Layouts and Pacing

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

I've worked on my own webcomic piece for years now, originally it was a more simple strip-style adventure comic, and I worked on it in high school.

I've switched over to doing full pages instead of strips, and I find myself constantly struggling with the layout of the pages and how to place things. My original reason for swapping styles was because with the strips I ended up cheating and drawing just a bunch of heads all the time and I still catch myself doing that in alot of pages now, albeit it is much less frequent than it was.

I was wondering if any other authors had any tips or tricks on how you decide your page layouts. I'm over 50 pages in my piece, and I keep getting this nagging feeling I'm doing some things just plain wrong.

[Kupocake]

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Kupocake

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

Wow, that's...pretty good. Most comics utilize a simple boxing style for most pages don't they?

And thank you for the example. smile

[Kupocake]

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

Wow, that's...pretty good. Most comics utilize a simple boxing style for most pages don't they?

And thank you for the example. smile

Yeah, it's best to just work with simple panels, especially if you're more concerned about clarity. The more unique paneling styles might be fun and cool, but they're hard to work with and sometimes, hard to read.

No problem! I like helping people out.

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

Wow, that's...pretty good. Most comics utilize a simple boxing style for most pages don't they?

And thank you for the example. smile

Yeah, it's best to just work with simple panels, especially if you're more concerned about clarity. The more unique paneling styles might be fun and cool, but they're hard to work with and sometimes, hard to read.

No problem! I like helping people out.

I feel I clutter with too much text sometimes. I'd like to space it out more, maybe, but the the pacing gets really screwed up, and I'm not sure how much more I can just 'show' instead of 'tell'.

That does make me feel better about the box paneling, though I have somewhat of an action-y comic...it's alot easier to play with the more different panels in a fight scene though.

May I ask what Cans of Beans is about? You only have the first few pages, right? Normally wouldn't change the subject but some of your DA stuff piqued my interest.

[Kupocake]

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

Wow, that's...pretty good. Most comics utilize a simple boxing style for most pages don't they?

And thank you for the example. smile

Yeah, it's best to just work with simple panels, especially if you're more concerned about clarity. The more unique paneling styles might be fun and cool, but they're hard to work with and sometimes, hard to read.

No problem! I like helping people out.

I feel I clutter with too much text sometimes. I'd like to space it out more, maybe, but the the pacing gets really screwed up, and I'm not sure how much more I can just 'show' instead of 'tell'.

That does make me feel better about the box paneling, though I have somewhat of an action-y comic...it's alot easier to play with the more different panels in a fight scene though.

May I ask what Cans of Beans is about? You only have the first few pages, right? Normally wouldn't change the subject but some of your DA stuff piqued my interest.

I just use visual cues to figure out if something looks like there's too much text in one area. If it looks too wordy from just the thumbnails, that's a good sign that you should redo the thumbnails. The best thing about doing thumbnail sketches is that they don't take very long to do, so you can kick the can around a lot.

Cans of Beans is a comedy-drama story about two college guys who end up rooming together for a school year, and in the process, mature together. And there's a werewolf thrown in there somewhere. : D

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

Wow, that's...pretty good. Most comics utilize a simple boxing style for most pages don't they?

And thank you for the example. smile

Yeah, it's best to just work with simple panels, especially if you're more concerned about clarity. The more unique paneling styles might be fun and cool, but they're hard to work with and sometimes, hard to read.

No problem! I like helping people out.

I feel I clutter with too much text sometimes. I'd like to space it out more, maybe, but the the pacing gets really screwed up, and I'm not sure how much more I can just 'show' instead of 'tell'.

That does make me feel better about the box paneling, though I have somewhat of an action-y comic...it's alot easier to play with the more different panels in a fight scene though.

May I ask what Cans of Beans is about? You only have the first few pages, right? Normally wouldn't change the subject but some of your DA stuff piqued my interest.

I just use visual cues to figure out if something looks like there's too much text in one area. If it looks too wordy from just the thumbnails, that's a good sign that you should redo the thumbnails. The best thing about doing thumbnail sketches is that they don't take very long to do, so you can kick the can around a lot.

Cans of Beans is a comedy-drama story about two college guys who end up rooming together for a school year, and in the process, mature together. And there's a werewolf thrown in there somewhere. : D

My comic is wordy probably in too many instances...I'll try it out more though.

lol random werewolves all around! I'll be keeping an eye on it. Webcomics have kinda become a big thing for me.

[Kupocake]

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

The most important step in all art pieces is the thumbnailing process. You draw tiny little sketches of the entire page to get a feeling of how the page will be set up. And most importantly, take your time on these tiny little detail-less pages. This controls your entire composition, after all.

Here's a thumbnail sample of my first page of my comic, Cans of Beans.

Wow, that's...pretty good. Most comics utilize a simple boxing style for most pages don't they?

And thank you for the example. smile

Yeah, it's best to just work with simple panels, especially if you're more concerned about clarity. The more unique paneling styles might be fun and cool, but they're hard to work with and sometimes, hard to read.

No problem! I like helping people out.

I feel I clutter with too much text sometimes. I'd like to space it out more, maybe, but the the pacing gets really screwed up, and I'm not sure how much more I can just 'show' instead of 'tell'.

That does make me feel better about the box paneling, though I have somewhat of an action-y comic...it's alot easier to play with the more different panels in a fight scene though.

May I ask what Cans of Beans is about? You only have the first few pages, right? Normally wouldn't change the subject but some of your DA stuff piqued my interest.

I just use visual cues to figure out if something looks like there's too much text in one area. If it looks too wordy from just the thumbnails, that's a good sign that you should redo the thumbnails. The best thing about doing thumbnail sketches is that they don't take very long to do, so you can kick the can around a lot.

Cans of Beans is a comedy-drama story about two college guys who end up rooming together for a school year, and in the process, mature together. And there's a werewolf thrown in there somewhere. : D

My comic is wordy probably in too many instances...I'll try it out more though.

lol random werewolves all around! I'll be keeping an eye on it. Webcomics have kinda become a big thing for me.

Personally, I think webcomics are the wave of the future for comics in general. I know more and more people who read comics online rather than go buy a comic from a brick-and-mortar store. I'm still not sure of the economical/profit side of how webcomics work in comparison to traditional printed comics, but I feel like webcomics are far more accessible to readers just from sheer convenience and gigantic variety of stories and genres.

Glad you're interested in my comic!

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

RadRedRecklessFanG

Kupocake

Yeah, it's best to just work with simple panels, especially if you're more concerned about clarity. The more unique paneling styles might be fun and cool, but they're hard to work with and sometimes, hard to read.

No problem! I like helping people out.

I feel I clutter with too much text sometimes. I'd like to space it out more, maybe, but the the pacing gets really screwed up, and I'm not sure how much more I can just 'show' instead of 'tell'.

That does make me feel better about the box paneling, though I have somewhat of an action-y comic...it's alot easier to play with the more different panels in a fight scene though.

May I ask what Cans of Beans is about? You only have the first few pages, right? Normally wouldn't change the subject but some of your DA stuff piqued my interest.

I just use visual cues to figure out if something looks like there's too much text in one area. If it looks too wordy from just the thumbnails, that's a good sign that you should redo the thumbnails. The best thing about doing thumbnail sketches is that they don't take very long to do, so you can kick the can around a lot.

Cans of Beans is a comedy-drama story about two college guys who end up rooming together for a school year, and in the process, mature together. And there's a werewolf thrown in there somewhere. : D

My comic is wordy probably in too many instances...I'll try it out more though.

lol random werewolves all around! I'll be keeping an eye on it. Webcomics have kinda become a big thing for me.

Personally, I think webcomics are the wave of the future for comics in general. I know more and more people who read comics online rather than go buy a comic from a brick-and-mortar store. I'm still not sure of the economical/profit side of how webcomics work in comparison to traditional printed comics, but I feel like webcomics are far more accessible to readers just from sheer convenience and gigantic variety of stories and genres.

Glad you're interested in my comic!

Well, this is kind of how I broke it down after awhile.

If you can win over a minimal amount of the target audience, you're still going to get quite a few people. (There are so many people in the world, after all.) A certain percentage of your fanbase should be willing to support you by making small donations/buying books/products, and that's all I really see in it. I think the one thing webcomics have against them is the mass exposure, but that can be fixed with enough forced shameless self-promotion, lol.

Having something like a donation wallpaper or a raffle for free books and stuff works well for many authors.

[Krazehcakes]

Just remember to apply the rules of thirds to your layouts and compositions.

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Krazehcakes

Just remember to apply the rules of thirds to your layouts and compositions.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never even heard of that before.

[Madcap_Bekkers]

RadRedRecklessFanG

Krazehcakes

Just remember to apply the rules of thirds to your layouts and compositions.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never even heard of that before.

If you do a google image search of "rule of thirds," you're immediately rewarded with a crapton of examples of it in practice. Basically, divide your composition into a grid of nine squares, and make your center of focus fall on one of the intersections.

Here's a site with a pretty clear explanation along with some examples: photo school rule of thirds

Rule of thirds is only one rule of composition, though, and you don't necessarily need to use it for every picture. But it's certainly a good tool for leading the eye where you want it to go.

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Madcap_Bekkers

RadRedRecklessFanG

Krazehcakes

Just remember to apply the rules of thirds to your layouts and compositions.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never even heard of that before.

If you do a google image search of "rule of thirds," you're immediately rewarded with a crapton of examples of it in practice. Basically, divide your composition into a grid of nine squares, and make your center of focus fall on one of the intersections.

Here's a site with a pretty clear explanation along with some examples: photo school rule of thirds

Rule of thirds is only one rule of composition, though, and you don't necessarily need to use it for every picture. But it's certainly a good tool for leading the eye where you want it to go.

I read the wikipedia page on it, but I'm not sure if I really getting. I think it's something I'd learn better in a class or something.

Still, this helps, and I'll read up on it. Thanks for the link. smile

[Mr Snoman]

go to the library! seriously, I didn't realize how many resources are actually available there. In the nonfiction section, there are many books from manga/comics to oils and pastels. A good one I picked up recently was How to draw dynamic comic books by Rich Buckler. It had a good section on pacing and layout.
Anyway, here are some devart tutorials about paneling/layout:
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
Hope this was helpful! 4laugh

[RadRedRecklessFanG]

Mr Snoman

go to the library! seriously, I didn't realize how many resources are actually available there. In the nonfiction section, there are many books from manga/comics to oils and pastels. A good one I picked up recently was How to draw dynamic comic books by Rich Buckler. It had a good section on pacing and layout.
Anyway, here are some devart tutorials about paneling/layout:
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
Hope this was helpful! 4laugh

Um..my library has nothing like that. Dx I've checked.

Ty for the links and information though.