Conventions of

Graphic Novels

Apisada Chatchonbut
Chalisa Detchanun
Techin Charoenchitrwattana
Kanchanok Chaipitakroj Sine
HISTORY!!!
A graphic novel is a book
made up of comics content.
Although the word "novel"
normally refers to long
fictional works, the term
"graphic novel" is applied
broadly and includes fiction,
non-fiction.
The first graphic novels

Will Eisner’s A Contract with

God, and Other Tenement
Stories (1978) is one of the
most important early
examples of the graphic novel
in the United States.
Eisner’s book create higher demand for more advanced comics,
as the result graphic novels become famous so-called adult
comics in the mid- to late 1980s, which was centred around
three works:

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Alan Moore’s Watchmen Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus
Returns (1986) (1986–87) (1980–86) by Art Spiegelman.
During the turn of the 21th century is the
golden period of the graphic novels. The
creation of the direct-sales market, the
acceptance of comics and graphic novels
into bookshops,

However, later the appearance of Web

comics presented a potential challenge to
graphic novels, so later the term graphic
novels were left behind.
 “STYLISTIC
APPROACHES”
Different style can lead to
different mood and tone.
For example:

Persepolis

Color - Sadness,
Dark

Illustration -
Make focus on the
story
Maus

Color - Sadness,
Death

Illustration -
Convey emotions,
Tense
 American Born Chinese

Color - Life, movement

Illustration -
Children’s book
STRUCTURE!
PANELS
 A panel is an individual frame, or
single drawing, in the multiple-panel
sequence of a comic strip or comic
book. A panel consists of a single
drawing depicting a frozen moment.
CAPTIONS
Caption. In a caption,
words appear in a box
separated from the
rest of the panel or
page, usually to give
voice to a narrator,
but sometimes used
for the characters'
thoughts or dialogue.
GUTTERS
Gutters. The space between the panels of the comic
BUBBLES
 Bubbles are a graphic
convention used most
commonly in comic
books, comics and
cartoons to allow
words (and much less
often, pictures) to be
understood as
representing the speech
or thoughts of a given
character in the comic.
EFFECT!!!
Panels:
- focus on the events that happen.
Captions:
- easier to understand the story
- give a deeper understanding of characters
and events
Gutters:
- allows for closure to happen
Bubbles:
- know who are speaking
- understand characters’ thought
THANK YOU