Chewing Pencils

The Importance of Setting

The setting of a cartoon is quite simply when and where the story is unfolding. This includes the geographical location, whether the location is inside or outside, what time in history it is, what time of the year and day it is and anything else that might help describe the unique place in the universe that is housed within the boxes of the cartoon.

The question of setting is usually more important for comic strip and comic book artists, though the single gag folk know more about setting than they let on! This is largely because all cartoonists can only use words sparingly, but they have the advantage of being able to show elements of the setting by using images. Good, single gag artists are masters at this.

Nobody exists in isolation, but lives in and is shaped by their environment. The ‘rules’ of good storytelling demand that the setting is well defined, but as an aid to the development of the plot and characters. It is not meant to dominate or distract from what is actually happening. In drawing terms, this means that appropriate thought needs to go into how we draw the setting of our cartoons. How much detail do we include? How bold should the line work be? Should we use monochromatic colours in the background or should they be full colour?

We should also ask whether the characters and storyline we have developed actually fit in with the setting. For instance, a cartoon strip about an office worker would logically be placed in an office environment (e.g. Dilbert) and not in a crater on the moon. Having said that, once we know the rules, we can then learn how to break them, and start using contrasting settings to add a bit of extra bite to the story.

If you draw an ongoing strip or gag series, keeping your setting consistent and familiar can help build loyalty in your readers, particularly if it is a place that they can readily relate to. For instance, if you have a character that appears in a different place every day, there is potential for your readers to lose interest - it becomes a bit like your Uncle’s slide show of his world trip. It’s ok for a little while, but after the first 15 minutes you’re looking for the nearest escape route.

But with a familiar setting, the story can unfold and the focus remains on the plot and characters as it should. For instance, your setting might be inside a family home. You’ll change rooms and furniture depending on the particular part of the story, but all elements will be obviously part of a home environment. Occasionally you might venture to the shops or the local park, but only to places that are part of a typical local community.

One cartoonist who I think has mastered the concept of setting really well is Christophe Granet of Hagen Cartoons. Christophe is a research scientist (or something like that!) in Australia, but has produced literally hundreds of single panel gags called “It’s a Jungle Out there!” His gags are set, you guessed it, in the jungle and all of his characters are animals. The series is growing in popularity and Christophe’s years of hard work are starting to pay off as people are starting to look forward to seeing what happens next in the animal world.

The question of how you draw your settings is up to you. I tend to make my settings fade into the background, and often use little (if any) detail. Other times, the background plays a more important role in the gag/story and so becomes more prominent.

To illustrate the impact the setting can have on a cartoon, have a go at the following exercise:

1. Draw a couple sitting on a park bench, with the man reading a newspaper. Don’t add any background at this stage, but simply let the park bench be your setting. Save your work - we’re going to use this couple a number of times!

2. Now place the couple sitting in a crater on the moon and add a headline to the newspaper that you think is funny.

3. Now place the couple in a cage at the zoo, again adding an appropriate newspaper headline

4. Now place them on the back of a truck with another headline.

5. Now place them on the railway line, with another headline.

And so on….it’s lots of fun! If you have extra time on your hands, try the reverse too. Keep the background the same (e.g. the moon) but change the characters on the park bench. For me at least, this highlights just how important the right setting can be in making your strip or gag work as it should.

Leave a comment if you have any further tips about ’setting’ or, if you do the exercises, post them on your site and send us the link!