Talking Heads...A Debate

[JRHoch]

No, I'm not talking about the innovative band of the 1970s and '80s. (And, yes, I'm probably dating myself.)

I'm talking about comics that are dialogue heavy and rely on portraits and closeups to tell the story instead of creating scenes with backgrounds and characters interacting. Sometimes these comics will just employ word balloons with no images at all.

Is the next step?:

Pretty Boy 1: I've never felt this way before.
PB2: Please don't cry...

So, how do you, as both creators and readers, feel about such an approach? Do you feel cheated, think it's lazy, or respect the decision to use time-saving measures in order to increase page turnout?

[VibrantFox]

Personally I prefer a mixture, talking portraits, full bodies, environments etc. simply because a comic feels more alive that way but again it's just personal preference.

If it feels the the most a set of dialogue requires is a couple of talking heads then so be it but if it needs more then give it more. If it's a whole comic then I feel like it could be a variety of factors.

• maybe that's just what the artist feels most capable of or is willing to do
• maybe that's just their "shtick" or gimmik or whatever

at the end of the day everything comes down to choice and the reason for that choice. if i find that a comic that's just talking heads is goo then i guess i'll read it but if not then it's just as much my right to drop it as it is their right to take that art direction. do i prefer it, no not really but i won't really judge either.

i do feel like a story (if such a comic has been story driven) would lose potential because it's limiting itself but then again i feel like certain brands of youtube videos kind of get away with this kind of thing. in the end, part of me wants to say it's a matter of taste or humor but a story in some cases really will need much more than talking heads.

//considers skill level also being a factor but stops

[feuersichel]

I think even with a lot of dialoge between charas and not much "happening" it's possible to make a scene interesting. A human face can have sooo many emotions. For my story I try to work with expressions and use hands as much as I can. Just how the chara acts and reacts to the opposite can tell very much about him. Here an example how I do it:

The only thing that botters me is when the charas just stand there... the worst: When the same picture just gets reused... that's lazy. But to be fair, it also depends alot on experience and I definitly had my problems with that when I started.

[Kelheor]

I've seen only 1 comic like this, the art was good, but mostly one girl face. Well... no, thanks.

I'd prefer reading a book, than looking at the same shots of the same face for many pages. For me a comic is not a book, it's something more closer to animation or a movie. Of course, you can make such a movie or comic interesting, look at Locke, and hour and a half of looking at Tom Hardy's face.

But I don't think that most people can. This should be comic's feature, not a bug. Something special.
So if a person who can draw will make a comic like your attached picture, I'd say they just don't want to actually try making a good comic. If they think the story is so good and they cannot draw, they should either write a book, find themself an artist or start learning how to draw.

[Raven_C]

If a scene in a comic is going to be dialogue-heavy the expressions of the “talking heads” need to be changing a lot, not only to, well, be expressive — but also to break up the conversation between panels (I don’t want to read a wall of text).

Think of films that have a lot of dialogue. Most of the time the camera changes perspectives — wide shots, close ups, full body, fingers drumming on the desk, characters pacing across the room, shifting expressions — all while they are talking this long talk. Comics need to be something like that. Not every panel needs to be drawn in a unique perspective or anything, but some sprinkled-in variety would add to the dynamic.

[BobbyjoeX]

imma be honest... i thought you were talking about the band XD

as for the actual topic... yeah, these comics kind of drone out a lot and i end up skipping dialog.

And with that, imma go "burn down a house"

[ble]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[Mr_estella]

awww, i wanted to talk about the band, i love it

[punkarsenic]

as a creator it frustrates me - its not the most fun to draw and when other people do it theres not a lot to dissect. i think a good dialogue scene should utilise framing and surroundings to create something visually interesting that also says more about the situation and characters than whats on the surface

that said, i think sometimes mundanity / repetition can be utilised for effect - either way, as a creator i want all my decisions to be justified and contribute to my goals

[JRHoch]

You can talk about the band... No one is stopping you on this thread!

[spadesart]

i feel like if your characters are having a long conversation and staying in one place, you should at least try to mix it up with different camera angles and cropping, and change body language. even if just your character's expression changes, their face will still move with it.

[JRHoch]

At least you threw in a couch! Or is that a chaise? I can never tell them apart.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

As someone whose current comic is "dialogue heavy" and very much relies on the "talking heads", I'm not quite sure how to feel about this one.

I guess it can look a little lazy sometimes...but then, it's really, REALLY relaxing to not have to worry about the background at all. I do one establishing shot and then I just forget about it altogether. If I need it again (maybe for ambiance), I draw it, but there's no pressure, and that takes a weight off my shoulders. It's probably also what allows me to produce the comic in the time that I do. ^^; With all that in mind, I'd never fault someone who decided to take the same approach. Artists are only human, after all.

Besides, my comic episodes are pretty short. Before you can really get bored with just switching perspectives between three talking heads, over and over, the episode itself is...over.

[skicoak]

There's a lot of catch 22's going on here...

Not trying to talk anyone into liking extended talking heads scenes but you can't just remove them or alter them to the point of hurting the overall story. Reductionism tells us we learn more about characters when we let them talk instead of just act.

If you remove the drinking below deck scene in JAWS, because it slows down the movie, Quint never gets to talk/act his way from paid mercenary to character with a tragic backstory explaining his Ahab-atic motivations.

If you don't take the time/space to build the characters, there's going to be just as many readers talking about how flat and two dimensional they are. Nothing they do or that happens to them has meaning because of a lack of connection to them.

So...you go to the argument to vary it up more visually, that it's too many facial shots....

If you throw too many bells and whistles on top of it, you're distracting from how the characters are acting/reacting to the dialogue. I go back to the JAWS scene, they isolated the three character in darkness and ocean... a nondescript under deck and just focused on the actors/dialogue. Quint's Indianapolis speech alone is like 4 minutes of close up. But it's gotta be there... if you cut away to shots of fishing reels and anchor chains, you lose the character development of it.

And sure, I'm talking about an auteur in a different medium ... but the basic point remains. In Western Comics... the top authors are frequently engaging in almost entire issues of talking heads to set up later arcs. Brian Michael Bendis, Tom King, Alan Moore, Ed Brubacker and so on. Neil Gaiman's Sandman is what...75% or more just dialogue scenes between characters.

If the point is the majority of creators aren't executing them effectively... then I can only add the people I'm reading are doing it just fine, in my opinion. One of my current favorite strip is KILLING it... minimal backgrounds, just characters wonderfully acting out charming dialogue.

Miss Abbott and the Doctor

[JRHoch]

I secretly suspect you just wanted to use reductionism in a sentence!

[skicoak]

I secretly suspect you just wanted to use reductionism in a sentence!

It was the word of the day from my Pantomath app.

[fattackycats]

Comics are a visual medium first and foremost. With that in mind, the creator needs to convey the most information in the best way possible using strictly visuals, then let the speech bubbles do the rest of the work.

A great way of doing this is establishing shots of settings using backgrounds. No, you don't have to draw every detail of every background in every panel, but having an establishing shot in the beginning of a scene transition to closer head shots of the characters talking with the occasional camera change does help a ton. This method is pretty vague for the sake of being general because every one is different and will have different approaches to how they draw out scenes. Studying movies shot for shot really helps with this!

As far as why people do the "talking heads" - I think time constraint is a big one, and also lack of skill in drawing backgrounds or perspective. It all depends on the artist and at what stage they are in. For me personally, I enjoy drawing backgrounds and am not restricted by time to the point of where I can't spend some extra hours refining my comic with extra fluff. I like comics with more detail put into them and so I make my comic the way I would prefer to see them.

Unfortunately there are those who are lazy and those who simply can't because of skill level. And that's their prerogative!
If someone doesn't like the simplicity of a certain comic, they don't have to read it.

[AmysGames]

I'll agree with the general consensus here that you should try to avoid the "talking head syndrome" when you can. At the very least, try to vary it up with different angles or expressions.

At the same time, I feel like sometimes it's unavoidable. Sometimes there's a stretch of dialogue and there's only so much you can do to make it visually interesting before it feels like you're trying too hard. And yeah, sometimes it's just easier because of skill level and/or time constraints. Which is fine; every artist has to start somewhere.

In short, as long as it doesn't distract from the dialogue too much, do whatever feels right.

[TheFalseVyper]

For my story I try to work with expressions and use hands as much as I can.

This is so true! Hands can add so much to a picture. They may be infuriating to draw at times, but can truly make or break those important scenes.