Comic Pages Storyboard Tutorial
OKAY SO! @biazerod asked me a little help on storyboarding and i decided to make this tutorial…i’m not a professionist. so don’t take these as golden rules…just advices! and as always sorry for the english
FIRST THING FIRST! the storyboard part is the most important phase in a comic page !
you can spend an entire day storyboarding! because it’s the structure, the essence of the page!
here’s some tips :
1- a page can start from 1 panel/frame (called splash page!) until how many f*cking panels you can fit ! (some pages , especially in french comics/bd can reach 24 panels/frames!)
Exaple of splash pages:
(these are from the green lantern,DC and the newest Thor ,marvel )
Splash pages are a priority of American comics, you rarely can find them in french Bd ! they represent a scene of impact! a fight! a revelation! be careful! use it only one if two times on a range of 50 pages! cuz it cut the narration!
instead in french bd you find this :
first one is from Blacksad 2# and second one is from Atar Gull
see how high the number of the frames is??
the number of frames is very important in a page because it decide the narration time! :D also it all depends on the kind of ‘’direction’’ you want to use on your comic! so be really careful when you decide the number of the frame!
LET’S PASS ON THE CREATION!
1- when you have a page that contains more than 3 Frames ALWAYS. ALWAYS HAVE AN ESTABLISHING SHOT!
the establishing shot is fundamental! BECAUSE READERS CAN UNDERSTAND WHERE THE CHARACTERS ARE!
DON’T DO A COMIC PAGE FULL OF FACES !
DON’T DO THIS! LET THE CHARACTER BREATH! LET THE READER BREATH! PLAY WITH YOUR CAMERA! YOU HAVE THE POWER!
in a comic page, is important to put the camera far away from the character most of the time! play with the different shots!
(found this on google)
WATCH MOVIES AND TV SHOWS.
lot of them can help you so much you have no idea! a comic artist and a director do the same job when creating a story
2- Candy eye
this is a tricky trick that can help you with the audience! when a character is saying something important or you have to introduce them , USE THE CANDY EYE DUDE.
the candy eye is , basically, a bust shot where you show the character,their features , usually with a cool or a funny expression ( or of course it depends from the situation) and believe me WORKS 10/10 with the audience ;)
3- HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANT SCENE IN THE PAGE!
FINAL TIPS:
- when you’re doing dinamic poses try and try again! the first one isn’t always the best!
-USE REFERENCES.
-A STORYBOARD PAGE CAN REQUIRE EVEN 4 HRS IF NOT AN ENTIRE DAY IF NOT AN ENTIRE WEEK. REMEMBER THAT THE STORYBOARD IS THE ESSENCE. AND THE REST IS DECORATION.
- IMAGINE THE SEQUENCE! NOT THE SINGLE PAGES.
THINK IN SEQUENCES! imagine what would happen after the page you are creating! connect the various pages NOT THE SINGLES FRAMES !
YOU’RE CREATING A STORY! NOT A SINGLE ILLUSTRATION!
-AGAIN DON’T DO PAGE OF FACES.
most important thing:
if the page you’re creating it stresses you! STOP.
continue it when you are in a better mood ,dude.
our job requires lot of time and effort, but it should be the job we love.
so don’t stress yourself and keep calm.
hope this is useful. don’t take this as golden rules, this is just the way i work :)
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