpture looks more like a painting or a picture than anything. My first impression of the sculpture besides not being sure of what to think of it was that it is a very abstract piece of work. It has no real uniformed pattern to it, the sculpture almost looks like a circuit board or an overview of a futuristic city. Then after my initial thoughts I started to think about the significance of the sculptures name. The sculpture is titled "Untitled Relief" I think this title means that it is a relief that the sculpture does not have a name. That maybe the viewer of the sculpture can take the meaning of the piece anyway they choose. The title could also be the creator of the piece saying that its a relief that the sculpture is not like your ordinary sculpture. That the piece is more like a painting or a picture, one that you can touch. Maybe the title is saying that its a relief that you can touch this picture, unlike every other one you see in the galleries or anywhere else. These were the questions I asked myself when thinking about the sculptures name.

Next I got a little closer and started looking at all the shapes and bumps in the sculpture. I started to feel the sculpture; there were many different textures and grooves. I think the author incorporated these textures for a reason, I think he wants the viewer to touch and feel his sculpture. The sculpture also has a rusty look to it and is made of iron. The piece itself could of been a different color before it was put outside on display. I think the author created it to be an outside piece of work, thats why it was made with iron. I think the sculpture having so many textures and being outside connects it to its audience, giving it a sense of ethos. The ethos comes from the viewer being able to touch the sculpture. Then there is the rhetorical colors of pathos in the sculpture, the sculptures dark hue blends the whole sculpture together. To see everything that is going on in the sculpture you have to look closley to what is going on.

Art blog post

I have a decent amount of experience with art and sculptures, in high school I took a few pottery classes. In these classes we had set projects in which we were to complete certain sculptures. Then in my advanced class we had a little bit more freedom and I was able to make any sculptures I liked. One of my favorite pieces I made was an abstract city scape, this was my favorite work because the final product was my best work. The piece featured a street with cartoon looking buildings leaning many different ways, infront of the buildings was a street with a car. When the piece was fired I painted it with many different colors not normally seen on any normal buildings. I think the reason I've always been interested with pottery is because its something that can take you away from everything. With art you can express yourself without words and I think this is why many people love art.

Pottery and sculpture has always been an interest of mine, yet I have not ever studied it or thought of it in a rhetorical sense like we will be doing with this next project. I figure looking at a sculpture like the ones we will be that it will not be much different aynalizing rhetoricaly then our first project. This because it is just interpreting something that an artist made, you must try and figure out what it is they want us to understand about their work. To fully understand an artist you must look into their work closley and try to figure out what their argument is in the work. Doing research on an artist helps a lot because their work usually has a certain style, the artist also put a lot of meaning in their titles. Looking at these things will help in discussing my piece and the authors argument.

WP2 Final Draft

Author's Note

From the original draft to the second draft I think I did well in finding and making my argument "What seems to be the author’s main argument is that teaching a pet new tricks is not always that easy." The feedback I received from Mr. Ware and Curtis my first peer review was very helpful. This feedback allowed me to better understand what I was doing well along with what I needed to improve on. I used almost all of the feedback I was given in the first peer review, much of it I myself did not think of incorporating "An interesting slide to look at when talking about the characters not moving is the third slide. In the third slide none of the characters move or speak. They sit there awkwardly waiting for something to happen. I think this slide is very important in the founding of the authors argument. This is because it shows the miscommunication between master and pet, the basis of the author’s argument." I then read over what I had come up with so far and fixed alot of the sentences and things that I didn't feel needed to be in my paper. Once done with my first peer review I started to look at everyone in the class’s blog post and used them as a tool to make my paper better.

Then my second peer review from Dan helped me incorporate an argument about Ethos "Here the ethos comes from the emotion of confusion between the audience and the characters; we are both confused as to what this thing is doing. We being connected with the penguins is what makes the ethos." From the second to final draft I added a lot of small details "It is after these exclamations where the confusion of the characters and the pet lies." Another big thing I worked on was grammar and sentence structure this made my paper sound and look a lot better.

One of the main things I worked on was my conclusion and trying to answer the so what question. The author also connects the audience with the characters as explained above; this makes the ethos in the comic. There are many things to look at when reading a comic that can be looked over; if one just looks a little deeper they can better understand the comic’s true meaning. The author wants you to ask yourself is it easy to teach a pet new tricks? Can a pet truly comprehend what someone is saying to it?" Fixing the conclusion I feel really helped my paper over all. The whole revision process went much smoother and easier for me this time around.

Rough Draft 2

Rough Draft 1

Statement of Purpose

Final Draft

This comic is a multi paneled comic which depicts two penguins and a fabricated character called a puffle. This comic derives from an internet game site called club penguin, which depicts many similar comics like this one. The comic is also from the "Waddle on" series, these comics all feature penguins in funny situations. I choose this comic because I was pulled in by its interesting characters and cartoon looking design. Then looking into this comic and reading through its bubble captions I realized the simple yet very funny humor in the comic. This humor is what builds the authors rhetorical appeal along with his argument. This humor instilled in the comic creates an emotion which then gives the comic an overall sense of pathos. Emotion is a key element that is linked to pathos. The comic creates this pathos in many ways; the essentials would be its characters, its text, and its transitions from slide to slide. This comic also features a unique technique called anthroporphism which features animals with human characteristics. Anthropomorphism has a long history in art "It is strongly associated with art and storytelling where it has ancient roots." (wiki). All these elements build to set up the rhetorical appeal and argument the author of the comic wanted. What seems to be the author’s main argument is that teaching a pet new tricks is not always that easy. Pets like the one depicted above do not understand the meaning of sitting therefore the pet above like most will not obey the command unless reinforced by something like a treat ect... To understand this fully, one must not look at this comic as a funny cartoon but, a story with a purpose which is the difficulties of having pets.

Most people now of days if told to look at this comic along with its characters would do so and not think of it as odd. This comic is odd though, there are two penguins dressed as humans and a unrealistic creature. The penguins dressed as humans, that speak like humans represents Anthropomorphism which is, "the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts"(Wiki). This is a common occurrence in comics and cartoons. This is making it almost a norm of society to not think of animals with human characteristics as odd, we are surrounded by it every day. The author wants you to ask the question are these penguins going to teach this pet a trick, not wow are those penguins really dressed like people. The author already excepts this to be a norm and for you to bypass that it is actually weird in retrospect. As kids with TV stations such as cartoon network and children’s story books they also see it as a norm. This anthropomorphism is also what draws the audience in and gives the comic its humor, this is because human like animals are supposed to be funny, an example being the looney toons. People like this type of animal disfigurement because it turns the world backwards making animals act like people, which is interesting to most. So just seeing this comics characters alone a person now of days through this norm would guess this comic to be funny, therefore setting up its audience base.


Looking into these characters more one would notice an abstraction or distortion of the animal characters in this comic. The abstractions being in their color, eyes and shape; the penguins are distorted from their real life look. Comic artist and cartoonist do this normally to add to the humor of the comic, again creating pathos from which to draw their audience in. The reason there is humor in these abstractions is the fact that it is unusual to see, and people tend to laugh at things that are not the way their supposed to be. Then looking into the fabricated character called a puffle you ask what is its purpose in this comic? Its purpose is being the center of the humor in this comic strip. The creature is the punch line of the whole comic. Everything in this comic is understood except for this strange thing, it does not move and it does not speak. An interesting slide to look at when talking about the characters not moving is the third slide. In the third slide none of the characters move or speak. They sit there awkwardly waiting for something to happen. I think this slide is very important in the founding of the authors argument. This is because it shows the miscommunication between master and pet, the basis of the author’s argument. The penguin in the slide before tells the puffle to sit, but it does not move then the penguins question if it is already sitting and neither knows the answer. The pet is also the main factor in the argument, that a pet cannot comprehend what a person is saying because it has no means in which to understand what is being said.

Both the characters in the comic and the audience of the comic do not know if this thing is sitting or not. This character audience connection again ties into the ethos of this comic. Here the ethos comes from the emotion of confusion between the audience and the characters; we are both confused as to what this thing is doing. We being connected with the penguins is what makes the ethos. We do not even know if this thing has appendages in which to sit with if it wanted to. We as the audience and the characters in the comic can agree upon this statement. This comic puts a lot of emphasis on its text, without the text this comic would have no humor or argument. The typography in this comic sets the feeling of the comic which is confusion, the texts also follows the penguins facial expressions. The author decided to use the bubble to hold the text and point to the penguin that is speaking. The author did this to not mislead the audience about which character is speaking. Then you look at the exclamation points, which is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume, and often marks the end of a sentence. "Sit Fluffy sit!!" These exclamations which create feeling or emotion make pathos in the text. It is after these exclamations where the confusion of the characters and the pet lies. Then looking at the text in this comic which is in capital letters; this text makes the comic seem more important and easier to read.

There is then the slide transitions in this comic, these transitions help make the authors argument. There is generally little change from slide to slide but the penguin faces change along with the text. This comic would not work the same if it was a single paneled comic, there would be to much to infer, and not enough room for the text. The rhetoric appeal also comes from the transitions; this is because the puffle does not move from slide to slide. This is where the humor comes from because it is uncertain if the puffle is already sitting or not, which creates the humor. The argument of the difficulties in teaching pets new tricks is seen from these transitions. Without the transitions the author would not have been able to show the penguins frustrations, and the pets lack of knowing what is being asked of it. In a single framed comic the emotion of this process would not be easily seen.

It is easy to assume the comics overall purpose is to be funny and have humor. It is common for many comics to be humorous, there are many key signs that in this one that prove it to be. The author of this comic used things such as character abstraction, transition, and typography to make his rhetorical appeal clear. The rhetorical appeal that comes out can be pointed out as pathos; this pathos is shown and proven through the comic. The author makes the comic to be funny and even maybe make fun of the whole pet training process. The author also connects the audience with the characters as explained above; this makes the ethos in the comic. There are many things to look at when reading a comic that can be looked over; if one just looks a little deeper they can better understand the comic’s true meaning. The author wants you to ask yourself is it easy to teach a pet new tricks? Can a pet truly comprehend what someone is saying to it? These are the questions that the author wants you to ask yourself when reading this comic.

Works Cited

Wikipedia (aug 2007). Anthropomorphism. Nov 7, 09.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism