Hello Air <3 I hope you don’t mind me asking again about more art stuff!
I love your comics/sequences a lot - pacing, flow, obviously the art- they’re so alive and rich! I wanted to ask your advice on how you approach these? Like panelling and how you choose what to include visually to tell that story? Perfectionism is a big thing for me with wanting to do it all and get things exact, which has been unhelpful when trying comics in the past.. ofc start small is key but it just feels a bit daunting you know :’D
I don't mind at all!!! This one will be long though //WHEEZE
OOOHHUUU I'm flattered that you think my comics/sequences are that good!!!! 😭😭😭💙 OH BOY!!! I tend to think in animations (which is a blessing and a curse). The way I approach making a comic/sequence is based on asking myself this question:
Do I have a pose or sequence reference?
If yes, gather the reference to use, and plan the sequence from there (bonus if the reference is itself a sequence)! For example, in my recent KeiTeth sequence, I had a reference in mind: this dance choreography. I specifically use the bit at the VERY end of the performance, but I think watching the whole dance really gives you an idea of the emotion I was going for.
Here are my side-by-sides for the parts I referenced:
You can see that I didn't copy it exactly, for example the distance between Hawks and Abiteth is less than the distance between Katee and Joshua. In the first panel (second panel in the full piece), Hawks is more actively walking away from Abiteth than Joshua is (because it's choreographed). I also exaggerated Hawks' expression of surprise because he fully did not anticipate Abiteth stealing his jacket, and I exaggerated Abiteth's expression at the end to put more emphasis on how distraught she is.
It worked in my favor for this specific sequence that the emotion between the dancers was almost EXACTLY the emotion I wanted to show for Abiteth and Hawks! So I even got the benefit of being able to reference the facial expressions for this sequence!
Another example of a comic I made with a reference is this DanTeth Valentine's comic (will only show the pages that I used my reference for; last page specifically the top two panels):
My reference was this video! Obviously, my comic turned out very differently, because all I was referencing was the act of the man taking the cigarette being tucked into the mouth, then pushed back out, and blowing smoke across the woman's face.
Now, if the answer is no........ FAKE IT TILL I MAKE IT!!!!! (Everything below, mostly).
PANELING AND ACCOUNTING FOR TEXT BUBBLES IS MY PUBLIC ENEMY!!!!!!!! I am very bad at leaving space for text bubbles at the moment, so a lot of my IMPORTANT ART gets covered by text 😂😂 I'm trying to get better at it, and the best I have right now is this "Death Cap" comic:
I referenced a paneling style where you show the action of a different character (in this case, Dabi, which is why his backgrounds are blue) in cut out panels separate from the actions being made by others. I'm working on fixing the last page at the moment because there isn't enough impact/oomph behind the first shot of Dabi punching Abiteth in the stomach (he's tryna make her spit it out so....)
My specific reference for the paneling style behind this, you can see that there are two big panels the show main actions (green background), then various smaller ones showing a flow of action (orange background), basically what I'm trying to do in the "Death Cap" comic but with a focus on the reactions of a specific character vs a flow of action:
The artist above is David Aja!!! I really love the way he does paneling!
Here's two other comics I did in the same style (I don't recall having pose refs for the AbiTou one, but I did have Leon cocking a gun with one hand as a ref for the Dabi comic, as well as an image for the vibes, you can see all the David Aja inspo in these two):
Lastly, here's some sequences/comics that I just experimented with paneling/lack of paneling/eye-flow:
This is a fantastic resource for flow, text bubbles, action, leading the eye, so on and so forth! A very good read! I used it when making my first pass at Death Cap, the only thing that I don't do that I SHOULD be doing is actually thumbnailing my pages.
My advice for you especially since you are a perfectionist (like me!) is to definitely prioritize thumbnailing first. This will help you get the best idea for the flow of your work. Secondly, I would recommend finding a panel style that you like and practice thumbnailing with that involved, and even if you may like a specific type of paneling, it's okay if that doesn't work!!! Experiment with any that catch your eye.
As you can see, my personal preference is weird paneling, preferring to not follow a strict grid, and drawing characters pushing outside of the boundaries of the panel.
And of course: reference 😊😊 I'm fortunate enough that my mental library is massive and I can pull quite easily from imagination, but I will still rely on references whenever I can tell that I NEED to rely on them. There's still a lot that I can personally learn as an artist too!!!
I HOPE THIS WAS HELPFUL EVEN THOUGH IT IS SO LONG WINDED KSNFKDSFNK <3333
