"Working within the Confines" General Manga Layout

[Prusten]

dum de dum de dum de dum...

Basically I did this as much for me as for all of you, so I hope no one was expecting some mad cool revalation but...

que sera sera

My main problem is that I havn't been trying to draw manga all my life. Basically, for the first 7 some years, it was random nondescript doodles, then superheros, then an attempt at manga which is painful to the eye,
and finally, now, after 16 years, decent art.

But all of it, every one, was a straight up front view full body pose with arms down and legs apart.

So I worked at it and have gotten to a at least not eye-bleedingly bad 3/4th and profile. But I still don't know how to make it look alive, especially when dealing with the often miniscule box sizes that a manga would require. Everything looks well, flat.

So here is my question; does anyone know of a strategy for both shaping and sizing the boxes while still allowing the art the chance to show emotion and life?

Don't you love how even my simple questions take up half a page?

I should become the official rambler of this forumn. Most definitly.

[puppetbomb]

What size paper are you working on?

Usually, thumbnail sketches would help in this case.

Here's an example of a thumbnail from my... uh... Naruto doujinshi: Example

This was drawn on a 5.5"x8.5" piece of paper (just a regular piece of paper I folded in half). The thumbnail gives me a general idea of what should go where without going into detail. Plus, I don't need to use a ruler for the boxes^w^

Remember: stick figures are your friends ^w^

There are times I had to blow up a thumbnail to the size of the final draft to get a specific image/size/pose, and it's nice since it (usually) looks better in the next draft.

[radical jojo]

First, always draw bigger than the print or display size. About 1 1/2 times larger is standard. This will make it easier to fit in everything you want, and the reduced version of your work will look great!

Put on a really good movie. Do you notice the different camera angles and shots that are used? The camera will alternate between close-up, mid, and wide shots, as well as birds'-eye and worms'-eye and panning shots. This is what you need to do in your comic.

Also, be aware of how the arrangement of action works in each panel. For starters, vertical lines imply stability and strength, horizontal lines imply calmness, and diagonal lines imply action. Look through comic books that you admire, and study how the artists' achieve what they do. Then practice, practice, practice. Get used to drawing the human figure not only from the front, 3/4, and profile views, but also from the back, the top, and the bottom. Varitation is the key to dynamism, and it takes a lot of work to master, but the results can be the difference between the boys and the men, so to speak. Best of luck!

[Omittchiwai]

I think its imortant to remember that you don't necessarily have to stay within the confines of set boxes/triangles/etc. Sometimes, its ok to have a scene playing out somewhere on the page that has no boundaries.

An Example~!

Notice how some of the characters overlap borders? In fact, the bottom panel is barely inclosed at all except for the boxes/panels above it.

Also, as Fanartist mentioned, it is important to thumbnail/layout each page. This helps you figure out if something doesn't look quite right or if a panel needs to be changed or moved. Don't limit yourself to boxes/rectangles only. There are lots of shapes available to put your scenes in. The more dynamic the layout, the catchier it is to the reader.

Be careful not to litter the page with too many boxes/words/etc or the composition will become too complex and make reading it much harder. For some pages, only a few boxes may be enough to tell the reader what's going on. Sometimes, the opposite. It really matters on what your trying to convey.

Work large. That way you can put lots of emotion into the facial features without working on tiny, tiny faces/bodies. When completed, scan and resize to the final size.

[CB_Young]

Try drawing pannels sepratly, then assembling them later if that's a problem for you. (computer makes this easier)

And draw much larger than the final product. Detail is much easire that way