Visual narrative in sequential graphic arts and drawings

Zheng, Yawen and Gere, Charlie and Davies, Gerald (2025) Visual narrative in sequential graphic arts and drawings. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

This practice-based PhD investigates how drawing can operate as a narrative form, focusing on the intersection of text and image through the graphic structure of Chinese characters. Centred on scroll-format experiments, the research explores how visual storytelling can be generated through composition, line, rhythm, and metaphor, informed by narrative theory and visual semiotics. The study draws from semiotic theory (Peirce), narrative frameworks (Bal and Altman), and visual language research (Cohn, Eisner, McCloud), integrating them with contemporary drawing practices to explore the following research questions: 1. How can drawing function as a narrative practice that bridges visual language and written language, particularly through the use of Chinese characters? 2. In what kind of visual language can semiotics, visual metaphor, and narrative theory inform experimental drawing processes? 3. How can different structures of image reading (e.g., graphic novel, scroll format) be used to construct layered and immersive narratives in visual art? Through two major scroll-based drawing experiments and an early-stage prototype 3D narrative model, this thesis proposes that narrative drawing is both a temporal and spatial activity, co-produced through visual structure and embodied viewer interaction. Contribution to Knowledge The project contributes to contemporary visual storytelling by expanding the narrative potential of drawing across linguistic and cultural boundaries, proposing scroll-format drawing as a hybrid narrative form. Keywords Visual narrative, drawing, Chinese characters, semiotics, narrative theory, visual language, practice-based research, scroll, spatial storytelling, visual metaphor