Graphic Narrative Gutters

As the reader moves from one panel to the next they predict and conclude what is happening.

Graphic narrative gutters.

Monnin s 2010 graphic novel vocabulary the basics. The gutter is the space between panels. Reader moves from one panel to the next and comes to a conclusion about whats happening. The format is what makes the story a graphic novel and usually includes text images word balloons sound effects and panels.

Vertical gutters can be made thinner than horizontal gutters in order to encourage the reader to group each row of panels for easier reading. A visual or implied boundary and the contents within it that tell a piece of the story. Graphic narrative through its most basic composition in frames and gutters in which it is able to gesture at the pacing and rhythm of reading and looking through the various structures of each. Graphic novels can be any genre and tell any kind of story just like their prose counterparts.

A splash or splash page is a large often full page illustration which opens and introduces a story. Graphic novels can be any genre and tell any kind of story just like their prose counterparts. In some cases it is used to express the duration of time and or changes of location by its length. A distinctively long gutter implies a long span of time or major change of scene.

The space between the panels. A tier is a singular row of panels. To be considered a graphic novel rather than a picture book or illustrated novel the story is told using a combination of words and pictures in a sequence across the page. I will look at this empty space between the panels and how it works and relates to the narrative.

First i will delve into the surface of the physical appearance of the gutter its function as a frame and a passe partout and inevitably how this affects the way we look at the gutter through the image and sequential art. This thesis is about the significance of the gutter in graphic narrative. The gutter sometimes occupies more space than the panels and actively contributes to the narrative in various ways. Although others agree with chute s use of the term graphic narrative and include comic books and manga as well in their definition gardner herman 2011 labio 2011 states that the term.