Words+and+Pictures

Words and Pictures by David Myers

Words and pictures combine in comics to give us new and interesting ways of telling stories or giving us information. Comic panels can have all words and no pictures or all pictures and no words. Most comics have a mixture of both. To combine words and pictures effectively one must understand how they work in conjuction. A good comic will not do this: describe everything that is happening in the picture. We should be aware of what a picture tells the reader already and what words could be used to enhance the picture; for example sound effects or narration. Simililarly we don't want pictures just to match the words, we want the pictures to tell us something that the words aren't. Different pictures combined with the same words will evoke a different interpretation from the reader. For example if we have a picture of two people in a park on a nice sunny day with one of them saying 'lets get out of here,' and we have the same people but in an old ugly factory with one saying 'lets get out of here' we will interpret the words differently because of the pictures associated with it.

Look at the pictures below. Both are exactly the same picture but I have inserted different text underneath both. How does the text affect your intepretation of the character in the picture?



Lindsay was brimming with excitment for her big night out....



The money was in. Everything was falling into place.....

An extract from Scott McClouds website looking at 'can we have a comic without pictures?'

Every once in a while someone gives it a try. [|**Here’s the latest**], courtesy of Tim Hall and Jen Ferguson at act-i-vate. Can there be comics without pictures? Does manipulated, positioned text like this //qualify// as pictures on some level? Fun questions to ask once in a while. []

[]: This is a fantastic explanation of different types of pictures and how they give us meaning: