How can different
interpretations of How reliable are comic
the same comic strips as sources of
cultural knowledge?
strip highlight the
subjectivity of
knowledge?
Learning objectives:
Learning how meaning is
Graphic Texts
constructed in comics & graphic
novels
becoming familiar with the
terminology of analysing comics
and graphic novels
Concept: representation Multimodal
How does the way people, cultures, & events
are portrayed in texts shape the perceptions
and understanding of readers?
COMIC STRIPS/CARTOONS
&
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Cathy Guisewite, 1986
what is the comic strip commenting on?
Who is the target audience?
How is humour created?
How do we understand the emotions in each panel?
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for 30th March 1992
Who will find this comic strip funny?
What is it commenting on?
How is juxtaposition and body language used to create confrontation and contrast?
Why do you think the second panel has no frame?
what effect does the text create?
To what effeect is negative space used in the final panel?
Persepolis: A Graphic Novel
by Marjane Satrapi
KEY FEATURES OF A COMIC STRIP
Purpose: comic strips are often humorous; their primary purpose is to entertain.
Nevertheless the strip may make a serious point about a local or global issue.
Structure: comics and cartoons are drawn in square boxes called panels, arranged
in sequence and read in a linear fashion. The white space between the panels is
called gutters.
Exposition: text that tells the story is presented as captions.
Speech and thought bubbles: so you can read the internal and external dialogue of
the characters.
Mechanics: spatial mechanics is the use of space within and between each frame.
Temporal mechanics is the way time can be slowed down, sped up or stopped.
KEY FEATURES OF A COMIC STRIP
Artistic style: comics are drawn purposefully and with intention. Are the pictures crisp,
heavy, weighty, light, cartoony, realistic, bright, dark? Can you tell whether the artist used
pencil, pen and ink, or brush? Words that describe mood and tone can be useful when
analysing graphic weight (shading and contrast) and saturation (brightness).
Emanata: items such as dots, lines, exclamation marks or onomatopoeia that depict action,
emotion or sound.
‘Cartoonification’: how realistic are the images in the cartoon or comic strip? Realism is
measured on a spectrum from photorealistic or lifelike to simplified. Realism Vs Abstract
Punchline: especially apparent in four-panel comic strips, the joke is revealed in the last
panel.
image style, words and word containers, word-image relationships, undrawn inferences, and
layout
●Mise en Scene Layout
●Panel
●Gutter
●Bleed
●Splash Page
●Foreground
●Background
●Midground
●Negative Space Anya's Ghost, A Graphic Novel by Vera Brosgol
MISE EN SCENE “put into the scene.”
Mise en scène is a French term which refers to the way in which visual
elements work together to create meaning in comics. It is a term that comics
have borrowed from cinema, which borrowed it in turn from theatre.
Comprises of 4 main components: setting, the human figure, lighting, and
composition
The 3 planes: Foreground, mid ground, background
Lighting, space, costume, design of panels
Perspective
composition, layout in the frame (rule of thirds)
FOREGROUND: The part of
the image closest to the
BACKGROUND
reader, or at the “front” of
the image. Focus of the
panel
MIDGROUND
BACKGROUND: Image
furthest away from the
reader. FOREGROUND
Purpose: Provides additional
subtextual or contextual What does it mean to provide subtextual and
contextual information?
information. Contributes to
What contextual image does the background
back story image provide here?
MIDGROUND:
Of secondary importance to the
object/person in the foreground.
Placing an image off-center or near the top
or bottom can be used to create visual
tension but using the midground permits the
artist to create a more readily accepted
image.
These images are both off-center in
relation to the other images. What does the
off-centering suggest? How is tension
created here?
PANEL
A distinct segment containing words
and images.
Purpose: offers the reader a
perspective or point of view aka
camera angle.
In which direction do you read it?
PANEL
Number the panels on the Persepolis
extract. How do you read this page?
What do you notice about the types
of panels? What do they
communicate / how do they differ?
Size and shape
Example: Some panels are meant to
indicate action
GUTTER
Space between the panels
Purpose: Readers “fill in the
blanks” and imagine what
happens between panels.
(psychological concept: Visual
Closure: Gestalt)
Which gutter suggests the least and
most amount of time lapse?
Examples of Closure
Gestalt Psychology
While Structuralists believe in breaking down complex perceptions into their simplest elements, like
looking at a jigsaw puzzle piece by piece with the idea of understanding the whole by understanding
each individual part.
Gestalt emphasises that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It proposes that our mind
understands and interprets patterns as entire entities rather than isolated elements.
Gestalt theory suggests that we don't just see individual pieces, but rather our mind forms a
complete picture. Even if a few pieces are missing, our mind 'fills in' the gaps to perceive a complete
image.
Gestalt theorists:
Max Whertheimer:
Apparent motion is the perception of movement that results from viewing a rapid sequence of
static images, as happens in the movies or in flip books. Experience of one panel is different from
the experience of a sequence of panels. Gestalt Laws Of Perceptual Organization
Proximity Similarity
Wolfgang Kohler Continuance Closure
Kurt Koffka Figure and ground
BLEED
"bleed" refers to the technique
of extending the artwork
beyond the edge of the page
“Time is no longer contained by
the familiar lines of the closed
panel, but instead haemorrhages
and escapes into timeless
space” (McCloud 103).
Which panels on our sample Journalism rendered in comic form: Joe Sacco's use of
page contain a bleed? heavily-crowded page bleeds replicates a stream of
consciousness narrative
SPLASH
"splash" refers to a single impactful
image taking up the entire page or
spread over 2 pages.
Purpose: To capture a reader’s
attention; to establish time, place,
and/or mood.
A two-page splash page in order to
establish setting and mood.
FIGURES
Emanata
Motion Lines
Hands and Feet
EMANATA
Teardrops, sweat drops,
questions marks, or Zzzzz, swirls
to indicate HOT or SMELL
Purpose: To portray emotions /
show what is happening inside an
icon
Draw: In your notebooks, draw an
example of each emanata.
What would each
example of emanata
portray?
MOTION LINES
Motion lines are a specific type of emanata that are used
to indicate movement or speed.
HANDS AND FEET
The positioning of hands and feet can be used
to express what is happening in the story.
eg: hands that are raised with palms out
suggest surprise.
The wringing of hands suggests
obsequiousness or discomfort.
Hands over the mouth depict fear, shame, or
shyness.
What does the positioning of the hands or
Turned in feet may denote embarrassment, feet suggest?
while feet with motion strokes can create the Write one sentence per example. Use a
different verb for each sentence.
sense of panic, urgency, or speed.
TEXT
●Speech Bubble
●Voice over/Narration
●Special-effects lettering
(onomatopoeia)
What does the positioning of the hands or
feet suggest?
Write one sentence per example. Use a
different verb for each sentence.
SPEECH BUBBLE
Frames around the characters’ language
How can you tell the difference between:
-A character’s direct speech
-A character’s indirect speech (thoughts)
-A character shouting
SPECIAL EFFECT LETTERING
A method of drawing attention
to text and sound - often
highlighting onomatopoeia
Why is this an example of
special-effects lettering? What is
the effect?
SHOT SIZES AND CAMERA ANGLES
SHOT SIZES
1.What does the
term mean?
2.What is the
effect? Why is it
used?
SHOT SIZES
1.What does the
term mean?
2.What is the
effect? Why is it
used?
CAMERA ANGLES
1.What does the
term mean?
2.What is the
effect? Why is it
used?
Artistic Style
Graphic Weight
A term that describes the way some images draw the eye more
than others, creating a definite focus using color and shading
Faces: Realist vs Iconic
The extent to which the drawing has been simplified or
cartoonified.
Monochrome or colour
Has the cartoonist used only black and white or colour.. Why?
Effect on mood and tone.
Use of silhouettes
use of shapes without details to create meaning
COMIC STRIP AND FILM LANGUAGE (CINEMATIC EFFECT)
Film makers often compose their entire film on paper before
shooting them.
* Depth of field
* Sequence and arrangement of frozen moments to tell a
story
* Perspective
* Shot size,
Camera Angles (CU, Extreme CU, MCU, LS, Extreme long shot,
Low angle, High angle )
TYPES OF TRANSITIONS
moment to moment
requires very little 'closure'. This is due to the fact
that little information is changing between one
moment to another.
action to action
Single subject in distinct action progression. Bulk
of action takes place in the gutter space
subject to subject
staying within the scene, more reader involvment
needed to create meaning. Time and subject shift
scene to scene
Deductive reasoning required. significant jump
in time and space takes place in the gutter.
aspect to aspect
Bypasses time and sets a wandering eye on
various perspectives of a the same place, idea
or mood.
non sequiter
Offers no logical relationship between panels
whatsoever. Transition jumps from one subject
or moment to something entirely unrelated.
Connection may become clear later. Cognitively
disruptive. Make you uncomfortable
TIME
MOTION
IB Learner Profile: Inquirer Research and learn
ILLUSTRATION GRAPHIC NOVELS COMIC STRIPS/Cartoon
"Peanuts" by Charles M. Schulz
TECHNIQUES Persepolis "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill
Chiaroscuro Maus Watterson
Hatching and Cross Anya's Ghost Garfield" by Jim Davis
"Dilbert" by Scott Adams
Hatching Tin Tin
"For Better or For Worse" by
Flat colour comics Asterix Lynn Johnston
ligne claire Jerusalem "Cathy" by Cathy Guisewite
Ben Day Dots Burma Chronicles The Katzenjammer Kids by
Rudolph Dirks
Blondie by Dean Young nad
What do different John Marshall
speech bubbles The Lockhorns: Bunny Hoest
and John Reiner
mean?
Resources used:
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scot McCloud
Brad Philpot
Persepolis
Anya's Ghost
