how to read a graphic novel

Terms and Strategies to Enhance Your Reading Pleasure

How to Read a Graphic Novel

Graphic Novel vs. Traditional Novel

Similarities: •Both tell a story.•Both use elements of writing such as plot, character, conflict and setting.•Both start as a blank page.

Graphic Novel vs. Traditional Novel

Differences: •Graphic novels can show you rather than telling you what is happening. •They are sort of a mixture of novel and movie.

Frames

•Frames contain the story. They are the “camera lens” of the graphic novel, directing your attention.

Gutters

•Gutters are the areas between the frames. We’ll talk about those more later.

Together, they are called a panel.

Chapter TitleThe title of a chapter can tell you a lot about what you are about to read.

It is also worth revisiting the chapter title at the end of the chapter. What comes to mind when you think about this chapter title?

•When referring to a character in a frame, we refer to them as “figures”.

Figures

•Artists show motion by capturing a moment in time.

Space•Foreground is what is closest to the reader. It is often the focus of the frame.

•Midground is a little further away, and provides context and details to a scene.

•Background helps give us setting, such as buildings, trees and unimportant characters

Color•While Persepolis is in black and white, using more black or white can still help to create tone.

•How would you describe the tone of this new scene?

•Text in a graphic novel can appear in a variety of places. •One is the caption. They are usually in rectangular boxes and provide narration.

Text

Text

•When characters speak in a graphic novel, they appear in speech balloons.

•They can also show how they are speaking with special effects.

Text

•Artists can show what people are thinking with thought balloons and other special effects.

How do you read it?

•You read a graphic novel like you read any other novel: left to right, top to bottom. •This is also true with speech or thought balloons.

How do you read it?

•Remember gutters? While you won’t see anything in the gutters, it doesn’t mean nothing is happening. You have to supply the information yourself.

What happens between this

and this?

How do you read it?

•When we reference a frame on a page, we number them in the order of how we read them plus the page number.

1 2

3 4

5

Read order vs. chronological order

It is important to note that while you read in order of left to right, top to bottom, that doesn’t mean that is the chronological order of the story.

What is the order of these five frames?

FIN

Directions: Using the vocabulary from today’s introductory discussion of graphic novels, write a

response that examines a frame from “The Veil” and a frame from “The Bicycle.”  Consider how color

contrast, background/foreground, gutter space, and other elements discussed yesterday contribute to

the tone and narration.   

Panel Analysis Journal