Chakra -B.O.T. Page 317 by ARVEN92 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Overall

Vision

Originality

Technique

Impact

Using devices such as a character's body language, visually illustrating a character's thoughts through a series of flashbacks, and by the mindful choice of colors to establish a suiting atmosphere, Panthera Arven on page 317 in her graphic novel Chakra shows that even quiet comic pages where the subject character of focus is not speaking can convey and evoke strong emotions in the reader.

Hielo, the grey-colored wolf character in focus, is depicted to be quietly grieving over a potential loss of his friend Kuma, and this is conveyed through a diversity of facial expressions and overall body language. As Hielo finds the bloody remains – a collar – once belonging to his friend, Hielo's shrinking pupils and tense body impactfully suggest the extent of his grief and shock, inviting the reader to sympathize with his unforeseen suffering.

By drawing a series of flashbacks of Hielo's thoughts and memories, the reader gains insight into his relationship with his lost friend Kuma. The flashback, which is drawn throughout a vertical panel, originally and impactfully lands on Hielo's terrified face in the panel, thereby combining memories, nostalgia and grief to unleash the emotions of terror and misery. This technique, coupled with Hielo's body language, helps the reader understand not only the concrete situation, but also what is going on in terns of Hielo's thoughts and memories. Briefly revealing the relationship between him and his lost friend, all the different layers of the character's situation are effectively visioned.

The conveyed emotions of the character and those evoked in the reader are brought to greater heights by Panthera Arven's mindful use of technique and devices such as colors and the image of blood. The blood, with its strong, red color penetrates the foggy, lowly saturated colored background, reminding the reader about the seriousness of the situation. Blood, with its connotations to life and death, and colors of low saturation, with their connotations to lifelessness and being lost, transports the reader into this dark, sad world where this situation is happening – making the reader grieve together with Hielo over the loss of his friend Kuma – and hoping he is still alive.

Although similar scenes are commonly depicted in stories, Panthera Arven saves the artwork's originality by a rich and mindful use of devices. The artist shows that words are not needed to convey and evoke emotions – in contrary, it is understood that what is communicated through someone's body language in the rawest form can be just as powerful as the words a poet would use in his or her poem. Overall, page 317 of Chakra is a wonderfully constructed page that explores the roots of a character's emotions in response to the mysterious disappearance of someone whom he was closely bonded.

Written by <img class="avatar" width="50" height="50" src="a.deviantart.net/avatars/m/a/m…" alt="" title="Madixyl" />