Comic

A juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.

A sequence of text and images that tells a story.

Cartoon

“A vacuum into which our identity and awareness are pulled an empty shell that we inhabit which enables us to travel in another realm.”

A cartoon is a simplified version of the real thing.

Icon

A pictorial representation of a person, place or thing.

Gutter

Space between two panels that lets the reader make a connection between them.

Closure

“Mentally completing that which is incomplete based on past experience.”

Not everything can be told through visual and verbal representation so sometimes there are blanks in a sequence that the reader has to fill.

Panel-to-Panel Transitions

The transition from one panel to the next. They can be different depending on how much time passes between them or how space changes.

Bleed

When a panel bleeds off the page it’s on.

Motion Lines

“Motion lines represent objects moving through space.”

Lines that show the direction an object moves in.

Synaesthetic

“Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.”

When one sense that is being stimulated, it stimulates another one.

Word Balloon

Also called a speech bubble; is usually used to hold dialogue, but can also hold symbols. It’s used to convey sound from a source. It can also take different shapes to express different emotions.