Gary Dufner is a teacher at the International Academy of Design & Technology in Orlando. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Cartooning from the School of Visual Art in New York City.
Gary is also a graduate student in UCF’s School of Visual Arts and Design. While taking Joo Kim’s Design Theory and Methods course, he researched the relationship between text and images in comic books. He further analyzed the impact of the size of word balloons on reader’s viewing patterns.
When Gary completed the paper, Kim encouraged him to continue his study and submit it for publication. After additional research, his paper was accepted to The International Journal of Comic Art, a peer-reviewed journal. The manuscript will be published in May 2014.
Gary says, “When I started the class I had no idea I would even get as far as Dr. Kim thinking it was a good paper, no less submit it to an international, peer-reviewed journal.”
The International Journal of Comic Art is published two times yearly. Multidisciplinary in scope, IJOCA aims to publish scholarly and readable research on any aspect of comic art, defined as animation, comic books, newspaper and magazine strips, caricature, gag and political cartoons, humorous art, and humor or cartoon magazines.