Human gestures are like the alphabet
We read them instantly
For Conversation:
Will Eisner, in his Comics and Sequential Art, makes the case that figures in a comic are like an alphabet that we "read."
Excerpted from
https://archive.org/details/Will_Eisner_Theory_of_Comics_and_Sequential_Art/page/n15/mode/2up
In this example below, he shows the example of a "worship symbol."
Do we create emotion symbols with our figures? What do you think? Share some examples or non examples in the comments!
Sometimes, our gestures can be read even in silhouette. Here is a simple page of Tintin, silhouetted out:
(Hergé; found on the internet a long time ago!)
Here are some more exciting gestures.
Eleanor Davis, In Our Eden
Lee Lei, Stone Fruit
Two illustrations from Yuko Shimizu
Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland
How important are clear, bold GESTURES and much do they communicate first in our comics?
Thanks for reading!
I get Eisner's point about gestures helping communicate, though I think his style goes a bit too far -- and make the work seem too "cartoony" for my taste. I guess the trick is to find a balance.
I did graphic memoir work for the first time a couple of years ago. I found it interesting that, although I was a rank amateur (and still am), I instinctively knew ways to express emotions in people and general feeling in a scene. I mean, not at the level of a pro, of course, but the knowledge was there. I wondered how much of that was what I had soaked up from comics growing up (I'm 63), and how much was just a function of being human.