Current mood:	drained
Entry tags:	composition

Observing Comics - Timing1
Looks like I'm only going to update this when I'm too tired to do actual work. So, I don't promise anything in the way of spelling (despite spell check), or making sense. But I'll try, and maybe quote a lot.

Now, I know the people reading this are all at different levels. Some draw fantastically, others are great composers, some good at lighting or better at portraiture, realistic style, manga style, some can't draw at all (or so they say). Realistically, anybody can be taught enough basics to be an assistant. A lot in this genre is technical, and that's all you need. The art is all in the layout and planning. The rest is just knowing how to do it and training your hand for control, which is just practice.

Today, we'll take a look into sequential art and some things to consider. Basically, here's a way to pick up and read comics around your house as someone who does comics.

Sequential art breaks up into a couple of things. But mostly, comics are a time-based medium. A friendly resource for this is Scott McCloud (yes, I know he dissed web comics). In my opinion, timing is the most crucial part of comiking. It's often closely tied to clarity of individual frames (and over all pages) as well, which will be thoroughly delved into at a later date, as it's too big in scope for this entry. Both of these involves the manipulation of the reader (which I will occasionally call the user, because that's what I'm used to saying every day...). The reader must stop when you want him to, and never when you don't particularly mean it. I'm going to use manga to illustrate this, since it's much easier to screw up manga-style panelling, and there are plentiful examples, even among good artists.

Actions scenes are the hardest to portray. Here are some examples. Depending on what you're trying to express, your action is going to take on different forms, so it's a little unfair to use different stories from different artists, but sometimes, what you're trying to express is the difficulty itself.

In this example (read right to left), the solo mangaka makes an attempt at explaining the situation by a speech bubble, but that causes conventions and cheesiness, so it should be generally avoided. He doesn't do this a lot though, and he may have just wanted to slip in the mobile suit's name, but if this is happening frequently, then there is a problem or you're writing for 7 year old Japanese boys.


Ecole du Ciel - Haruhiko Mikimoto


Once you start firing lasers and stuff (or falling off bicycles, for a more mundane example), readers tend to read through words and panels very fast to keep up with the speed he feels the action is happening at, regardless of what you put in his way. Wordless action scenes work best, since the words don't drag down the flow of the action's speed. It's easier to control him with panel size and shape than with getting the right word-count - or a dreadful combination of the two.

There are many ways to drag the reader's eye to a slower pace. Words is one, and can be used skilfully with the right illustration. High detail is another. Low contrast. Large panels. Combinations of these can leave me looking at a page or panel ten, even twenty seconds. It can feel like days in story-time. It's always better to show 'days', than tell 'days' (as an example). The reader will have a more lasting and emotional impression. Words appeal to logic and information. Pictures appeal more to emotion. Comics is the skilful combination of the two performing what they do best without conflict.

Something else - the manga panelling style is particularly hard to grasp because it works contextually, like the Japanese language does. An establishing shot would normally set up the scene - you'd get a nice visual of each of the fighters, and it's easier to follow, even if the author doesn't get good shots from then on. The trick is to neither be too small-boy's comic obvious or too 'artistic' with establishing scenes. Trying to explain the action with a speech bubble is a lost cause. A reader will not backtrack just to look at what he now understands, and you've wasted a lot of work.

What would you do with your character who's about to be ambushed in the depths of space?
The optimal would be to convey the sense of confusion to the reader, maybe even scare him, but ground him with something. There must always be something familiar to the reader. Writers might be familiar with this convention, such as the character Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She grounds us to the story, and holds the thing together, just by being comparatively normal. What about familiarizing the reader with the robot - or parts of it - then showing just those parts in the heat of battle? You'll then know who's being hit just by the design. Maybe the machine has particular knuckle joints - you can just show a powerful punch and you know it's the enemy's getting it, even if it's a terrible composition. All you had to do is show it handling a rifle or a knife earlier in the scene.

The next is up to you (read left to right). Does it make sense to you? Why or why not?


BLAME! (fr) BLAM! (eng/jp) - Tsutomu Nihei


How long did it take you to read it? How long did it take you to read the other fight example? What are your thoughts on how long the action actually is and how long you read it for? Too-short can also be a problem, but it depends on the reader, too. See anything else interesting in either?

I guess that makes your homework pretty simple, just reply and discuss.
Sorry to start off on a lecture note! I'll change up with some art for next time.