Iconography Part 5 - Visual Vocabulary of Graphic Novels, Comic Books and Comic Strips
There are different categories of iconography used in comics. Today we are going to discuss:
Emotions and expressions of mental state
First, we have emanata.
Emanata - 1. Any lines indicating the emergence of a substance, such as steam blowing from a bull's nostrils, which suggest anger and about to charge. 2. What emerges from the character's head such as musical notes, hearts or stars that in intense situations can form a halo around a head.
Hovering above head
! - surprise
? - curiosity, questioning
Little hearts emanating as a character gazes in adoration - love, infatuation, desire, falling in love
Circling birds/stars - wooziness, dizziness, partial consciousness, pain (usually the result of contact between entities
)
Doozex - Zzzz - sleep
Dark Scribble - bad mood (somewhat tornado shaped)
Curly lines, tornado or corkscrew line - indicates frustration
Black cloud (with lightning) - depressed or out of luck
Skull and crossbones - avarice, wanting someone dead
Light bulb - an idea, inspiration
Lightning bolt – anger, rage
Plewds: The scattering of liquid drops from the head indicating working hard, stressed, fear, cold sweat, anxiety, panic. worried, nervous, frustration or anger.
Squeans: small asterisk-like bursts or circles that signify nausea, intoxication, dizziness or sickness. Usually occurring in threes.
Spurl - spiral above the head to indicate unconsciousness, usually due to being knocked out.
From eyes
knife or dagger from eye - hate
teardrops - crying
On Face
Scribble (or red) on cheeks - embarassment
Next we have oculama.
Oculama - The cartoon science of substitutions for eyes to convey an expression
Hearts - love, infatuation, sexual desire
Dollars $ - greed, desire for money
Spirals – mesmerized, hypnotized
Crottles - the Xs used to replace the eyes of an unconscious figure and often indicating death.
to be continued...
read next - Twerking, Staggering and Agitating the Visual Vocabulary of Comics
previous - The Attack of the Jargon!
Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.
Remember… Just Create!
If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.
You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.
copyright 2013 H. Simpson
read next - Twerking, Staggering and Agitating the Visual Vocabulary of Comics
previous - The Attack of the Jargon!
Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.
Remember… Just Create!
If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.
You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.
copyright 2013 H. Simpson
Is there still anyone back there behind this screen? Perhaps I'll head to the home page and look... ? I was chatting with someone about "Just create!" a few minutes ago and discussing emanata; action lines, starbursts, and so on. This led to a digression on creativity and how I was always encouraged to create, to try, to "do." When someone says to me, "you've written books? I always wanted to write books," I pause and say, "Well, let's have you stop talking about wanting to do it and go do it! I'm here if you have questions, no one is going to judge you. Start your book today. Write. Just do it. "This is a yes place."
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