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Examples and tests of COMIC-PAGE GRID LAYOUTS alternating text & artwork
🕑 Added 2020-10-01 13:00:31 +0000 UTCTime for a super-super technical post on comics storytelling posts, dear Patrons, even if I'm unsure as to how many of you will particularly appreciate the blithering that follows.
So!
Strictly from an artist's POV, I quite dislike grid-based comic-page layouts such as the famous Watchmen 9-panel grid, as I find such arrangements annoyingly static and restrictive, often denying me the space I want and need for compelling and dynamic in-panel compositions. Note also that high-density grids are far, far more frequently used in Western comics than manga, with the latter being my primary source of storytelling influence for the last, oh, 35 years or so.
Howeva, while grid-based layouts might be stultifying for the artist—or this artist at least—they make possible some really interesting narrative techniques involving the use of text, which I've been using sporadically over the last few years.
A notable example would be the following page from the (semi-)recent one-shot Venom: The End, seen here in its work stages from initial rough through finished, lettered page.
The idea, here, was to show a panoply of images of the Venom symbiote trying to replace a hyper-aged Eddie Brock's gradually disintegrating memories. So, I used a 16-panel page grid alternating images of Venom-substituted memories with empty black panels where the page's text would be located.
Above is my guide for the letterer, using the fine artwork of the one-shot's artist Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz.
Note the important detail that this was a page grid featuring an even number of panels per tier, which resulted in back-to-back art panels 4-5 and 12-13, not to mention back-to-back text-only panels 8-9. This issue didn't pose a big problem for a loose, abstract, largely non-sequential montage page like the one here, but would be problematic for comic pages needing more concrete storytelling.
(Final colors by the fine lads of Guru eFX, and lettering by Clayton Cowles.)
I'd used a variation of a similar technique earlier in 2019 with Empowered vol.11, one again featuring white text in a black panel, which for some reason I find immensely appealing on an aesthetic level:
(Ehh, probably shouldn't have used quite that much text in that second page, TBH.)
Alternating art-only panels with text-only panels creates an interesting narrative effect, often while cutting down on the perceived text density of the page as a whole, though this is obvsly a subjective call.
Now, I'm not gonna use all that many alternating art/text grid layouts in the upcoming (and dare I say boldly experimental) Empowered vol.12, but I decided to test out a series of varying grids to see how the artwork and text might interact.
Test 1 was the familiar Watchmen 3X3 page grid, but resized from a conventional comics page to the much squatter 8.5" X 11" original art of the Empowered format:
(Apologies in advance for my often indecipherable scribbled text, which wasn't intended to be read by anyone other than myself.)
Next up was the ol' 3X4 grid:
...with the scribbled text shifting to several different storytelling ideas.
Next up was the higher density 5X3 grid, which began to feel very restrictive from an artist's POV:
So I tried out the lower-density 5X2 grid, which I found a tad more artistically pleasing, as I am perhaps inordinately fond of tall, "skinny" vertical panels:
(Note that the scribbled sample text above is switching between analysis and proposed storytelling concepts.)
Howeva, note also that I had to keep using layouts with an odd number of panels per tier to keep the alternating art/text order consistent. Ah, but then it belatedly occurred to me that one could use tiers with an even number of panels in 'em, as long as they alternated with an odd-numbered tier, as seen next with this "5 over 4" layout:
Finally, I closed out this series of alternating art/text layout tests with a few "stacks," which is what I've dubbed layouts that use only a single vertical row of panels. Here, the stack is using horizontal, panoramic panels:
Note that "stacks" are relatively common in manga, most notably in the yonkoma or "4-komi" comic-strip format. Lord knows that the mangaka of Komi Can't Communicate, Tomohito Oda, absolutely adores the panoramic stack, which he uses in a weirdly American-style mode of "same panel layout and background art repeated 2-4 more times, but with changes to character art and dialogue each time."
Finally, here's a 6-panel variation of the panoramic stack, with the same art/text alternating order seen throughout this post:
Anyhoo!
I remain unsure if very many Patrons will get much value outta this fairly abstruse narrative-technique post, but I thought I'd try something different today. Worry not, folks, as we'll return to conventional art-based posts immediately, as with Friday's upcoming post:
TOMORROW ON THIS HERE PATREON: Wellp, it's time for s'more Vintage Con Sketches, again featuring pieces colored by my bud Ryan Kinnaird!
Comments
Adam Warren
You're very much welcome; glad this rather abstruse post could be of value! (In fact, I'm referring to it myself for an upcoming EMP12 scene...)
Joe Crawford
I have returned to this post a few time from my bookmarks. Thanks!
KranberriJam
I seriously love stuff like this!
Strypgia
Still enjoying the technical parts. And I hadn't noticed the style thing in Komi-san until you mentioned it, but now I can't unsee it.
AdamVanWyk
Fascinating! As a storyboard guy, I find comic pages so difficult to deal with. It is too much freedom (infinite variety of panel shapes and sizes) and too restricted (layout in an order a reader can follow, trying for a cliffhanger at the end of each page, trying for a complete idea on each page yet continuing a larger narrative). The experiments with visuals and text size are pretty cool, diving into the realm of graphic design. Love it! Thanks for sharing!
