Grapic Novel/Comics Terms and Concepts

Panel

A framed image in the comic containing a combination of image and text in endless variety.

Frame

The lines and borders that contain the panels.

Gutter

The space between framed panels.

Bleed

An image that extends to and/or beyond the edge of the page.

Foreground

The panel closest to the viewer.

Midground

Centering of an image by using natural resting place for vision. The artist deliberately decides to place image where the viewer would most likely look first.

Background

Provides additional, subtextual information for the reader.

Background

Provides additional, subtextual information for the reader

Graphic weight

A term that describes the way some images draw the eye more than others, creating a definite focus using color and shading in various ways.

Faces

Can be portrayed in different ways. Some depict an actual person, like a portrait; others are iconic, which means they are representative of an idea or a group of people. White stands out against black, etc.

Hands/Feet

The positioning of hands and feet can be used to express what is happening in the story.

Captions

These are boxes containing a variety of text elements, including scene-setting, description, etc.

Speech balloons: These enclose dialogue and come from a specific speakers mouth; they vary in size, shape, and layout and can alternate to depict a conversation.

Special-effects lettering

This is a method of drawing attention to text; it often highlights onomatopoeia and reinforces the impact of words such as bang or wow.

Splash

A kind of panel that that spans the width of the page. If it runs off the page entirely, it is know as a ‘bleed’.

Speech Bubble

These are frames around the characters’ language, a kind of ‘direct speech’, where the characters speak for themselves. If these appear as clouds, they represent the character’s thoughts. If they appear in jagged lines, the character is shouting.

Emanata

This term refers to the teardrops, sweat drops, question marks, or motion lines that artists draw besides character’s faces to portray emotion.

Style

The artist’s drawing style can be discussed using several terms. Scott McCloud, in Understanding Comics, shows that there are four ‘scales’ of ___: complex to simple, realistic to iconic, objective to subjective, specific to universal.

Narration

Keep in my mind that comic books allow the writer to show and tell at the same time, meaning there can be a combination of direct narration and indirect narration.

Color

The colors that an author uses will affect the reader’s experience as well.

Graphic Weight

This term is used to discuss the amount of contrast in an image. Are blacks offset with whites? Are there many shades of grey in between?

Time

Graphic novels and comic books do not have to tell a story in a linear way. Besides the use of transitions between panels artists can explore multiple moments in one panel, like a collage.

Moment-to-moment

Show basic movements occurring (subtle changes in expression, for example)

Action-to-action

Transitions show a single subject progressing through a specific movement.

Subject-to-subject

Stay within a specific scene or idea and call for more reader involvement.

Scene-to-scene

Transitions take place across significant distances within time and space.

Aspect-to-aspect

Unique in that it shows different aspects occurring simultaneously within the same scene.

Non-sequitur

Provides no logical connection between panels.