Using Visual Metaphor Part 2
Anthropomorphism and motifs
In Part 1 we looked at David B’s Epileptic and visual metaphors in my own graphic memoir.
Much of these two entries come from my book The Art of the Graphic Memoir.
These images are of the herpes virus in Ken Dahl's autobiographical graphic memoir, Monsters. First, now that he’s got a diagnosis, it’s just overwhelming his thoughts...
— then it appears everywhere.
As the sun…
And a roommate...
He can’t escape it! It’s a wonderful, playful, gross way to show how much it is completely dominating his every moment.
Finally, here are some images from Carol Tyler's masterwork, Soldier's Heart. Carol uses Visual Metaphor in other instances extensively, but here I'm just focused on the MOTIF of the red ribbons, which always are a way to draw your emotions in.
First seem them associated with her father, whom she has intensely complicated feelings about, but note how she herself wears his red on her back.
They appear in times of heightened emotion, keeping all the moments unified.
She even brings them in when showing the horrors and fears of World War II, this time a ribbon held in a giant Nazi raptor…
Learning where and how to create visual symbols and metaphors and where to use them can be so powerful!
So let's try it! We're here to help you with them!
Thanks for reading!