Wednesday, September 25, 2013

I Knew You Were Trouble

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…

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