A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A picture really is worth a thousand words, sometimes more. Humans are visual creatures and as writers, we rely on our sense of sight above all the others. As storytellers, we use written visuals to tell a story by creating pictures with words instead of paint. The earliest known stories before recorded language were written with pictures. Prehistoric man told stories through paintings on cave walls. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are a combination of logographics and alphabetic elements. The first historical civilizations of the Near East, Africa, China, and Central America used some form of logographic writing. It’s how written language began.

So it’s no surprise that stories can be told through art and photographs. Comic books and graphic novels are designed to do just that, but some artwork can tell a tale without words to go with them. As a prime example, I offer Norman Rockwell‘s phenomenal storytelling via his paintbrush. Growing up, I idolized Rockwell’s work and would study his paintings for hours, noting every tiny detail he included that told a story about his subjects. He’s quoted as saying: “No man with a conscience can just bat out illustrations. He’s got to put all his talent and feeling into them!” And Rockwell did exactly that.

Rockwell painted life as he wished it really was: happy children, engaged parents and grandparents, good clean fun.

Then there’s the darker side of art; the very detailed religious art by 15^th century Dutch painter Heironymus Bosch. The longer you look at his paintings, the more you see. But unlike Rockwell, Bosch mined the depths of his subconscious to create what’s never been seen, but only imagined, and only by him. Don’t look at his paintings late at night or they may invade your dreams.

If you prefer realism to fantasy, photojournalism is an incredible true-story telling medium. A picture being worth a thousand words is the motto of the photojournalist whose goal is to capture a moment in time for eternity. Each photo tells a story that is felt as much as it is seen.

In this digital age, some artists have discovered innovative ways of telling stories through pictures. One of my favorite digital artists is Amelie Fravoisse. She reminds me of Norman Rockwell in how she stages her scenes to convey heart-warming messages of family, seasons and holidays, except that she uses three-dimensional graphic tools and objects with a computer. The details in her work are amazing, and the more I look, the more I see. Every picture makes me smile.

I’m an artist who relies on the pictures in my mind to tell my stories. I’m nowhere near as talented as Amelie, but like her, I use 3D computer graphic tools to create art and each image tells its own story. Here are a few of my own story pictures I can share:

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Karen Duvall is an award-winning author with 5 published novels and 2 novellas. Harlequin Luna published her Knight’s Curse series in 2011 and 2012, and her post apocalyptic novella, Sun Storm, was released in Luna’s ‘Til The World Ends anthology in January 2013.

Karen lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and four incredibly spoiled pets. Writing under the pen name Cory Dale, she released the first book in a new urban fantasy series, Demon Fare, in December 2014.

Karen is represented by the McIntosh & Otis Literary Agency out of New York city. She’s currently at work on a new women’s fiction novel with elements of magic realism.

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