how do you figure/plan out your panel layouts and composition? do you have any specific inspirations? i find that paneling is one of the hardest things for me when trying to make comics haha
that's a tough one to answer, but let me see what i'm able to explain!
When I approach a comic page, I tend to consider the whole page first rather than individual panels. I batch pages together, and try to make it so it's not the same general shape of panels from page to page, unless I want to do it intentionally for some reason.
(some examples of my layouts/sketches for the comic)
Then, when it comes to the panels themselves, I again, try to vary what's in there. can't always be the same angle. sometimes you gotta pull back the camera! sometimes you gotta have it be real close. with loop and isabeau doing nothing but talking under the Favor Tree, I had to find a way to make that interesting. also, i tend to keep the 180° rule as much as I can just so character placement stays consistent and easy to follow ( broke the rule like... twice, i think. )
another thing that's important i think to consider in the composition is the dialogue. you can see how in the layout of the pages i have it already written down. it's just so i can account for how it's gonna take up space in the page immediately!! if you don't do that and you draw everything out, then try to fit the dialogue in there... the bubbles tend to feel a bit cramped, in my opinion
finally, here's a little bit of what went on in my head as i planned for one of the comics pages, basically every decision here informs the way i planned the panel's composition!
as for comic inspirations, i didn't look at a specific one to help me out on this comic, but if you're looking for a comic recommendation that has some really good page/panel compositions you could look at, I'd say to go look at The Property of Hate by @modmad ! The whole comic is so good, but I always look back fondly to the " POV " chapter, the way the characters move around on the tree is so neat.
I hope this was clear enough and that it shed light on how i worked on this ! But if you have more questions about pages and everything, don't hesitate!
