— AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR —

Tips + Tricks

My comic has action. It has dialogue. Cool. But it's missing... spice.

 

I've been comparing the experience I get from looking at my comics with how I feel reading published graphic novels. Man, there are some amazing panels, pages, and cool storytelling effects out there. You can really use all sorts of tricks to really punch meaning into the reader.

 

Here are 12 examples I've found so far.

 

#1. SPEECH BUBBLE IMAGES

"The Secret of Black Rock" by Joe Todd Stanton

As a technique, genius. Use simple images in speech bubbles to quickly convey and idea faster than you could with text. Second, double genius, Joe Todd Stanton's page shows two conflicting visions battling each other, expressed in a single image, with two simple images in speech bubbles.

 

#2. INTERACTIVE SPREADS

"Lightfall" by Tim Probert

This idea comes from Tim Probert's Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian. There's a page where the characters check out a shop stall selling armor. There's a full page illustration showing different armor sets for sale, with the main character's reactions to each. Again, double genius.

 

Genius point 1: We see not only the armor set they end up buying, but the armor sets they turned down. We get to learn more about the character by seeing the types of things she doesn't like, and why.

 

Genius point 2: We learn more about the story world by seeing what other types of unseen items, objects, and clothing exists in the world, not just what the characters are wearing.

 

#3. PANEL ILLUSTRATION

from Pixel-boy

This is a good method to slow down the reading pace if you need the reader to check out an important scene for longer, or set up a mood.

 

You can layout panels to blend into each other to make up a single illustration. Three panels on a page is kind of predictable, but panels blending together into a single image makes your eye stay on the page longer. There are no clean panel lines separating the actions, so you can't just glance and turn the page.

 

#4. MINI REACTION PANELS

NIMA by Enrique Fernández

You can layer a bunch of smaller reaction panels over larger action/environment panels. It just helps you to pack so much more information in a panel, and it's also more dynamic to read overlaid panels than only have side by side panels.

 

#5. STAINED GLASS STYLE

Jake Wyatt

Yeah, I'm obsessed with this layout. I wonder if it has a name? It reminds me of European medieval manuscript illuminations, or a stained-glass window.

 

With or without text, all the different panels in an unconventional layout makes you stop and look at them each individually. Good for highlighting an important plot point or scene.

 

#6. TEXT INTEGRATION

"Stand Still, Stay Silent" by Minna Sundbeng

Similar to idea #5, there's an integration of blocks of text into the comics. There's an illustrated header, with some written descriptions and vignette illustrations.

 

I'm thinking this would be useful as an introductory or establishing shot to describe some different elements of a world, or the opening of a chapter where you need to do some exposition.

 

#7. SKETCHBOOK PAGE

Jamie Green

This is something I see often, and every time I do, it makes me so happy. This example isn't from a comic but I've seen pages in comics that look like they were ripped out of a character's sketchbook with their notes scribbled all over. It's a fun way to show information about a topic without walls of boring speech bubble dialogue.

 

#8. NATURAL DIVIDERS

"One Spared to the Sea" by Sarah Webb

A pretty way to split up panels by using an element in the illustration to make a "panel." I was thinking you could even use this to form panels, like have someone diving into the water, then show them underwater under the surface. Maybe you could do it with a tree trunk, above-ground VS under-ground...

 

#9. CLOSE-UP SLOW-DOWNS

Hannah K N

Combining a full illustration with little close-ups forces the reader to linger over the small, almost invisible and consider them, when otherwise they might not.

 

#10. INTERCEPTED PANELS

"The Magic Fish" by Trung Le Nguyen

A simple action of swimming to the surface can be emphasized by breaking up the background behind the action. Again, makes the reader take more time on the action than if it were contained within a single panel.

 

#11. FOCUS BOX

Matias Basla

This is such a cool idea. There's this massive full-page illustration, with a tiny focal panel in the middle highlighting the core action that connects it all.

 

#12. TOP-DOWN MOVE-THROUGH

"Grog the Frog" by Davilorium and AlbaBG

A character moves through a top-down scene. We can skip through time by having a single background and the character moving within it. It also reminds me of that scene from John Wick 4.

 

#13. MINI GAME

Miracle Merchant (art by Thomas Wellman et. al.)

I've always loved those kids' activity books that have puzzles, mazes, riddles... What if you could recreate that in a comic? Have a little mini-game that the character is trying to solve, and the reader gets to solve, too?

 

#14. VIGNETTE FRAME

Vikki Zhang

Vikki's illustration is super cute, but wouldn't it work great as a full-page to introduce a character or a location? Place the character/location in the middle, with a little frame of vignettes on the side that show a closer look of the central illustration. This really gives you a feel for the place or person being shown in the center.