Writing With Images: An Exploration Of How Images Speak Louder Than Words In The Graphic Story.

This paper explores the idea that in the graphic story or comics, drawing is a form of writing and not merely a substitute for descriptive words. It will first examine writing and drawing separately, from a mechanical, historical, utilitarian and cognitive perspective.

A proposal is offered that where narratives are conveyed through a series of thematic, stylistic and aesthetically linked images in juxtaposition, it is a separate medium called juxtaposed image narratives. Graphic stories are but one form. The key signifier here is images presented in fixed relation to one another on a larger support, such as a page. How this form communicates a narrative through the drawing as much, if not more than the written word, is then investigated.

The paper proposes that the efficacy of comics in replicating life, is observation based representational drawing, which can convey more than the description of an object. With use of line, tone, media, colour, it can evince mood and emotion, imparting a psychological dimension. When depicting the human figure, this replicates the wordless communication of body language, facial expressions, physiognomy we use in daily life. With images in juxtaposed panels, comics can replicate these signs and thus, the narrative of human experience.