Wordless Storytelling in Comics: 10 Tips to Help You

[@mluminoth6379]

I'm kind of blown away this channel is still here. Thanks for carrying us artists through the 2010s Mark.

[@poyobunny8508]

Mark Crilley I've been watching your videos since 8 years ago and I want to tell you that you are the one that started my art journey💙 I can't thank you enough for all the tutorials you made that helped me so much. You're a huge inspiration of mine. I want to be able to help others too just like you one day. I hope you realize that you've undoubtedly helped millions of people by now and are still continuing to help which is beyond amazing. You're my official online art mentor. Thank you for everything 💙

[@MrNexor-cj8gs]

Even if the uploads are spaced apart because he's a busy man, I still very much appreciate each one.

[@Dm3qXY]

what an audience.. no one to make a list of timestamps.. nts nts nts 00:44 1. Purely visual storytelling is (with rare exceptions) high quality storytelling, 02:43 2. A comic book with no wordless panels is, almost by definition, a little wordy. 04:20 3. A wordless sequence forces the readers to be more active, which can make for a more invigorating reading experience. 06:39 4. Not all wordless sequences need to be long. Sometimes just a few panels without words can be very effective. 08:29 5. In wordless sequences, choosing whether or not to add sound effects becomes a big decision. 10:39 6. Action sequences are usually best when presented without narration or dialogue. (Sound effects, though, might be essential.) 14:34 7. Wordless sequences can create an effect of total silence. At such moments even a single word of narration can detract from the effect. 18:07 8. A brief series of wordless panels can be a great way of conveying a sense of location prior to a scene getting underway. 19:42 9. In a wordless sequence, clarity of story telling becomes extra important. Beware of confusing the reader by failing to give them all the visual info they need. 21:46 10. Narration of any kind is frowned upon by some editors and critics. If it's possible to tell your story without narration, it may be best to do so.

[@mosiahatwood1851]

These are some solid points that will add depth to story telling. I have always had mixed feelings about panels that have no dialog, because it can be very tempting as a reader to jump panels and skip too far ahead, but as I just take the time to enjoy and almost study each panel (that the writer has laid down in that order on purpose) I appreciate and enjoy the experience. I would imagine it must be tempting as a writer to feel like your putting in a lot of effort and work for the reader to potentially pass by those panels in a few seconds and hardly glance at the pictures. I used to be that way but my appreciation for slowing down and enjoying the experience has grown a lot.

[@ronald48]

Father Christmas🎄 by Raymond Briggs comic is another good example, even though this does have words in it as a traditional comic. There are brilliant wordless storytelling moments in it. For example, when Santa is taking a break and he is having a sandwich on top a roof. 2 great examples to check out there.

[@Aisuryuu]

I had to come back to try comment before the video went public! I watched it on mobile from Patreon a lot earlier. I do really love wordless storytelling actually. Having audio processing (and some dyslexia) issues makes visual storytelling easier on me. And I feel like you have to have experience and talent to use a lot of wordless/dialogue less storytelling. Because being able to convey meaning that is easily read the same way by at least the majority of ppl can be a skill that takes work to hone well. I also agree that it can feel more in So it was a lot of fun for me to 'read' Lost in Taiwan with all the visual storytelling! I admit I missed the detail of your panel with the family of 4 on one scooter in my read through! I'm not sure how, it seems so obvious after you mentioned it and drew attention to it. I guess my eyes passed over it and I just somehow assumed it was a line up of different ppl on different scooters. I think my first two authors who do wordless storytelling that I've really enjoyed a lot were Tatsuki Fujimoto's work (Chainsaw Man and Look Back), but I also really like Hiroya Oku's GANTZ. I think for horror stories or even just sequences can really work well with silent story telling because of the effect it has of building tension I guess?

[@MrArtblox]

Romantic ❤❤

[@bReal919]

Mark Crilley I used to love you when I was growing up! From younger than 12-15? And now I’m 24 and after a long break I’ve gotten back into art 😊. And for a while after secondary school (high school) my dreams and natural love for creativity and art were a little dead and broken just from art in school and choosing a career 🤣🤣. I did not go to college but I ended up coming back to art after forgetting about it till my 20s. Didn’t feel the same as before but when I think back and try to remember times I really enjoyed it and I was so immersed I can remember following your video on how to draw an anime girls face 😭😭😭. I use to eat up your videos I just wanted to say hi and thank you ughh I just used to love your videos 🥹💕 ugh memories

[@PinkWytchBytch]

You read my mind. I’ve been sketching me and my husband’s characters lately and sometimes I just wanna avoid text bubbles to save space so I can add more imagery to get the message across

[@TRamp94]

I love wordless storytelling! Yoshinaga Fumi, a mangaka I really like, uses it a lot to show how character think, process things in their mind, or when they are shocked. Just like you did here: 15:32. It feels like my mind is synchronized with the character's mind.

[@arrowmoons]

Thank you so much for this high quality video. Love you Mark! Great work!!!

[@chubbycatfish4573]

Helpful advice...as usual!

[@nancyscreations_]

Hello! Good to hear you, hope your doing good, can’t wait for the next video. 😊

[@elizillo]

Thank you so much for addressing this topic! I really enjoy these videos about creating graphic novels.

[@oleksiyraiu7190]

Oy what a beautiful art you have! Thanks for drawing it and thanks for sharing tips with us!

[@naiumunnisaajmal878]

Hi,hope you are fine,u r my inspiration, pls post videos regularly.

[@kedacraftsanddiys5093]

Love your videos they really inspire me, been watching you since I was 16.

[@ronald48]

The Snowman ❄️ comic by Raymond Briggs, is very famous for being wordless. The entire book except for the cover of course, hasn't got a single word in it. It's a great example of wordless storytelling.

[@jc_scott]

love your comic videos, mark!

[@zondwhomlovesjesus8444]

Thank you for this video!

[@emannabilalgahrabi6937]

i think that this channel deserves more whenever i open his vedis i learn alot

[@artareon]

I just received the comic book lesson today!! I'm so excited to read it 😊

[@ttank8082]

Hi Mark, I just read your book "Lost in Taiwan" and I loved it so much! Can't wait for your future graphic novel projects. Keep up the amazing work man 👌💪😎

[@jodelthompson]

Been in the process of writing my story and the thought in my head was always that using the least dialogue possible would make for a better story. Most stories need dialogue and I believe the technique to make it compelling is to have it evoke interesting questions in the readers mind. Also I agree Mark. Visual storytelling is usually good storytelling.

[@boyfriend23]

Very useful, thank you 🥺

[@blackwood9782]

This is the kind of content i love :)

[@TackerTacker]

Thanks for the great video, also I was expecting more how, and less why from the videos title. But it was very interesting none the less. 👍

[@lachauntiswashington231]

Looks great 👍 👌

[@FinalMyle]

Hey, you are my favorite artist, coming from me, a life time projectionist artist, that means a lot! I haven't seen you post a video in a while. I'm out of things to buy that you've made. lol. I hope everything is going ok with you and yours.

[@BobbyCarter990]

Whats your day job? And how do you find time to draw? I work many hours and can't find time to practice my drawing craft. its very frustrating.

[@MrNexor-cj8gs]

He makes graphic novels and does appearances/public speaking to make a living.

[@BobbyCarter990]

@@MrNexor-cj8gs yes I understand he makes KZbin videos .. but what's his day job?

[@TheSamoleon]

Hey Mark could you maybe explore some digital art from time to time.

[@HimanArtists]

Nice

[@MightyJonE]

Didn’t realise the use of “narration” was such a contentious issue. To me, prose can really add depth and another layer of meaning to a comic strip story so long as it’s not overused. That doesn’t mean I don’t like wordless strips. There are plenty such strips by different creators, and I like them, such as in Moebius’s work - it just depends on that particular story and what the creator is trying to achieve. So there are caveats. However, for plot-heavy story-driven monthly comics, such as the average 22pg Marvel/DC book for example, lack of dialogue wouldn’t work and can feel a very shallow experience. I never noticed there was no prose/text boxes in Lost In Taiwan, which must prove they weren’t necessary in this case. But also, the format is very different to a monthly comic, where the reader can take in a story spread over a few hundred pages in one book - it feels substantial enough

[@MusicalRaichu]

mark, did you do the chinese calligraphy yourself?

[@quiettornado1970]

taiwain, my homeland.

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

I was pondering just the other day that some of my least favourite movies have narration ... Fantasia and The Shining amongst them.

[@doalmocut]

I have a question, how do you digitize your art? Do you use an a4 scanner, an a3 scanner or take pictures? What would you recommend for a beginner? Your videos are great!

[@viglakielefteria4443]

Hi Mr Crilley ! I am a big fan of you and I have recently bought your book Mastering Manga 2 but I want to ask you a qestion. In your opinion , do I need to have complete first Mastering Manga 1 to go ahead with this book ? Or will Mastering Manga 2 provide me with all the stuff I need to learn how to draw manga ? I ask because , from what I have seen , the two books teach almost the same things , but Mastering Manga 1 is more simplified, whereas Mastering Manga 2 shows a more realistic way to draw. Can I start learning straightly from Mastering Manga 2 whithout having learned from Mastering Manga 1 first ?

[@PochotheEntity]

What about like beginning and ending a chapter with just a small box or two of narration? Narration can’t be all bad all the time right

[@BlackHei711]

To me, the best use of wordless story telling is Samurai Jack vs the Three Blind Archers.

[@positiveproductions6699]

I just wanted to say like your videos keep up the great work do you have a series for beginning drawers who want to learn how to draw on KZbin? Thanks

[@M.O.N.K.3]

I was drawing but I had to stop since I had explosive diarrhea and it got all over my paper sadly

[@equesdeventusoccasus]

I will add my own opinion based on experience as an active participant and a witness to many fights. Silent fights are so unreal as to cause the reader to unsuspend disbelief. Street fights are typically filled with dialogue in the form of insult exchanging, taunting, and asking if your opponent is ready to give up yet. I cannot imagine a fight without these elements and when a writer makes this mistake, my brain keeps saying, this author has obviously never been in a fight before.

[@BrickBreakerXX]

I feel that, as someone who has also participated and seen many fights, what he meant was when people are talking WHILE fighting. As in you say a whole line of dialogue while you throw a punch again and again and again and again. Sure, people will pause a fight to taunt, catch their breath, or insult one another, or maybe someone will say this as they lead up to the first attack. But once two people are slogging each other in the face, panting and out of breath, you are not able to talk much, especially those who practice martial arts where in sparring you're lucky to get a few words out before your opponent is back on you. Hence why in a lot of fights the dialogue is given to bystanders. I cannot imagine a fight where people are doing the whole "We're not so different, you and I." speech or something rubbish like that unless it is very divorced from reality. Even then, it heavily depends on context. If two serious fighters are battling to the death, them quipping to one another for no reason pulls me right out of the experience. It just depends on the quality of the writing.

[@equesdeventusoccasus]

@@BrickBreakerXX pause to talk? No my friend unlike in a martial arts tournament where the opponents are likely wearing mouthpieces that make talking all but impossible, in a street fight insults & fists fly freely and simultaneously. A well-timed verbal / physical jab combination can throw one's opponent off balance and cause them or you to make anger driven mistakes.

[@Selrisitai]

All of the fights I've seen on KZbin tend to have talking at first, but as it gets serious and they're about to exchange blows, the two combatants tend to get quiet, while the crowd around them tends to get louder.

[@Selrisitai]

Manga, in my experience, has basically no narration. This creates a more immediate, immersive story. I never think, "Ugh, get on with it," but there have been many times in Western comics (superhero stuff in particular) where I would turn a page and just _seeing_ the narration would be a frustration. I think that it's good for a very SPECIFIC KIND OF STORYTELLING, but if you don't know what kind of storytelling that is, if you're just doing it because "I guess that's just how comics are done," then I think you're probably going to end up with a lot of, as you phrased it, "intrusive" narration. Manga has been made for two decades without narration and it's hyper popular. I don't see any reason for narration to be the standard, especially since most artists are not as good of writers as they are drawers.

[@drpsydo9200]

Hello Mark Crilley, long time, no see. 🙂

[@earheard]

🐐

[@tinytailsgaming378]

Please do now to draw cheetahs pleasssseeee

[@BurtKocain]

10:42 Looks like someone hasn't read the excellent fights in Hunter x Hunter.

[@diaridup8836]

based

[@RyuukySaotomi]

Oggy and the Cockroaches.

[@spawnhork255]

This channel so dead