Comic Strip Terms

Comic Strips

 In order to understand comic strips there are some concepts we need to know about.

Follow the following suggested activities: 
1. Read the following list of comic terms and their definitions.
2. Look at the images provided as examples.
3. Work with the interactive exercise provided in order to evaluate your knowledge.


Terms

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized with text in balloons and captions

Comic strips are written and drawn by comics artist or cartoonist.
 

Structure of Comic Strips

Panels: Comic strips are divided into panels. These are separate squares for placing the illustrations, characters, and captions.  

Landscape: This is the setting where characters live. Use props (like rocks and trees) that could be seen in a variety of panels as the comic progresses.

Caption:  it refers to the speech or thought bubbles that provide the dialogue. Captions are used to build up the relationship between the characters.

Different kinds of balloons for comic strips

BURST BALLOONS: Burst Balloons are used when someone is screaming their dialogue.

DOUBLE OUTLINE BALLOONS: Double outline balloons serve the same purpose as a burst balloon - to add emphasis to dialogue.

 

HOLLOW SOUND EFFECTS: A relatively recent trend in sound effects - hollow sound effects have an outline but the center is see-through so that focal art can still be seen.

JOINING BALLOONS: There are two instances where this is used. The first is when a character says two separate ideas expressed one after the other.

MUSIC NOTES: A lone music note generally denotes whistling. You often see one or two music notes in a dialogue balloon, which indicates singing.

RADIO BALLOONS: These are also called, "electric balloons". Whenever speech is transmitted through a radio, TV, telephone, or any type of speaker, it should be italicized and you should use a radio balloon.

 TELEPATHIC BALLOONS: When a character is speaking telepathically the dialogue is italicized.

THOUGHT BALLOONS: Thought balloons have fallen out of fashion in recent years in preference for narrative captions. Text in a thought balloon can be italicized.

 Now, test yourself!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66871784/comic%20crossword%20puzzle.htm

Good luck!