Composing an Emotional Effect
A secondary function of composition is to accentuate emotion in a scene. The way a cartoon is designed can impact the feeling portrayed in the comic. Readability issues aside, emotive composition is a simple, direct method of making your work stand out from that of others. Many cartoonists are so engaged with the act of drawing itself they forget to compose the scene to reflect emotion. The resulting work has a repetitive, static feel to it.
Directing the reader's eye is still the primary function of composition. Composing a cartoon for emotional value should never be considered more important than proper readability.
Eye Level
The reader's eye level — discussed in Chapter 10 as the horizon line — can have a great impact on the cartoon's emotional charge. A high eye level, called a bird's-eye view, tends to separate the reader from the action, creating emotional distance. A low eye level, called a worm's-eye view, presents a much more dramatic scene, in which the figures seem to tower over the viewer in a threatening way.
Close-Up
When you draw one of your characters in a close-up, it helps establish emotion in two ways. Obviously, it allows you to concentrate on the facial expression of the character presented in close-up. More importantly, the face frames the remaining space inside the panel, creating a very powerful effect. If the face is pointing toward the framed space, the objects in that space will receive a great deal of focus. If the face is pointed away from the leftover space, the objects in that space become isolated and remote.
A close-up emphasizes the facial expression and frames the remaining space in a dramatic way.
The closer the reader gets to the scene, the more emotionally charged it becomes. You will notice this used often in opening scenes in comic strips and comic books. The first image may be an exterior of a building or a wide shot of a landscape. Aside from establishing narrative elements such as time and place, this approach also serves to start the story on neutral emotional ground.
Tilted View
Tilting the viewpoint of the reader can also have a dramatic impact on how the reader reacts to a cartoon. For example, tilting the scene to the right, so the left end is higher, will emphasize the items on the left. When two people are standing eye to eye, a tilted view will make the person on the left loom over the person on the right. Even a scene with a lone character takes on a sense of anticipation.
Tilting the scene adds drama — especially to the side that gets tilted higher.
