Talking Head Syndrome

I have many annoyances when it comes to webcomics, and literature in general but I’ll focus on comics for it’s far worse in comics than it is in books. The infamous talking head syndrome.

You know what I’m talking about. One panel has just one character talking and the next it’s the same thing, on and on, nothing but talking gets done. They don’t change their pose, they hardly change their “camera angle” and they never ever have backgrounds.

Forgive me for ranting but I gotta get this out. My gosh! How can you have just talking heads? Are your characters in a void? Are you devoid of imagination? What’s wrong with you?!

Okay, I’m done. Some people are okay with it but I need to know where the characters are and see that they are human enough to change position. Speaking of human enough let me ask you something. Have you had a very long conversation with someone? Sure, we all have. While talking did you stand/sit absolutely still, without moving, and never saw things around you but the person? No, no you have not. If outside, you felt the temperature and sweated or shivered or enjoyed it. The wind blew your hair and clothes around, you shifted your weight, and above all you changed position as your body got tired of standing or sitting one way. “Excuse me, Xade, but my character is undead so—” They still do it. They were alive once. To be relatable, they would retain this mannerism, just not nearly as often as the living. … Where was I? Oh yeah! As you talked with your companion you also saw things that happened around you, like the car going by or the squirrel jumping around in the tree.

If that happens in real life, don’t you think it should happen to your characters? You don’t have to draw the full outside background. Just hint at where they are. Are they in a kitchen? Vary the angles and show, say, a stove or a nearly empty spice rack behind them. The other person could have the refrigerator behind them. Next person, A panel could be a slightly different angle showing something else, with part of the stove, maybe a countertop or a trash can behind them. Also, they shifted slightly, maybe leaned forward if the conversation is heated. Person B has part of the window and slapped their hand on the table to make a point. Maybe they are moving about the room or petting Loki the cat or Sweet Pea the dog.



See how the characters are more interesting? Marty is pretending to be all ticked off and Zeep is all like what the heck? You wouldn’t believe that’s 3d models because of how fluid they move

There are tons of things for your characters to do. Many ways to show a quick and easy background. Avoid the talking head syndrome and you’ll keep a lot more readers. Changing angles and adding simple backgrounds make things a little harder but what’s worse, a little extra work or someone leaving the comic because they are bored?

Newspost by Xade - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Xade/