Autocomic#1
– 黃照達 Justin Wong
Autocomic#1 remakes the artist’s daily six-panel comic strips, Gei Ger Gaak Gaak, published in local newspaper Ming Pao. The stories and the plots are computer-generated based on several simple “rules” and “formulas” commonly found in the comic strip format. All the source materials are extracted from a library of graphics and texts that is built from the artist’s previous works.
While comic production has been greatly enhanced by the advancement of hardware and software in recent years, very few artists and scholars are aware of the potential computer could bring from the perspective of generative art. Comics can be seen as a form of rule-driven art if we closely study its language and its relationship with the form. I believe, with the rich histories of generative theory in the field of literature and visual design, the implementation of such principles and creative practices could pose a challenge to the existing storytelling tradition and it could establish a new platform for the discussion of the evolution of comics’ language in the future.
autocomic#1 is such an attempt to revise storytelling through rule-based algorithmic thinking. The process is based on an extensive study of comics’ unique language and basic elements such as image sequence, page layout, use of grid and theories of narrative. The creative process deploys images from the artist’s previous works which form the data set and library of , autocomic#1, a writing/reading system.

《autocomic#1》是作者於《明報》連載作品《嘰嘰格格》的重新演譯。故事是根據這六格漫畫所常用的敍事格式與規則,由電腦程式衍生而創作。當中的圖像與文字都取自過往創作《嘰嘰格格》時所建立的資料庫。
「當電腦硬件和軟件正在不斷為漫畫藝術帶來革新的時候,很少藝術家及學者留意到電腦科技從「衍生藝術」的角度可以為漫畫帶來什麼可能性。如果細心分析漫畫語言及其表達形式的關係,從廣義在說,漫畫可以看成是一種由「規則驅動」(Rule-driven) 的藝術形式。建基於「衍生藝術」的理論於文學及設計等範疇的應用,我相信其創作原則及方法可以為傳統漫畫敍事的策略帶來很大的挑戰。同時,也為有關漫畫語言的發展建立了新的討論平台。」

About Justin WONG

Justin Wong, comic writer and media artist, received his BA (Fine Arts) in Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1996 and his MA (Interactive Digital Media) in Ravensbourne College of Design and Community in London. After his graduation, he participated in the Ars Electronica award-winning web 2.0 project, Last.fm in London. Upon his return to Hong Kong in 2004, he taught at the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong, then as Art Director in an interactive media design company. At the same time, he began to contribute regularly to local newspapers as comic writer and illustrator. In 2007, he started his political comic column Gei Gei Gaak Gaak in Ming Pao Daily. His works include comics, graphic design, animation and interactive art. He is the Artistic Director of new media art group, the Writing Machine Collective, and lecturer at the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University. For the Writing Machine Collective, Wong has contributed Typing Machine (Junk Mail Factory) (WMC_e2, 2007), Txt-Me-1st (with Hamlet Lin and Eva Schindling (WMC_e3 at Digitalogue, 2008), and computational animation, City Forum (WMC_e4, 2010).
黃照達,漫畫家及媒體藝術家。1996年畢業於香港中文大學藝術系,2002年於倫敦Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication 修畢互動數碼媒體碩士課程,曾參與創作於2002 年奧地利 Ars Electronica電子藝術節獲獎的 web 2.0網站Last.fm。2004年回港後於香港城市大學創意媒體學院出任導師。及後擔任本地互動媒體設計公司美術總監一職。期間開始替報章創作漫畫及插圖,並於2007開始於《明報》連載其漫畫專欄《嘰嘰格格》,題材以時事政治為主。除漫畫外,黃氏同時亦參與不同類形之創作,包括設計、動畫、互動媒體藝術等。現為香港新媒體群體 「文字機器創作集」 藝術總監及浸會大學視覺藝術院講師。曾於文字機器創作集發表過的作品包括,Typing Machine (Junk Mail Factory) (第二輯, 2007), Txt-me-1st (第三輯,2008,林耀邦、Eva Schindling 協作)及數碼併貼動畫《城市論壇》(第四輯,2010)。