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

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?