How to avoid floating heads?

[TheLemmaLlama]

I mean, if you have a dialogue/exposition/text heavy section, you'd want to break it up with images right? But what kind of images should you break it up with, especially when it doesn't make sense for the characters to be doing anything but talking?

Should you cut to other unrelated scenes?
Should you draw what they're talking about?
Should you draw the characters from different angles for the sake of visual variety?
Is it fine to just draw their heads talking over and over again as long as you show their emotions and body language?
Should you draw random events in the background of the talking heads?
None of the above?

I'm good now, thanks for all the tips guys! Feel free to keep talking about whatever tho

[joannekwan]

I use a combination of changing camera angles, keeping the same angle to show a change of emotion, as well as close-ups of hands or other points of body language.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ahhh so keep the "camera" on the actual dialogue scene? Which angles should you use?

[joannekwan]

Sometimes I like to pan out and show as much of their bodies as possible and also to show the background to establish where the characters are. Changing angles is also a good way to show subtext as well, for example if the characters are talking, and one is distracted, perhaps show where and what they are looking at.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Good point, I guess if the characters don't react to the dialogue in any interesting way, the dislogue itself probably isn't that interesting ... Thanks for the tips

[joannekwan]

No problem at all!

[AnnaLandin]

I try to vary my framing of the shots. Just because people are talking doesn't mean I just have to show their faces. I sometimes draw panels in which the entire body of the character can be seen (it helps with body language!), I sometimes zoom out so that ALL participants in the dialogue are in the same panel, I change angles, etc., etc.

I also try to make sure that I have actual backgrounds in at least one panel per page; it helps establish a sense of place, and give context. It tells the reader that all of this isn't just a bunch of disembodied heads talking in a void; it's taking place in an actual location. Also, the walk-and-talk thing is good too. A lot of my text-heavy scenes have taken place with my characters moving from one place to another, which means I can draw them walking through various landscapes.

But yeah. Pull the camera out to show more of their bodies is a good first step. People don't just talk with their faces - they speak with their whole bodies. People gesture with their hands, hunch their shoulders, stand up straight, wave their arms, etc, etc.

[TheLemmaLlama]

That travelling dialogue thing's a good idea; I always worried travelling scenes might be kinda boring XD I guess no-one had to resort to pulling ridiculous angles just to show some variety in the visuals after all, so it's definitely worth a shot

[Zanreo]

Heh, looks like I'm not the only one having problems with this... I should probably try some stuff here - varying angles, body language, closeups, zooming out more (though I don't really like drawing my characters too small, it's hard to get details looking right and I also have to draw very thin lines and I prefer slightly thicker ones, my lineart doesn't look too great with thin lines...) plus a lot of the time they're not really supposed to be in any specific place/enviroment so no real background ideas)

[TheLemmaLlama]

Yeah I find when I try to add details to people at a distance they tend to look weird Maybe just draw the obvious distinguishing characteristics I guess, or maybe if you can portray their personalities clearly people can still tell who is who without the details? XD

As for background, people probably won't question it if you just put a tree/window/pole/bench or two around for no reason than to make it look like somewhere, I guess XD If there's no specific background intended it probably won't matter if you just chuck in a random background? Don't quote me on this

[Zanreo]

yeah, it's just for my comic inside locations would make more sense for a lot of them, and then I feel like I have to remember the design of this specific place if it's, say, someone's house or whatever (I don't have a specific design made up for most of those)

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ahhh right D: You might be able to get away with a generic carpet/window/table setup and not specifying what place it actually is It doesn't need to be super detailed XD

[gateofselidor]

I'm a big fan of backgrounds and so I'm very biased towards them, but...I would actually encourage you to come up with specific designs for your characters' homes if a lot of the conversations take place there. They don't have to be really complicated, but you can show a lot about a character's personality through their living space. Are they messy or tidy? What sorts of trinkets do they have around? Is their furniture plain and practical or ornamental? What colours do they like? When they're more limited in how much they can customise their living space (military barracks, school dorms, hospital room, prison cell etc.), you can also use it to help establish your setting.

As for avoiding floating heads, I vary the angle and distance of the camera. Close-ups are good if you want to highlight facial expressions, and coming further out can show other body language (hand gestures, set of their shoulders, if they're fidgeting, playing with an object etc.) and help keep the conversation grounded within its setting. When I indulge in short sequences of exposition, I sometimes draw what they're talking about if I think it provides something informative and interesting for the readers to look at.

[SeraphicMayin]

i have a fantastic resource for this! Cause I learnt about it in my Illustration class that i'm taking now = u =
bit old fashioned but super super helpful springboard for ideas.
I"m also partial to having the characters doing small actions while talking. Gives the reader something to notice while the exposition or dialogue is happening.

[iddqd]

An old screenwriting tip on this is to give your characters something to do while they are talking. I have used this especially during the exposition scenes, which can get boring really fast. In one scene, my characters are having a meal; in another, they're setting up an airship for departure, all while they talk. This way, I don't need to distinguish "dialogue" scenes from other kind of scenes visually. It helps with the flow, and it can be anything. You can have an emotionally tense conversation while one of the characters is chopping wood, or dressing, or what have you. However, if you go this route, you probably need the characters to interact with their environment, which then has to be drawn, too. I hope that helps!

[TristanJensen]

When I have sequences with a lot of dialogue I try to have the characters change environment every now and then. And maybe have "breaks" for the reader where it zooms out as each character pauses to think of how to continue it, or maybe an interruption if a bird "hit" one of them after they want outside or something like that...

(funnily enough when I first saw this I immediately thought of how I draw my really cartoony characters since they literally have floating heads)

[allenthomas]

I've also had a problem fairly recently in my comic with "floating-head syndrome". The advice that I was give much like everyone else has said here is varying the camera angles. If you can pull off saving extreme close ups or zooms for pivotal point in dialogue that could be a plus as well. It is a pretty difficult thing to balance not having too many similar and boring panels in exposition while at the same time not changing the camera angles to the point of confusion.

[panistheman]

I had this problem when I came to illustrate a scene in Capefall and I realised I had the characters doing nothing but talking about events that happen offpanel for about five pages. I solved it by having them walking through a city and having a variation of wide shots and close ups with different backgrounds. Also having different layouts and panel sizes for each page helps.

-EDIT- here's what I'm talking about:

[Aspie_Gamer]

I generally incorporate some shoulder action so as to avoid floating head syndrome when I'm sketching a new page of my comic http://tapastic.com/series/Life-of-an-Aspie

[Zanreo]

Oh, it's not as much "takes place at their houses specifically" as "doesn't really matter where it happens because it's just presenting various gaming news and the events are the important thing" (At least the history-based ones often give me a setting it happens in). But if I had to choose a place, their house/office/ect would make the most sense I guess?

Designing their living/working spaces could be fun though...