Best Visual Format for Showing Growth?

[Mongoose]

A question often comes to mind when I’m starting a new comic project: what format should I use?

I don’t mean file format or venue of publication, these things can be decided later in the production pipeline, but one of the first things an artist has to decide when starting a new comic is the page layout itself. Will it be a traditional graphic novel format to be printed on an 8.5 x 11 page? Maybe something that fits nicely on a PC monitor (I’m rather fond of those very tall comic pages I sometimes see on deviantart.com), or even something that conforms more readily to a mobile screen such as an iPad, iPhone or Android products.

Of late, I’ve been thinking a lot about the image sequences most often used by CGI artists in the community.

Don’t get me wrong, I love working in the traditional comic book multi-panel format. I like the control it gives me over the flow of the story, how it lets you emphasize and de-emphasize panels by changing their shape and size on the page and how good it is at describing action in a dynamic way. However, the last comic book I made was in an image sequence format, and I think there is something there.

I chose the format because it fit the narrative device I was using in the story. It was a depiction of a youtube video, so it made sense that each page was one full panel as the video played along the timeline. As a storytelling format, it felt a bit awkward to me (maybe because I was inexperienced with it), but being able to flip the page to show the changes in the main character felt natural even though the subject was drawn instead of rendered. I’m still not sure I prefer it to a multi-panel page, but it certainly made me want to explore the format further.

So as I get ready to start on a new comic, I would like to read people’s opinions on this: traditional comic pages, or image sequences? What do you favour and why?

[qzar9999]

Honestly, it depends on the story you're telling. As you say, your last one made sense to be a series of single images. But some stories work better with the ability to emphasize, inset, shape, or compare and contrast panels that are next to each other.

[LK]

Let's take a film-making perspective. If you are keeping on a single shot and want to show subtle differences, then the CGI is the way to go. That effect is sometimes replicated on 3-6 panel Before - During - After progressions.

Typically in comics though, you have events happening and action and plot, not a single take where you savor the image. Seeing the progression in one go and being able to hop between them and compare differences without flipping pages has an appeal.

Does that make sense? If you're open for commissions I am getting back into that game, appreciate your style

[jack36262001]

Pretty much what Qzar and LK said go for me too. I've seen some comics that combine single page with panels instead of each panel being bordered with white or what have you, they are arranged on top of the single page image as not to obstruct the subject of said image. In the case of growth something like a few panels of the "major" body parts moving up the background, or a few bursting clothes. Arranged over the image of the finished growth.

I find that with image sequences if the narrative is paced properly with the images it can be a captivating read, but I have seen some where particular points in the sequence are drawn out and really throw off the flow of story.

[Mongoose]

Some good points here. I have noticed that image sequences do tend to drag on for longer than they should, specially when dealing with narrative and dialog. I guess there is lots to think about.

There is a lot that's appealing about image sequences. In a practical sense, it's a lot easier to manage than the multi-panel page. Also, as I move towards a more 3D-heavy workflow, it's tempting to cross over into a format that more closely resembles animation.

For now I’ll be sticking with the traditional comic book format, though I may experiment with image sequences on a really short comic just to get a feel for it.



By the way, qzar9999, I'm a huge fan of Wolf Lake. It's some of the best written growth material I've seen.

[LK]

Are you talking about combining 3d and 2d art? For something as particular about dimensions and perspectives as this subject, that seems like a great strategy for communicating what it is you want to geg across in your work.

[Mongoose]

Yeah, I use 3D for backgrounds and props and I think it really helps sell the effect.

I really like the precision that 3D gives me, but I much prefer the look and fluidity of drawn art. And that’s not even getting into the subject of Uncanny Valley and how difficult it is to deal with tearing and scaling clothing correctly on 3D models.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with non-photorealistic rendering in Blender and have been able to get pretty good results combining it with 2D techniques.