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Strontium
Mar '15

I love onamatopoeia! Different users have said I make very good use of original sound effects in my comic, and I would happen to agree. I'm a very sound-based person and can visualize and or hear the combinations of syllables that make up a sound. So you've got stuff like "SHLUK3", "SHIIIII" and "SHFFF4" (I seem to have a prevalence for S-sounds). I also recently wrote a poem for my poetry class that was entirely transcripted sound effects from electronic music I like.

Experimenting with sounds is awesome!

AnnaLandin
Mar '15

Depends on the style of the comic!

I use them only very sparingly - partly because the kind of comic I draw rarely requires much use of them, and also because I haven't got very much practise drawing them, so I limit my use. I imagine that if I was doing a more humour-based comic, I'd use them more often.

My rule of thumb is to only use them to emphasise what I'm doing; if readers can't tell what's happening without the sound-effect, my drawing isn't clear enough.

As for "BOOM" and other common sound-effects - that's perfectly fine! If you want people to know something explodes, using "BOOM" means they'll get it immediately, because it's a sound-effect they're used to seeing for explosions! Don't stress out about being 100% original every time - comics are a language, in a way, and the thing that makes a language useful is that everyone has a common undertanding of some things. Innovation is nice and necessary, but you don't have to do new things all the time. It's okay to use common sound effects, because they're easily understood.

ashriott
Mar '15

Onomatopoeia is the bane of my life Orz
It's hard looking for the right words for certain sounds, so I often end up using a mix of common sound effects (boom/bam/wham - I get if you find these lame. I also found them hard to use at first cause of how corny they sound, but now I can't live without them), action words (pant/snore/click/honk) and words that spell out the sound (shaaa/paa/donn).

When I think about it, I don't always pay attention to the onomatopoeia of a comic. Being distracted by dialogue, the pictures and all, I think I just tend to imagine the sound effects myself lol. Nonetheless I find it to be super important as it does breathes life into a comic. Sometimes I find if the SFX is in the right font, size and placement, "visually" the reader can get a sense of the sound, noise level, tension and what not without having to read the sound effect. If that makes any sense??

Ayumi
Mar '15

Oh yeah, I'm bad at using them too. For me it's especially hard because I'm not fluent english, and it's kinda hard to find sound effects, what has the perfect meaning too. I usually try to use online dictionaries, but I'm not sure at all I'm using the right sounds/words ^^; It would be so cool to have a sound effect dictionary/list for comic creators!

shade277
Mar '15

17.jpg1296x1894 1.43 MB
a first person view of a shotgun shot in the face. Is the om-nom-nom-atopoia in place? I think yes it is.

But sometimes, i see a lot of ka-splwosh-sqirrrrtt.

Written sounds - are part of comic legacy. They are something not only hard to pronounce and spell (kidding)
They are a charming signature of a comic as genre.

IMHO - there is a way to overact with onomatopoeia like with excessive nudity. From charm to overact - s thin line. Just hold the right side.

Doubtcent
Mar '15

Definitely necessary. Unless your comic is purposefully silent, everything, from the tweeting of birds to the sound of sitting down should be accounted for. Even if redundant, sound is important to set the scene and portray actions. Swords clanging together make a "clang" or a "shing" sound. Without the satisfactory onomatopoeia, it can seem like they missed or something is off.

I personally like One Piece's use of DOOM or BA-DOOM. It makes me think of the sound of a drum beating whenever something strange happens.

SpavVy
Mar '15

I use them all the time, I think their really good in bringing the story to life but that's just me.

zihobbit
Mar '15

Do you think it's odd when they're completely absent from a comic ?

Well, there is V for Vendetta. Alan Moore and David Lloyd decided to avoid using onomatopeia; there isn't a single one in the whole comic. It certainly feels wierd and strangely depressing when you read it but, is it because of the lack of onomatopeia? Don't know.

It is hard to come up with them (especially if English is not your language).

That's a big problem. I thing that, fortunately for us, most of them are already standardized (like "boom", or "ugh"). There are also a lot of onomatopeia that come from the japanese manga. Some of them are for unique sounds that only appear in manga, like the "don" of surprise.

nikacomics
Mar '15

Having gotten into webcomics primarily by way of manga, I'm used to having sounds written out. I think it becomes part of the visual expectation. Plus it adds a new depth to the experience of reading it.

My issue, as mentioned earlier, is that I have so much trouble coming up with suitable spellings of sounds. It just looks funny to me unless it's a standard "boom" "crack" "pop" kind of thing. (What's the sound of someone running? Panting? Screaming?)

Doubtcent
Mar '15

For running it's usually "TMP TMP" or "Badda". Pant is "Pant" (simple enough). Screaming, "Gyaaa" "Graaah" or really anything that sounds like someone screaming in your own head. Sounds, by any account, is up to the artist to make sense of it. If you think a certain word works, use it.

igneriss
Mar '15

I think adding inomatopoeia is important, though I usually leave them out myself ; -; they are so hard to use, especially when english is not your native language. For example, I could use 'bdziąg' for a silly bouncing sound, but most of my readers wouldn't really know how to read it CX so I have to google for english onomatopoeia for bouncing sound. I end up adding them only if it's really necessary, otherwise I just leave them out. Though to be honest, when I'm reading comics, I don't pay attention to onomatopoeias.

AnnaLandin
Apr '15
nikacomics

@nikacomics - if you really must add a sound-effect for someone running (IMHO, it should be enough to draw someone running, and maybe add some speed-lines), I'd go for something like "huff", if you want to indicate heavy breathing, or an "AAAaaaaaahhhh!" trailing off into the distance if it's someone screaming as they run away.

nikacomics
Apr '15

Oh, I like the idea of "huff"! In my particular situation, I wanted to build up anticipation to show that someone would be running into frame from off-screen so that she didn't just pop up out of nowhere.

Zanreo
Apr '15
1

I feel like I should use them more, though I'm not always sure what to use.

I sometimes like to use "Unsound Effects" just for fun - one of my comics has "BURST OPEN" partially because I couldn't find a "door suddenly bursting open"-sound I was happy with. (Though, my comic is definitely more on the "silly"/fun side and I don't think it would fit as well in a more "serious" comic)

williamjbowles
Apr '15

I think it's a matter of personal preference and the style the artist is going for. In an action comic, it may better convey certain action-elements (such as explosions, gunfire, etc). They can also be used for comedic effect in a more humorous or light-hearted comic. In a more serious or suspenseful comic, the author may find it a little too tacky or cartoonish and forgo such thing entirely. Then again, the creak of floorboards or the thud of an elevated heartbeat could be used for good effect.
Whether or not any artist uses such things-- as well as how liberally-- is up to his or her own style.
I use them when there is a distinct and important sound that is happening and requires attention, but not for things like footsteps or people chewing their food. Other people, however, may do so more or less. It really just depends, I guess.

2 months later
Luie
Jun '15

Making up onomatopoeia is awesome though. Turn that "BOOM" into a "CCCCC SSSSSSSSHHEEEEEEEE ......BUUUUUMUNMMMMMMMnnn nnnnntsssss"

I mean like, y'know if it's a firework or something.
And they gotta call the ambulance.

"WEEWOOWEEWOOWEEWOOWEEWOO"

ippotsk
Jun '15

Hoho, interesting thread!

I've tried to use SFX for my first pages; they looked alright, but after a while, I stopped feeling the effect it's supposed to give (and the fact that it takes me 30 mins to do so for one page, sobs)

And soon enough, I stopped putting SFX text on my pages entirely. I mainly rely on blurs, motion lines and other fancy things to get similar effects. _(:D

I think it's a nice thing to put, as long as it doesn't detract from the page (in my case, it always dOES), and doesn't sound overly ridiculous (although sometimes that's a good humor point too). : D

VermillionWorks
Jun '15
1

Nowadays I try to avoid using them when I think the panel can go without them, I think they should add to the page rather than be there just...to be there.

I also think there can be such a thing as too many of these. Say there's a character who plops themself down in a cushy chair while laughing and wiping away a tear from their face, while in the background another character is scratching the back of his neck while observing - Do you really need "shwumf" (the chair noise), "scratch scratch", "ahahaha" and "wipe" all in there at once? XD In that situation I would go for what would be the loudest, in that case, the chair noise and the laughing, and even the chair noise might not be absolutely necessary.

...and even when I do use them I try avoid trying to use too many 'blunt' sound effects unless I feel it's really needed for some reason (IE "Sit", "stand", "glare", ect.) For example, I would be more likely to use something like "wssh" instead of "throw" when someone's throwing something.

nobody
Jun '15
zihobbit

I was just about to bring up V for Vendetta too! Not a single written sound in the whole comic.

From my experience (and this comparison is naturally flawed, because the mediums are fundamentally different, but it's the closest I've come to express how it affects the reader/viewer experience), it's like when you watch a film that has almost no soundtrack to it. Music can add a lot of emotion to a scene, but when you leave it out you're sometimes left with a more raw experience - I'm not saying that leaving out music from a film or leaving out written sounds from a comic is neither better nor more emotional. But I'm not saying it's worse or less emotional either. It just leaves you with a different feeling.

I think it all comes down to what kind of story you want to tell. I like both, and heavy use of onomatopoeia or complete lack thereof has never been a reason for me to not read a comic smile