Basic Graphic Novels Vocabulary

Set up a page for Cornell notes. This information will be on your exam.

Note: the title at the top of the page goes on the left hand side of your Cornell notes

Essential Questions for this unit

• How do graphic novels create meaning differently from traditional literature?

• How can graphic novels use simple images to convey complex ideas?

Panel• A box which contains a given scene

• Example : from Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Panels• Different artists use panel size,

arrangement, etc. to create pacing, suspense, emotion and to draw the reader’s attention to certain things

Panels • From Y: the Last Man by Brian K.

Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan

Gutter• The white space between panels

• Example :from Maus by Art Spiegelman

Gutter

• The size, placement, and presence or absence of the gutter affects the way you read the page

• Example : Incognegro by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece

Border• The outline of the panel

• Examples from Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner

Balloons• The container of the dialogue spoken by

the character

• There are speech balloons and thought balloons

• Example: from Comics and Sequential Art

Tail •Pointer leading from balloon to speaker •From the Bone series by Jeff Smith:

Notice the

different

outlines of

the speech

balloons

Style •The manner in which an artist draws

R. Crumb

Marjane Satrapi

Who creates comics? Mainstream comics (like those

published by Marvel and DC), tend to use an assembly line approach where many people contribute to the finished product. This evolved in the early days of comic books in order to be able to produce comics quickly.

Who creates comics?• Writer: the person who writes the story

and dialogue • Penciller: draws the comic book in pencil• Inker: goes over the pencil drawings in

black ink• Colorist: adds color to black and white

line art. Most colorists today use digital media

• Letterer: is responsible for all the letters in a comic book; titles, captions, credits, letters in speech balloons, etc. Using different fonts creates a different feel for the title or different characters

• Editor: oversees the whole process and assigns the different jobs

Comics Creators • Many famous

comics creators, especially from independent and underground comics, both write and draw their own work

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Homework for tonight

• Analyze one page of the graphic novel you're reading. How many panels on the page? Do the panels have borders? How does the artist use the gutters? How would you describe the art style? What do the balloons look like?