I have many annoyances when it comes to webcomics, and literature in general but I’ll focus on comics for it’s far worse in comics than it is in books. The infamous talking head syndrome.
You know what I’m talking about. One panel has just one character talking and the next it’s the same thing, on and on, nothing but talking gets done. They don’t change their pose, they hardly change their “camera angle” and they never ever have backgrounds.
Forgive me for ranting but I gotta get this out. My gosh! How can you have just talking heads? Are your characters in a void? Are you devoid of imagination? What’s wrong with you?!
Okay, I’m done. Some people are okay with it but I need to know where the characters are and see that they are human enough to change position. Speaking of human enough let me ask you something. Have you had a very long conversation with someone? Sure, we all have. While talking did you stand/sit absolutely still, without moving, and never saw things around you but the person? No, no you have not. If outside, you felt the temperature and sweated or shivered or enjoyed it. The wind blew your hair and clothes around, you shifted your weight, and above all you changed position as your body got tired of standing or sitting one way. “Excuse me, Xade, but my character is undead so—” They still do it. They were alive once. To be relatable, they would retain this mannerism, just not nearly as often as the living. … Where was I? Oh yeah! As you talked with your companion you also saw things that happened around you, like the car going by or the squirrel jumping around in the tree.
If that happens in real life, don’t you think it should happen to your characters? You don’t have to draw the full outside background. Just hint at where they are. Are they in a kitchen? Vary the angles and show, say, a stove or a nearly empty spice rack behind them. The other person could have the refrigerator behind them. Next person, A panel could be a slightly different angle showing something else, with part of the stove, maybe a countertop or a trash can behind them. Also, they shifted slightly, maybe leaned forward if the conversation is heated. Person B has part of the window and slapped their hand on the table to make a point. Maybe they are moving about the room or petting Loki the cat or Sweet Pea the dog.
See how the characters are more interesting? Marty is pretending to be all ticked off and Zeep is all like what the heck? You wouldn’t believe that’s 3d models because of how fluid they move
There are tons of things for your characters to do. Many ways to show a quick and easy background. Avoid the talking head syndrome and you’ll keep a lot more readers. Changing angles and adding simple backgrounds make things a little harder but what’s worse, a little extra work or someone leaving the comic because they are bored?
Newspost by Xade - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Xade/
Talking Head Syndrome
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, May 13, 2021
7 likes!
©2011 WOWIO, Inc. All Rights Reserved Mastodon
Jason Moon at 9:18AM, May 16, 2021
Never jip your audience out of a decent background
Hapoppo at 7:29AM, May 14, 2021
One of the simpler solutions is to move the camera around a lot. Show a closeup of character A talking, then a closeup of character B, then a long shot from behind the bar of the diner they're in, then a closeup of character A's hand as he jots down notes on a napkin... it's an easy way to create a dynamic scene even if the two characters are just sitting in a diner drinking coffee and talking.
bravo1102 at 4:16AM, May 14, 2021
And everything Wally Wood said he got from theater or motion pictures just like I said. I have to shoot things like a movie, so I use the language of film and theater. I can't erase backgrounds so I use it. Everything in frame has to matter, even if it's used like an Airplane movie. ;)
Xade at 6:00PM, May 13, 2021
I know that sometimes the background is considered irrelevant. And indeed, we do not pay attention to everything around us but it's still there. If it suddenly vanished it a person would be uneasy and actually break off their conversation to see what happened. I'm not saying to go gun-ho as I did in my 3d scene. Note that I said a hint. You may not consciously notice the background but your mind does. If in a void have the characters change position, as others noted below. My articles are not meant to tell you what to do, but to simply inspire you.
hushicho at 4:26PM, May 13, 2021
I don't really agree entirely with this, though I do think it's good to consult Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work for ideas of how to spice up these sorts of panels. It's good to attract the eye, but sometimes that happens through a character that is visually interesting. Backgrounds can also, very easily, take away from the scene. Rarely in real life do we interact that extensively with anything around us unless it happens to be relevant to what we're doing at that time, so it's often enough just to establish where the characters are and then don't worry about it until or unless some element of the background or location becomes involved. Also, speaking completely pragmatically, most readers won't take note of any detail to speak of. They won't care and will only want to advance the story, or look at any particularly attractive part of the panel. You also must consider efficient workflow.
PaulEberhardt at 1:16PM, May 13, 2021
This is what happens when an artist confuses something to use for effect - if you've got a "WHAAAAT?!"-moment or something, there's nothing better than a close-up on the face and nothing else - with a convenient time-saver (it does save time, but not in a good way, as you and the others point out very well). This said, I often leave the background blank when in a hurry or lazy, sometimes intending to put in some background later while knowing perfectly well it's practically guaranteed that I never will. However my characters always do something, or something happens on the side. I'd quickly become bored myself drawing the same thing over and over again. Also, I've never quite figured out how some people can recklessly use copy+paste without even flinching. It bears such an enormous risk of having to die of shame - still a very serious issue at least in some parts of the offline world - that no one should attempt it without proper training and safety measures. ;)
rickrudge at 10:21AM, May 13, 2021
I am definitely guilty of this. Sometimes I need to get out a lot of text to help explain the story plot or to express what a character is feeling. I hope that I can get some better ideas from here. Thank you.
Matt Comics at 9:37AM, May 13, 2021
I was guilty of this when I was a kid. not too much, it was generally half a page of talking heads, but still. Nowadays I have a lot of fun drawing characters doing small things while they talk, because it shows some of their personality.
bravo1102 at 5:53AM, May 13, 2021
You're the director of a stage play. How are you going to keep your audience engaged while the characters are talking? Work on that. It's called blocking. Since I work with figures and sets I have to be conscious of it ALL THE TIME. The figures have hands, what are those doing? Arms, shoulders, waists, legs. Watch people talk it is so much more than mouth open/mouth closed. Body language. Tilt their head? Shrug? There's so much that there's no excuse for mouth open/mouth closed. Just create the two panels and alternate them and work on your dialogue? Write a play. But you'll still need blocking and movement but you can leave that up to the director. ;)
bravo1102 at 5:43AM, May 13, 2021
If there is a wall of text in the script, I figure out what the characters could be doing while they talk. Give them something to do. They having coffee? Maybe spinning around or crossing and uncrossing their arms. And animated expressions. Humans move their eyebrows, eyes, mouths and heads while talking. Many use their hands. It adds to the characterization as opposed to talking heads. Many movies put talking head sequences in restaurants or bars so there is movement even if it's only in the background. Let them multi task because they have lives too. Show what they're discussing by having walk by it! Let them be alive rather than just mouth open/mouth closed.
cdmalcolm1 at 5:05AM, May 13, 2021
Well, currently my characters are in a void like situation. I’m reposting my scrolling comics as single panel because of the old title I can’t change name. So I gave it a name I wanted by starting a new one. It’s giving me time to draw new stuff not out yet. I’m sorry if my content is void of Backgrounds and one panels. I’ll look to improve on this feed back with the new stuff.
dpat57 at 1:30AM, May 13, 2021
I resemble this remark! Point taken, but these are comics, not oil paintings hanging in the Louvre!
bravo1102 at 12:38AM, May 13, 2021
Some of it is laziness because the creator just can't be bothered and even reuses panels in the ongoing conversation. There's also that they can't. They don't have any other art work and just repeat the same pictures4until they get to a punchline. That's often done in gag strips though not always just there.