Defining Web Comics:
Motion and Sound in Web Comics
I posted part of this article on the Fanboy Radio Forum. Unfortunately, the original post no longer exists.
This article has been added on to and edited for this site.
EDIT: 6*9*2003: This post stands as is, regardless of whether or not I hold the same views today.
1. The introduction or changing of frames or panels is the only acceptable form of motion
in web comics (i.e. swipes, fading in or out, etc), as long as the reader is allowed to choose
when the changing of these frames or panels occurs.
2. Any motion of the characters or “props” within the panels is unacceptable motion.
3. Sound is unacceptable, period.
While this might sound close-minded, especially considering the amount of web tools available
to creators of web comics, the above is actually consistent with the uniqueness, the challenge,
and the form of the comics medium.
The intention of comics isn’t just to capture time and to allow the reader to decide how much
space a depiction of time should take up. Comics is also an iconic artform; the icons used to
represent objects and characters also represent these objects and characters in motion and
producing sound. Thus, motion and sound are represented by these icons.
To allow motion and sounds to come from these icons is to take away that unique aspect of comics.
Readers decipher these representations in their minds so that they can determine the type of motion
and sounds that are being made within the comic. Couple this with the depiction of time within space
and the reader is participating in the delivery of the story.
To have actual motion and sound come from these icons basically turns the web comic into an animated
video.
Even if the reader were allowed to, at his or her own discretion, choose when the motion and sound
were to occur, the fact remains that the reader is not allowed to imagine the motion or sound him
or herself because it is being played out for them. This part of the imaginative aspect of the
medium would be lost.
Motion for frame or panel changes does not necessarily depict time, nor is it representative of
iconic motion. Rather, it is a clever way of introducing the next frame or panel, and can also be
condusive to the mood. The only stipluation would be that the reader has to be allowed to decide
when frame or panel changes occur. Otherwise, if the frame or panel change is automated, time
becomes depicted and the reader loses that aspect of participation.
Now, there is the notion that printed comics and web comics are two completely different mediums.
Technically, that is and isn’t true; Print and the Internet offer two different experiences.
With printed material, you can hold it in your hands, you can see and touch the print. It’s a tangible
medium. It’s contains static images, all of which are iconic.
The Internet is a virtual medium. You can’t hold it in your hands. You’re seeing pixels, not print.
Motion and sound are staple elements of websites.
So while it’s true that they are two completely different mediums, the other side of that coin is that
when comics are created for either medium, what is being attempted is the application of the essence of
comics to both mediums. That is to say, the essence of what makes a comic a comic must be retained in
both mediums. Comics is a medium of static, iconic images that represent time, motion, and sound. This
said, I think it is more accurate to call print and the Internet two different platforms in regards
to presenting the medium of comics.
If motion and sound are applied to web comics, the iconic part of motion and sound are gone. Because
motion and sound are executed in time, the element of representational time is also stripped away.
The experience of both platforms will be different. That is a given. But while the experiences will be
different due to each platform’s inherent properties, the essence of comics must be consistent,
no matter the platform. I say, experiment with Internet technologies. We should use the applications, the “infinite” space,
and the limitations of the Internet to see what we come up with. It should be clear, however, that if
one sets out to create a web comic, then the web comic being created should fall in line with what a
comic is defined as.
Then there are others who are not concerned with categorizing artistic mediums. If the storytelling
device yields a good story, be it a comic, and web animation, a hybrid of both and/or others, then
why fret about what to call it? Is it really important to define a medium? Is defining the medium
just as or more important than the story iteself?
Perhaps, in the end, it is not. As long as the story is good, then that is what matters.
On the other hand, I think that if one wants to explore a given medium, then that means one must
explore the essence of that medium.
With artistic mediums come vast possibilities as well as certain limitations, and that is part of the
challenge of working within a medium. It is too easy to let loose and forget about the specifics of
a medium. It is the ultimate freedom to disregard rules, concepts, limitations… but is it a test
of one’s creativity?
Working within the possibilities and limitations of a definable medium is a test of one’s creativity.
Therefore, yes – It is important to define the medium. With web comics, too easy is it to give in to
the lure of motion and sound. The challenge is to create comics, using the possibilities and limitations
offered by the medium, and still take advantage of whatever platform the comic is being created for.
That, I think, is the true test of a web comic artist.
Phillip Ginn
12-14-2003