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What I love about comics the most is when the layout isn't restricted to rectangular boxes and is so immersive it makes your eyes glide across with ease as if you were watching a movie.
Is there an easy way to learn this magic? I know it has a lot to do with general composition and storyboarding, but is there something like a set of rules and algorithms to follow when you want to have a dynamic composition in your comic?
Lastly, if it's just about reading lots of comics, please flood me with some that are worthy of studying.
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>>2640562
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>>2640563
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>>2640564
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>>2640565
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>>2640566
full view
http://orig07.deviantart.net/58e6/f/2013/075/a/7/fisheye_placebo__intro_by_yuumei-d5y7yu8.jpg
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You might want to factor in that most of these are very detailed and rendered compared to other comics, and the immersiveness isn't attributable to the composition alone.
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>>2640694
you mean compared to american comics.
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>>2640562
>Using a verb as a sound effect
Cringed.
Drawing and color is good, panel layout is a bit different for the sake of being different which hurts it a bit. Such as the second row getting taller and literally leading back into the establishing splash image. Come to think of it the splash image itself leads straight into the third panel as well. Could have been avoided by using identical sizes for the panels in row two. Drawings aren't bad but wish the artist wasn't trying to show off and be groundbreaking with the panel layouts when they don't know what they're doing.
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>>2640566
I saw this on Pinterest, but didn't pin it and I couldn't find it again - thanks anon!
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>>2640562
OP, if you like comics that brake the rules of traditional layouts, then you should check out works by Andreas (Andreas Martens).
Pic related is from his excellent "Cromwell Stone".
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>>2640562
You can think of it as guiding your eye.
1) guiding you eye with value
2) guiding your eye with symbolism (content)
3) guiding your eye with contrast
you need to balance all of these, depending of your content.
General rule of reading is lef to to right.
So when you read the page try to study what made your eye switch directions to where (value change/symbolic change/color change).
It's all based on how we perceive visual rhythm.
Good start is book Framed ink and then camera language (cinematography)
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>>2640562
Is that image meant to be followed from right to left? Because that's how my eyes are led, and it makes no sense.
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>>2640562
it's really just about having a solid understanding of composition and how to use the language of comics to move the eye through the page. There aren't set rules that work 100% of the time. In my experience a lot of it is what I said before and a bit of intuition. There are plenty of general rules but you can break just about all of them if you can make it look good.
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>>2641092
Alright anon, what's the context here?
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>>2640566
>>2640562
These people need to just stick to the grid until they learn what makes a layout readable.
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>>2640563
I like this one a lot
you first look at the big picture and then the wigs lead the eye to the small ones
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>>2641598
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>>2640694
That's not true, even in less detailed comic books paneling can do magic
I am on mobile but pax Americana from multiversity, a DC comic is a good example
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>>2641279
its not a fucking manga, friend
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>>2641515
It's absolutely awesome.
>During the course of several pages the guy in the pic starts to lose his mind.
>The panels slowly begin to fall apart (along with speech ballons and words inside them).
>He falls onto a mirrored wall, which then breaks.
>After that, he goes ape shit, grabs two sharp pieces of glass and tries to kill his wife with them.
When I'm back from work I might upload scans of the pages building up to this.
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Bump. This thread is relative to my interests.
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>>2640565
This is way too dynamic, it's almost giving me an headache.
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Pic related has some really interesting page layouts and a great story and atmosphere
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>>2643275
Agreed, I just wanted to squeeze in something from Kim Jung Gi, maybe to spark more discussion.
It's almost as if all the god-tier comic artists had a secret place to gather to discuss unimaginably evil stuff and panel layouts.
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>>2641530
Okay so I've been analyzing this page for a good 10 minutes, and I'm starting to see how great this page flows and gives off that "immersive feel".
Firs off, the page is mostly silent, and that helps. We're not bombarded with dialogue or too many thoughts by the characters. I'll do my best to explain, since i kinda suck at explaining shit.
1. The first two panels you're kinda just following Tin Tin around. It's established he's in a boat, and he's off to the island that off in the distance. Great.
2. The way the artist places Tin Tin in the panel with the rock walls is important. It shows the Castle in a dynamic layout, and the placement of that rock wall in the right hand side is a very nice touch because it literally "halts the reader", instead of just leaving it with a panel boarder. It allows us to stop, and resume in the next row of panels.
3. With both Tin Tin and the rocks by the sea pointing to the right, we gradually follow along as TT explores the castle.
4. The door is opened, and our eyes follow along the corridor and path, and alongside TT, as he maneuvers right as well.
5. The spiral staircase. Another "halt" panel where we are going to establish a new setting in the castle. But our eyes still follow alongside TT's trail.
6. This part of the page i really like. TT exits the spiral staircase, and he's facing the left now. We as readers now feel the same as TT. We're in an unfamiliar location, and we don't know what's behind the tower. But we take a moment to enjoy the view, before another halt and suspense at the end of the page. Our eyes also follow along the tower's edge wall.
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read Making Comics by Scott McCloud
It's a really good book and it has a bunch of exercises and examples in it.
I also highly recommend that you read Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner.
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>>2643332
Reading Tintin is like a masterclass in composition. Panel 2 has a nice compositional trick, where the position of the bedouins almost form the keyframes of an animation (laying down, getting up, running).
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>>2641530
Everytime I try to get fancy with my art I look at Herge and remind myself how fucking comfy comics can be.
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>>2643332
Maybe it would be better if the view was seen from the top? Kind of weird to show us the vantage point instead. It's perfect other than that.
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>>2643280
Thanks for the recommendation. I'm liking it so far. This page is really cool
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>>2641728
please do
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>>2640562
looks like most american comic books
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>>2641665
That's the point, you idiot. The panel composition leads the eye right to left, when it's meant to be read left to right.
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>>2641530
Best page ITT, hands down.
Good comic art isn't about how flashy or detailed it is, it's about how well it communicates the story.
Most pages ITT are cluttered and confusing making the story more difficult to follow and as a result less immersive.
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>>2645741
It makes more sense this way than if the cat was going left to right.
First you'll look at the background to figure out where the action is taking place, then follow the cat from right to left, where the kittens are mewing. You now know what's going on.
Then directly down (where its head is going down), then right (to its eyes level), then higher right where it's jumping, each panels being higher than the previous one.
Then down left and right all the way, which makes it feel like the cat is moving.
Zoom to its eyes, it's seeing something that you'll see oo when turning to page 2.
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>>2645743
I also love how well it has aged, the art style doesn't feel dated like some other comics from the same era. It has some timeless quality to it IMO
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>>2643332
Also, take notice how every row ends with a cliffhanger:
>about to land on the island
>about to enter the castle
>about to arrive at the top of the tower
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>>2641728
Ultra heaven is a drugfueled adventure.
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>>2645752
You don't understand.
The river stream (see white lines) leads the eye straight to the panel with the jumping cat, since it has the strongest connection to the min panel, then back left as the panels descend towards the bottom (size and composition), and then back to the right again.
Even if the middle row did read left to right, and it doesn't, since you will not follow inclining panels when moving down the page, there is absolutely nothing connecting the middle-right panel with the bottom left panel.
That is the composition.
The NARRATIVE, on the other hand, runs left to right.
It doesn't matter "what makes sense", the point is that the page is bad because the eye doesn't naturally follow the panels in the correct order.
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Guys it's not that hard to read this page. It flows pretty well imho.
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>>2646585
nice meme lines
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>>2646585
fuck off
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>>2646585
>/ic/
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Chris Ware is pretty awesome with unusual page layouts and the way he uses it in storytelling.
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>>2641619
Source?
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>>2646681
Chris Ware is shit. His page layouts are all the same. They drool compression. And the art merits no skill.
Your husbando is shit.
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>>2646681
That's just eye-raping for the sake of being different.
That is utter shit m8. Not even memeing.
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>>2647552
his rusty brown calendar comic was pretty good imo
i don't have the image on hand however.
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>>2646585
>>2647135
You're right, it's not "that hard" to read, but I wouldn't call that a success.
Wayy too many competing elements. Your eyes first jump to the light setting and if you put a dark line connecting it with the edge of the pic, your eyes will slide right off the page, correct me if I'm wrong.
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>>2647552
>>2647552
O-ok, but you are wrong.
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why is there no manga ITT?
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>>2648299
Feel free to post japanese examples of good unconventional composition, you fucking moron
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Not to beat a dead horse but made some changes here. Didn't fix everything that was annoying me but the moral of the story is Keep It Simple Stupid.
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>>2648335
Infinitely better than OP
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>>2648335
>
>b-but that looks like a regular comic book
yeah, exactly.
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>>2648301
>>2648299
I know I repost this one a lot, but I just really like this page.
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>>2648335
Oh thank god you did it, narrative and immersion isn't making dumb compositions, so much better.
Thread posts: 69
Thread images: 27
Thread images: 27