Updated by Katajanmarja
Posted under General
Updated by Katajanmarja
speed_lines has some pictures like that, but it's not perfect. Honestly, what we need is to merge speed_lines and motion_lines, then create a new tag for this type of lines (emphasis_lines?).
emphasis_lines would make sense
can we decide ourselves, or do we need to wait for a mod?
These lines are generally called 集中線 (shuuchuu sen - concentrated line-work).
Less "concentrated line-work" and more "converging lines". The radiating lines are meant to make the viewer's eye concentrate on the area surrounded by the lines.
emphasis lines would work, as it's always done for some sort of dramatic emphasis.
post #661433 seems to have both kinds of lines.
glasnost said:
speed_lines has some pictures like that, but it's not perfect. Honestly, what we need is to merge speed_lines and motion_lines, then create a new tag for this type of lines (emphasis_lines?).
Merge as in alias, or do you want them to both implicate a common tag?
I'm in favor of aliasing speed lines → motion lines.
emphasis lines should probably stand alone.
I'm against aliasing speed_lines to motion_lines. Speed lines are used to indicate the movement of air (commonly seen in running scenes), while motion lines are used to indicate an object's movement (commonly seen in sex). It's subtle, but there's a difference.
What? Speed lines represent the movement of the object (i.e. the runner), not the displacement of air. They're motion lines. The only difference is situational.
What you're thinking of are wind lines. The wiki needs correction.
Updated
When I think of "speed lines" I often thing of the visual effect used in animation as a background in lieu of actually animating the scenery moving by quickly.
That's pretty much what I'm talking about.
I understood Hillside Moose's comment as stressing the difference between the two main types of illustrating movement.
In the fourth chapter of Understanding Comics (1993), Scott McCloud points out that back in the days the traditional motion lines were what western comics creators used almost exclusively, while the Japanese had "discovered" the idea of drawing "moving backgrounds". McCloud considered it more or less revolutionary that western artists had begun adapting movie-like techniques from the Japanese comics industry.
Today the difference may not be so striking, especially for younger western readers, but I totally understand if someone interested in the theory of drawing comics proposes two different tags for "speed lines" and "motion lines".
(According to an online source, McCloud labeled the "moving backgrounds" subjective action. I have trouble with wordings, because I do not have the original English-language edition of "Understanding Comics" at hand.)
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All that said, I think visual effects at least resembling the shuuchuu sen, or "emphasis lines", were used in western comics way before the influx of Japanese techniques started (in the 1980s or so). Just think of how Spider-Man's "spider-sense tingling" has been illustrated for long decades. This blog page features an example from 1966. I would be surprised if there was no established English term for the effect.
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I'm for motion_lines and speed_lines
Thanks for the info, Katajanmarja. That's very helpful.
Okay, so if we're going with separate speed lines and motion lines, which one is to represent the movement of an object and which one refers to movement of the background scenery?
I would suggest motion_lines ~ speed_lines ~ speedlines ~ [insert your variant here] (lines pointing out the movement of an object) versus subjective_movement ~ subjective_action ~ [insert your variant here] (lines blurring a relatively moving background).
Not that I would consider subjective action an especially great term, but this distinction could call more taggers' attention to the difference.
If this gets accepted, then preferably aliasing at least speed_lines ↔ motion_lines.
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For the readers' convenience: