When you read a comic, do you imagine characters speaking in a certain voice? It comes naturally to me, I always "hear" them talking. Sometimes they're just random voices that don't sound like anyone familiar. Sometimes it's some celebrity or a cartoon character. Do you have that, too?

Another thing that makes me wonder is: accents. If, say, you speak American English and you read a comic by an author you know is a Brit, do you imagine their characters speaking American or British? I do, most of the time. I read a bunch of superhero comics on DD by British authors - like "Energize", for instance - and I just can't help hearing them speak proper American. Same with "Beaver & Steve" - the humor in it and the wacky characters make me think of Ren & Stimpy, as a result of which they sound American to me. Also, I think I hear American by default. I was exposed to it more than I was to British. I'm not American, myself, but I acquired American English through education, tv, music, etc, and I speak it myself.

Then again, in "The Unitary Authority of Ersatz" here on DD, the main characters, Kip and Wigwam seem to me so distinctly British in their sense of humor that I always heard them talk like John Cleese and Eric Idle. And even more curiously, I will imagine the narrative in any gothic-esque comic as read by Anthony Hopkins and the characters speaking very proper British.

And the strangest thing is I have no clue what my own characters sound like

Interesting topic. Well, that is rather hard to explain. Characters just sound like whatever my mind wants them to. Most of the time they sound like me? XD It is my voice in my head. How do you describe what your thinking voice sounds like? The same one as the ones that you 'hear' when reading a book or something. Guess I'm not very imaginative in coming up with voices in my mind, eh? But yeah, depending on the character I will 'hear' them differently.

Whoops - thought this was about what YOUR comic characters sounded like to you. Ah well. I'll leave what I said up anyway. XP Usually though when reading other comics/stories I'll only include different accents when a slang is actually put into it.

As for what they're MENT to sound like, well the majority of my characters would probably be English...seeing as that's where the story takes place and all. (Deherr.) Though it's obvious I am very bad at showing that they're English when they speak...because I rarely think about including any sort of slang or something. Usually I don't concern myself with it....perhaps I should though. Orlock on the other hand...could have a weird mix of accents, seeing as he's so damn old and been many places.

As for tone of voice...
Jack: Pretty low tone, not extremely though.
Jill: Just an average lady voice, I have never really thought about it much for Jill. Though obviously a high-pitched super girly voice wouldn't suit her.
Orlock: Low, sometimes shifting to other-worldly tones...really creepy stuff.
Topaz: Probably medium to higher tone, very charismatic voice.
Vallov: VERY low. He's a giant of sorts after all.

Basically if I did a big search of voice actors for my characters, I'd know the character when I heard them. =P

When reading comics I often find myself hearing the characters speak in whatever their native accent may be. American English when proper, British English when proper, or whatever other language is being spoken.

I don't usually imagine any well-known actors doing the voices, but I seem to have my own stable of voices to choose from when reading different comics. I mean, characters from completely different comics might share the same voices in my head. (Okay, actually that whole thing just sounded really weird and probably makes me come off as something of a lunatic.)

As for my own characters:

Jared has rather bland, normal voice you wouldn't think twice about hearing.

Henry has a Latin Lothario kind of thing going for him. Sort of like Antonio Banderas but less deep.

Andrew has a very soft voice, almost feminine at times, which fits his character. If a guy can be called mousy, Andrew would be.

Ben has a deep, extremely masculine sounding voice. Maybe what I would call rumbling.

Toni has a very hip voice. She sounds like she should be straight out of the early-nineties, even a little bubble gum smacking. But not overdone; she's not a Valley Girl or anything.

I usually imagine voices that match faces. Can't describe it any other way. I don't picture famous actors or familiar voice actors unless a character looks a lot like one I've seen and heard.


My own characters? Hmmm. Never thought about it much.

I always hear Kaida in a nice guarded monotone -- at times, like Lilith from Cheers. Yuki has a more high-pitched and excited voice (like the bubbly character from any anime) but talks deeper and more severe at times. Seiko has a quiet voice, not especially feminine, becomes more sweet and feminine when she is trying to comfort someone and much less so when she is irritable and sarcastic.

I picture Mike as the quiet somewhat dry, typical bummed out teenage guy. Tristan has a soft voice, often a little wavering and uncertain, sounding like the "accidental hero" of many movies. When in typical "predator" mode, Fudo has a deep but quiet voice, condescending, menacing, arrogant. Toyo's voice is deep, loud, and sure -- a jolly and outgoing type -- matching his "Santa Claus" body.

I guess it really does depend on what I'm reading. If I'm reading about a character who's from the south, I'll probably give 'em something like a Texan accent or a hillbilly accent.

I recently read another Harry Potter book, but this one has many character's with different accents...

I guess, to be honest, since I've heard so many different accents in my life, I can easily chance a comic characters (or story book characters) voice.

...

But if there's no background to the character, I'll just give 'em a simple "American" accent.

I think that a character's choice of words can effect their percieved accent and the mood of the character and how they tend to act effects their percieved vocal tone. The overall look of the setting can effect what sorts of accents I imagine characters having as well. For example I imagine Penny from Penny Copper as having a proper "Victorian English lady," accent and having a medium-pitch voice. Mostly because of what words she chooses to use and the industrial-England look of the setting.

I've talked about this sort of thing before with people but it was about the appearance of characters in books... The truth is that I don't imagine them looking like anything or sounding like anything, to my knowledge. When the characters speak they may as well be beaming words directly into my head. They don't usually have an accent :p

Then again, on the occasions when I do hear the voice fo the person speaking in my head, they'll always sound the same sort of american. Which is kinda odd because I'm english.

I guess I've accepted the fact that there's more americans on the net than brits :p Although I have been surprised at just how many people here are from the uk...

I always can tell if a character is a speaking character but I never actually give them a voice. Even though they're talking there's no sound in my head for them. Similarly, even though I never hear anything for them anyway I can tell when a character is mute or speaks through thought. For instance, in my comic two of the main characters Merle and Loc are speaking characters, but the third, Dee isn't. For some strange reason I just know he doesn't actually speak.

I think the reason I never hear voices for characters is because I simply use my own voice instead of giving them one. It takes a pretty strong use of vernacular such as found in Huckleberry Finn to get me hearing them using an accent or particular voice.

With my own characters I do---Lorelei sounds like Cissy Spacek from COAL MINTER'S DAUGHTER, Mindmistress sounds like Jodie Foster, Vicki sounds like Winona Rider at her snarkiest and most sarcastic.---Al of MINDMISTRESS http://mindmistress.comicgenesis.com

My characters are very definitely British and, hopefully, the way they're written will make it clear that they speak British English and not that new-fangled "US-speak".


Of course, when I say "British English", I mean the kind of English we Brits actually speak. Not the Jeremy Irons/Hugh Grant/Keira Knightley upper middle-class RADA-trained version that seems to be the only kind Hollywood recognises. Damn their clipped tones and overly-rounded vowels!

As for other people's webcomics, it depends on how well the dialogue is written. Many characters just seem to say the things necessary to move the plot along. Others really seem to have a personality of their own and, in those cases, yes - I do hear very specific voices when I'm reading.

Dasien sounds to me like Gillian Anderson, only a lot livelier than she was on the X-Files. Very feminine voice, but just enough authority in her tone to be taken seriously. (...errr ...most of the time.)

Crimson's a bit foggier, but he sounds like... um... Peter Strauss, I guess. But like the way he sounded in Secret Of NIMH.

And Parker's voice sounds sort of like Traylor Howard.

My way of reading comics always automatically assigns voices to every character. For example, I started reading Super Fogeys the other day, and Captain Spectacular's voice immediately became Gary Owens. Dr. Rocket sounds like Frank Gorshin.

Nadya has a British accent. Charna sounds more Australian. Fyline sounds -exactly- like Gillian Anderson, or something. Eisner sounds Portguese, and Fritjor sounds like a cold breath.

Interesting thread.

Based on experience, in order to make your characters "sound" a certain way, you have to visualize the scene and internalize the character.

Hard to explain but there is this switch in your head that you have to switch on in order to become another character that isnt you. (lol sometimes I forget to turn off the switch)

For my characters, their accents are often influenced by stereotypes I have of people belonging to a certain race. In multi-cultural societies such as N. America, you'd be exposed to a wide variety of races and cultures. And get the feel of how they would normally sound like.

As far as sound is concerned, I can get a rough idea of your age and ethnicity just by hearing your voice on the phone. And I'm 90% right. I remember a miserable failure though. I thought I was talking to a British dude because of his english on the phone. But in reality, he turned out to be a Chinese guy. Talk about being multi-lingual down to the accent!

Anyway for demons, I always imagine their voice to be a low tone, if the demon's appearance is a monster or a guy. If the demon has a female appearance, her voice is always that of a seducing porn star or something.

For angels, their voices are imagined to be gentle. Like what you'd expect of a niceguy or nicegirl when you talk to them. But at the same time, they have to be firm to a degree.

Hard to explain in words but I just 'hear' the voices of characters when reading comics. Much easier though on comics that arent my own.

Ooh... I'm psychic.

hahaha i get that too. Though i can picture my main character, kayla, sounding like me, as i've fashioned a lot of her characteristics after me lol

This is one entertaining thread indeed :3 I was actually thinking about something like this a few days ago. When I read a comic, I sort've do what i'm sure a lot of people on DD do. I usually go by the way the character looks, then I apply an accent to them based solely on their looks :3 (Because in all actuality, I have no clue what the artist intended for the character to sound like.)

As for the characters in my comic, I try to make their voices a bit obvious with their speech, and also by the way the character looks. I picture Mota with a very mellow and deep voice. He would have a slight accent that would go unnoticed most of the time, since his English is good :3 :3 Laci is almost too obvious. She has a thick southern accent, I imagine she would have a soft, feminine voice along with her accent. Artimus would definitely have a calm and collect voice, with a British accent (he is probably too obvious as well).

I imagine Serena would sound mysterious and mellow, with slight accented English. When I created Ratchet, I always sort've had an accent in mind for her. Squeaky and high pitched New York accent (Don't ask why xD). If Orn had a voice, she would have a deep voice, almost like a man, but with feminine qualities, if that makes any sense ^.~