Emotion and Pacing in comics
One of the reasons that I love comics so much is that there are many valid ways to approach the medium. When I make comics, the parts Iām most concerned with are character and story. Everything I draw on the comic page is in service to character and story. Because of my focus on those two elements over, say, experimenting with my art and page structure, I will sometimes get criticism that my work is safe or boring. This is probably fair criticism! I donāt do a lot of experimenting with paneling or challenging storytelling or explicitly challenging artwork in my comics, because right now thatās what Iām not interested in. Maybe I will be more experimental someday, but not right now, with the kind of stories I want to tell. :)
When I make a comic, my goal is for my readers to be engaged with the story Iām telling, and the characters in that story. Thatās also what I look for when I want to read a good comic. I want characters to love, I want a story to be engaged with.
For the most part, I struggle with drawing comics (most artists do, if weāre honest ;)), but there are some parts of comics I think I have a good handle on. I feel like Iām strongest when portraying emotion on the page, and Iām good at drawing those scenes out and making the reader feel what my characters are going through. Some of the techniques I use to convey emotion came from being obsessed with movies when I was a teenager, and some techniques are stolen from my holy trinity of influences: Jeff Smith (Bone), Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist) and Naoki Urasawa (Monster, Pluto, 20th Century Boys).Ā
Of the three artists Iāve mentioned, I consider Urasawa especially to be a master of emotion and pacing. When I first started reading his comics, it was like light struck my brain; finally I saw what Iād been trying to do for years right there on the comic page in front of me! I like the way he lays out his emotional scenes a lot. Hereās an example (read right to left):Ā
Urasawa uses repeating panels and decompression to draw out the emotions of a scene. In this single page there isnāt a lot of movement. Itās literally just two characters staring at each other, but the tension rises going from panel 1 to panel five. Gesicht (the man)ās expression doesnāt change between panels two and five, but we literally feel his anger rising off-panel, concluding in the close up in panel 5.
Thereās an excellent You Tube channel called Every Frame a Painting (Iām sure youāve heard of it, but if you havenāt, please go watch all the videos! There arenāt many, and theyāre all really informative). My favourite video is this one, about editing:
This video hit on something that I strive for in my comics: emotion takes time. When I draw a scene that is emotional, when characters are struggling with something, or celebrating something, or being challenged, I want my readers to feel what the character is feeling, and one of the best ways to do that, for me, is to take my time. To give that emotion time to breathe on the page.Ā
Iām going to use some scenes in The Nameless City to illustrate how I use decompression and pacing to underscore the emotion in my comics. To avoid spoilers and because this is getting a little long, Iām going to put it under a cut. Please read on! :) Ā
stormborns
jacobvanloon
andulkaphoto
annaxmalina
blakekathryn
baratheonpilled
