Exercise P1: Paneling a Page

Storytelling on a printed page requires that you (the artist!) keep your audience interested. A good way to do that is to vary the shots used in each panel on the page! By cycling through Long, Medium, Close-up, and Action shots, the audience can learn more about the story in each panel.

Let’s take a look at this inked comic page.

(click here for unmarked copy)

Long shots: good for establishing the scene. Great near the beginning of stories, to show the location! But, when characters move to a new spot, it’s good to show another long shot.

Medium shots: Shows head and part of the body. It’s in between an action and a closeup shot, able to show a little bit of pose and a little bit of facial expression.

Action shot: The action shot shows a body in motion — usually, at the end of some action like a throw, or punch, or kick. One action shot here is a catch! Sometimes I just put a cool pose with foreshortening, that can give a quiet thoughtful moment a little bit of excitement.

Closeup shots: Focus on the face! The artist draws almost nothing but the face. This really lets the viewer focus on the expression, or the emotion, of that panel.

Deciding these shots is like being a movie director. You can choose when to say “Give me a closeup!” Or, “I need a shot of this bridge and the river…”

There’s one last type of shot that I call the “money shot“. It’s a shot that I spend a lot of time on, so it should be worth a lot of money ^_^ Here’s an example where there are long shot elements (scenery), plus medium (subtle poses), and closeup detail (grass, tree bark, expressions, shoes, skateboard decals, little dog and bird)!

Think of the kind of shot you’re drawing for next time. It’s one way to get inspiration of what panel to draw next!

Speaking of inspiration, this lesson is inspired by Seven Camels, where Mark Kennedy wrote about the awesome Disney artist, Carson van Osten. At http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2006/09/comic-strip-artists-kit-redux.html, Carson and Mark share a custom instructional given to the young artists at Disney back in the day. Good art is found in many styles and disciplines!

Want to make some panels on a page, and add your own shots? Go to our new Exercise P2: Comic Paper for Paneling !