English: Visual Rhetoric/Literacy; Comics and Graphic Novels

visual rethoric

how/why visual images communicate meaning. Not only about design and aesthetics, but how culture and meaning are reflected, communicated and altered by images

visual literacy

the process of knowing and responding to a visual image, as well as the thought that might go into constructing or manipulating an image

comic

a string of images that are read one after another to produce meaning. They may or may not incorporate text , and differ from a single cartoon by producing a more complicated narrative pattern through spatial arrangement.

panels and borders

single frames placed in sequence, usually they have rectangular borders. they can have any shape or no borders, as long as there is some sign to where they end

gutter

outside the borders is usually a blank area

page layout

how narrative information is presented. Even the neutrality of a presentation has an effect, it is chosen to create an impression,

• to focus the attention on what is happening rather than how it is depicted

  • reinforce a theme of conformity, repetition, or boredom.

• complex set ups may show complexity of personal history or memory.

art style

• is there colour, what palate

• is the style cartoonish, abstract, photo-realistic

• what does the style tell you about the world the artist is creating

• are there backgrounds’ detailed or schematic

• does point of view stay constant

text and image

text can be fro dialogue, narration, sound effect, commentary, clarification, image, and more.

text boxes

they contain narration, the language and shape of the text boxes indicate their distance from the principal narration, but the parallel text provides an ironic commentary on the main scene

speech balloons

shows who is saying what, some words are bolded giving a sense of spoken emphasis and volume

sign text

is an instance of text as image

recto/verso

technical terms for pages in a spread, recto = right page, verso = left page

thumbnail

a rough sketch of a comic, delineating placement of figures, word balloons, and background elements as well as content of word balloons

pencil

a relatively defined drawing preliminary to the final inked stage

inks

the final stage of a comics drawing, applying ink to the pencil guidelines

mockup

a rough layout of pages to plan a book

paste-up

the final artwork pages ready for printing

indicia

important copyright and other legal information printed in a book, usually at the beginning