In Living Color: Photorealism within Waltz

The purpose of graphic novels is to tell a graphic/pictorial representation of a story while riveting dialogue expresses what can't be interpreted visually. According to McCloud a universal truth within the comic world is the more cartoony the face looks, the more people can see themselves within that character, can empathize with that character (pg. 31). However, there are many graphic novelists who do just the opposite to that truth: they illustrate their stories with the intent to give the character its own unique personality, separate from the reader. A great representation of this is Waltz with Bashir. Ari Folman, along with David Polansky, wanted to tell the true story of Ari's days as a soldier, and wanted to have the reader see it from his perspective. To do this they utilized a technique much like rotoscoping (animating over live filmed action) where Adobe Flash cutouts and true animation are put onto transparencies, cut up, and then moved in relation to each to give the visual appearance of movement (wikipedia). The effect that this causes is one that could be described as "photorealistic," or creating an accurate artistic rendition of something. The beauty that lies within the gorgeous hues of the graphic novel are truly mesmerizing, and cause the reader to not only walk along side the soldiers, but then actually distance themselves from Ari and his men. It was a genius way to tell his story, and the photoesque illustrations give his story a documentary feel that simply is perfection.

The following are illustrations from the book, and

their (near) counterpoint photo: