Page Layouts-Right to Left: Discussion

[JungleYaoi]

Growing up I had many friends who were interested in becoming Manga artists and I briefly dabbled in script writing as a profession,and occasionally did short comics,usually in the left to right format. After a while though I kind of grew out of it and focused on reading it rather then creating it. Well,a couple months back I decided to do some sample pages for a friend and half way through it dawned on me that I had been drawing the panels right to left. XD

I'm not sure why I hadn't caught it sooner,and I was able to successfully scan and flip the pages later on,but from what I've noticed,reading right to left has become so hard wired into my brain that I find it hard to translate that to LTR when I'm drawing. Don't know why,but hey,we all got our quirks. *shrugs*

I personally prefer right to left comics (For reading,not drawing my own. :3 ) simply because that's all I've really read the past couple of years and it can sometimes be a little hard for me to follow the panels with the left to right format,but I would like to hear your opinions on which one you prefer and all that good stuff. 3nodding

[Kupocake]

As someone who spent a good chunk of my life reading manga, I didn't have much trouble transitioning to regular left-to-right comics. But I have heard of people who had such problems, so I can understand it might be hard for some to read.

Here's how I see it: the English language, the language you and I are writing in, is written left-to-right. Japanese, on the other hand, is read right-to-left, therefore its comics follow the same reading direction. For the sake of page flow, it makes more sense to make a comic read in that order as well. The only reason why right-to-left comics exist in the English language is mainly because of translation issues. Mirroring the artwork can destroy a lot of important elements/aesthetics, so it's better to just leave it be, even if it clashes with the language it's translated in.

I think it's better to just force yourself to change the panel direction. It might be tough, but there's a huge stigma of originally-English right-to-left comics being manga-wannabes. Unless you're okay with people calling your comic a manga-ripoff or other unflattering things, you're best off with a left-to-right format, especially if you're writing in English.

[JungleYaoi]

Kupocake

As someone who spent a good chunk of my life reading manga, I didn't have much trouble transitioning to regular left-to-right comics. But I have heard of people who had such problems, so I can understand it might be hard for some to read.

Here's how I see it: the English language, the language you and I are writing in, is written left-to-right. Japanese, on the other hand, is read right-to-left, therefore its comics follow the same reading direction. For the sake of page flow, it makes more sense to make a comic read in that order as well. The only reason why right-to-left comics exist in the English language is mainly because of translation issues. Mirroring the artwork can destroy a lot of important elements/aesthetics, so it's better to just leave it be, even if it clashes with the language it's translated in.

I think it's better to just force yourself to change the panel direction. It might be tough, but there's a huge stigma of originally-English right-to-left comics being manga-wannabes. Unless you're okay with people calling your comic a manga-ripoff or other unflattering things, you're best off with a left-to-right format, especially if you're writing in English.

Yeah,I understand that. ^^ That was the first time in a while I had drawn up some pages so I thought it was interesting that I was suddenly having problems with the format,though have since gotten a little better at it. XD A lot of my friends back in the day,and even now,were extremely set on making it right to left,and couldn't understand why I had been doing mine in left to right before I stopped because that wasn't the 'manga style'.

[Kaxen]

Even at the height of my manga-reading time, I still had a natural inclination to read left to right. I think one has to be very careful drawing a right to left comic because their mind might still thinkin left to right and especially for people who aren't very good at composition (and composition is kind of hard altogether, IMO), it can make a bit of a mess. I once did a right to left comic but realized that the pages flipped between reading left to right and right to left.... ._.

I especially dislike right to left for webcomics because most people don't know enough HTML or are exhibiting the fact they want a right to left webcomic but have an inclination to think left to right because they are native English users and this results in a webcomic drawn right to left with Next Page buttons pointing to the right. Which kind of gives mixed messages on reading order and drives me crazy... I don't have this problem with books though.

And right to left isn't a "style;" it's how Japanese works. The damn thing doesn't suddenly cease to be manga the second you flip the pages to a left to right orientation... I think it's pointless to draw a right to left work for an English reading audience. I mean, even publishers who go for original English language manga don't accept right to left.

[Seijaku_Ishida]

Usually the panelling and flow is pretty messed up for English-language manga if they read right-to-left, so I very much prefer they do it the way their own language reads.

[JungleYaoi]

Kaxen

Even at the height of my manga-reading time, I still had a natural inclination to read left to right. I think one has to be very careful drawing a right to left comic because their mind might still thinkin left to right and especially for people who aren't very good at composition (and composition is kind of hard altogether, IMO), it can make a bit of a mess. I once did a right to left comic but realized that the pages flipped between reading left to right and right to left.... ._.

I especially dislike right to left for webcomics because most people don't know enough HTML or are exhibiting the fact they want a right to left webcomic but have an inclination to think left to right because they are native English users and this results in a webcomic drawn right to left with Next Page buttons pointing to the right. Which kind of gives mixed messages on reading order and drives me crazy... I don't have this problem with books though.

And right to left isn't a "style;" it's how Japanese works. The damn thing doesn't suddenly cease to be manga the second you flip the pages to a left to right orientation... I think it's pointless to draw a right to left work for an English reading audience. I mean, even publishers who go for original English language manga don't accept right to left.

The very first right to left comic I did (On purpose at least. XD ) I had that same problem with the pages,it was such a head ache trying to redo the pages. >.<
I have to agree with the web comics though,I'm not sure if I've seen any other then scanlations that could pull it off.

Yeah,I had explained that to them,but I guess they were too blinded by the thought of actually creating a manga to listen. XP

[-2o]

I pretty much only begrudgingly accept that from translated manga. If your language reads left to right normally, that is how I expect to be reading it in a comic.

And my eyes burn out of my head when the navigation for websites runs opposite of the reading direction, as it's been said already

[JungleYaoi]

-2o

I pretty much only begrudgingly accept that from translated manga. If your language reads left to right normally, that is how I expect to be reading it in a comic.

And my eyes burn out of my head when the navigation for websites runs opposite of the reading direction, as it's been said already

Understandable,which is what kind of blows my mind away when I see people trying to argue that right to left is the one and only right way to do manga.

[-2o]

JungleYaoi

-2o

I pretty much only begrudgingly accept that from translated manga. If your language reads left to right normally, that is how I expect to be reading it in a comic.

And my eyes burn out of my head when the navigation for websites runs opposite of the reading direction, as it's been said already

Understandable,which is what kind of blows my mind away when I see people trying to argue that right to left is the one and only right way to do manga.

Honestly,anyone who would mimic a translation artifact is not really thinking much about what they are doing. There is no good reason to do so. All manga are are Japanese comics. I like manga, and i've got a lot of respect for many manga artists, so it's not like my annoyance is directed at the japanese industry or those who love it. But I have a problem with a lack of thought and care, it bugs the s**t out of me.

[JungleYaoi]

-2o

JungleYaoi

-2o

I pretty much only begrudgingly accept that from translated manga. If your language reads left to right normally, that is how I expect to be reading it in a comic.

And my eyes burn out of my head when the navigation for websites runs opposite of the reading direction, as it's been said already

Understandable,which is what kind of blows my mind away when I see people trying to argue that right to left is the one and only right way to do manga.

Honestly,anyone who would mimic a translation artifact is not really thinking much about what they are doing. There is no good reason to do so. All manga are are Japanese comics. I like manga, and i've got a lot of respect for many manga artists, so it's not like my annoyance is directed at the japanese industry or those who love it. But I have a problem with a lack of thought and care, it bugs the s**t out of me.

True,but then again a good number of those are probably kids too.

[-2o]

JungleYaoi

-2o

JungleYaoi

-2o

I pretty much only begrudgingly accept that from translated manga. If your language reads left to right normally, that is how I expect to be reading it in a comic.

And my eyes burn out of my head when the navigation for websites runs opposite of the reading direction, as it's been said already

Understandable,which is what kind of blows my mind away when I see people trying to argue that right to left is the one and only right way to do manga.

Honestly,anyone who would mimic a translation artifact is not really thinking much about what they are doing. There is no good reason to do so. All manga are are Japanese comics. I like manga, and i've got a lot of respect for many manga artists, so it's not like my annoyance is directed at the japanese industry or those who love it. But I have a problem with a lack of thought and care, it bugs the s**t out of me.

True,but then again a good number of those are probably kids too.

Oh I don't doubt that. I don't feel any personal animosity when people do this, but regardless of age, it's never too early to think about the things you are doing. I tend to simply tell them and be doen with it, as belaboring the point doesn't really benefit anyone.

[JungleYaoi]

-2o

JungleYaoi

-2o

JungleYaoi

-2o

I pretty much only begrudgingly accept that from translated manga. If your language reads left to right normally, that is how I expect to be reading it in a comic.

And my eyes burn out of my head when the navigation for websites runs opposite of the reading direction, as it's been said already

Understandable,which is what kind of blows my mind away when I see people trying to argue that right to left is the one and only right way to do manga.

Honestly,anyone who would mimic a translation artifact is not really thinking much about what they are doing. There is no good reason to do so. All manga are are Japanese comics. I like manga, and i've got a lot of respect for many manga artists, so it's not like my annoyance is directed at the japanese industry or those who love it. But I have a problem with a lack of thought and care, it bugs the s**t out of me.

True,but then again a good number of those are probably kids too.

Oh I don't doubt that. I don't feel any personal animosity when people do this, but regardless of age, it's never too early to think about the things you are doing. I tend to simply tell them and be doen with it, as belaboring the point doesn't really benefit anyone.

Good point.

[devilyoudont]

When I look at manga I don't have any trouble reading right-to-left because the page naturally flows that way. However, the flow is usually all jumbled up when people who natively read left-to-right attempt to mimic Japanese comics. I always see people who say, "This is my style!" or "This is how I am used to reading it, so this is how I'm going to do it!" but none of these people ever seem to pull it off and have it flow naturally the way a native right-to-left reader would.

Are there actually any right-to-left comics by native English speakers that have coherent page composition?

[CB_Young]

Reading from right to left is a deal breaker for me, unless the text that I am reading is a right-to-left language. Reading in a language that goes a different direction than the text just really messes up the flow of a comic. A big part of a comic is words and art working together, and that really just doesn't happen when they are working in opposite directions.

It doesn't hurt that I don't think I have yet heard a good artistic reason for it other 'that's what they do in Japan.'

And this isn't just about amateurs doing web comics, when I'm reading comics that have been translated, I prefer that the art be mirrored as well, so that the words and the pictures go together.

[Kaxen]

JungleYaoi

Yeah,I had explained that to them,but I guess they were too blinded by the thought of actually creating a manga to listen. XP

Well, I guess there's no hope for changing their minds, for the time being at least. @_@