Catching a Vision 020
Writing II: The Mechanics & The Panel
Catching a Vision, the (oh WOW look we're actually) weekly column on Comic Related from C. Edward Sellner, Founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio. CAV provides practical guidance on how to break into the comics industry, as well as insights into this medium we all love. With resources you can order online, interviews and debates with comic professionals, and online workshops, this is your best introduction into the wonders of creating comics!
Welcome back everyone, and I know, what a shocker, here we are just a mere week from our last little foray into comic book creation! Let's hope this is the start of a new trend! Last week I went in-depth on the format of the comic script, broke down the form and function of each section and focused on teaching the basic mechanics of writing a script. I mentioned the advantage of looking at actual scripts from comic writers at the end and lo and behold, it seems a flurry of writers announced posting scripts on their sites during the past week. I think it just goes to show that the comic elite of the world tune into CAV! ; )
Speaking of which, I also hope all of you are following me on Twitter and/or connected to me on Facebook. I periodically tend to rant on various and sundry topics. This past week included one on Comic Reviewer policies that was well received by many in the small press side of the business especially. Also, whenever I see a resource for creating comics posted from someone, I always repost it on my own Twitter feed, and my Facebook status. Lots of good links, tutorials and resources for creating comics popping up lately, so check me out there if you haven't already.
For this exercise, we're going to look at the short story Ranger's Tale written by Jeff Loew, pencils by Esdras, inks by Dean Kotz, colors by Garry Henderson, and letters by Chris Studabaker. The story was printed in the Frog Princess graphic novel from Visionary and eigoManga and will be digitally published in full color in issue #3 of Digital Visions. We will also be using a few pages from Headlocked: The Tryout, from Visionary and Markosia, written by Mike Kingston, art by Randy Valiente, colors by Jessika Gravel, and letters by Jason Arthur. Both are now available at Drive-Thru.
The Mechanics of Writing Comics
Alright, so last time I focused on the format of the script itself. This time around let's take a look at some of the other mechanics in writing for comics.
First, let's establish a very basic premise: writing in one genre, format or medium is not the same as writing in another. This may seem a 'no-brainer' but it's also a good reminder. Many writers who excel in one form (say non-fiction vs. fiction) or one genre (say horror vs. comedy) or one medium (say prose vs. comics) may not even feel competent in writing in another. At the very least, it's obvious that if you look at the field of professional writers, most tend to focus their efforts on a narrow slice of the full writing pie.
Now, just as obviously, there are exceptions where writers cross those boundaries. I'm sure any writer who has done so will be the first to agree that they had to work at making that leap. In addition, for those who do, many don't succeed and end up returning to their mainstay. A smaller group will find some success in a couple arenas, but only a small handful of truly talented folk can claim they had equal and high levels of success in multiple ones.
The point here simply being that one of the things that makes crossing such boundaries challenging is that while writing as an art form may have some universal principles there are aspects of each kind of writing that are true for some, but not for others, and sometimes even unique to that one. Such is true for comics as well.
The Form and Format
One of the things that I think is truer for comic writing than any other medium is just how much the comic writer has to focus on, think about, and visualize the finished product. Granted, writers in every medium have to think some about this dynamic, but the comic writer must continually be aware of this on multiple levels and for multiple reasons. Naturally, as the range of diversity in how comics are presented continues to expand, some of these factors go up and down a scale of importance, in some cases even relevance. However, some remain fairly universal and most all remain at least something to be mindful of. Let's start with a narrow focus and expand out as we look at some of the standard mechanics of writing comics.
The Panel
The panel is the smallest 'chunk' of story in comics. A panel is a single image with or without text, bordered by gutters. A typical comics' page has from one to several panels comprising it. The panel is that 'presented time' that is actually telling the story, moving the story forward. It does this both by what it directly presents, and how well it enables the reader to 'leap' over the instants not shown between it and the next panel.
Let's start with what is going on IN the panel. Some people think a panel represents a single flash-frozen moment, but that's not the case. If nothing else, the dialogue in a panel, assuming it's taking place in real time, means that the length of time it takes to read, or in the story context, speak that dialogue is the length of time represented in that panel.
For example...
The dialogue in this panel, at least when I read it, runs about 15 seconds. That means that panel on one level represents 15 seconds of time in the story.
The art itself is a bit more limited in directly presenting any span of time as it is a single static image. In the above example, we assume the characters did not remain frozen during the 15 seconds of dialogue. If nothing else, the people 'moving' in the background would have shifted, and the guy in the foreground would have blinked, scratched his nose, something.
Art can show movement and even more often imply movement.
This page, featuring a fight scene doesn't have moving pictures, but movement is implied in several ways. Take a moment, study the page and see if you can pick up the various ways the 'static' art is subtly implying and showing movement.
Now, see how you did...
-Natural elements: We assume this world is like our world in that lightning strikes then disappears, rain doesn't hover in streaks in the sky, but falls. Our intuitive and engrained understanding of this helps give a feel of motion in the scene as well as heightening the drama.
-Body language: Is there anyone who doesn't get the two antagonists are facing off against each other, striking a threatening pose in panel 1, then rushing each other in panel 2 and full on fighting in panel 3? The pose, angle, mid-motion shots show the energy and imply the movement.
-Special Effects: The little flash in panel three where the sword strikes the staff is a typical comic motif to represent two objects (or people) striking each other.
Okay those are obvious, Esdras also uses very nice subtle cues to movement in this. Check the rain water whipping off the characters. Esdras does not use motion lines like many artists, but he expertly uses the water being flicked off the antagonists to show movement and energy. The same with the staff in panels 2 and 3. The bend to it makes it feel like it's being whipped around.
Likewise, a silent panel...
Sometimes showing the same scene as a previous panel, implies a passing of time in silence, even without the art showing any movement. The drama, or the repetition of the scene makes the reader linger over the image, thus feeling a passing of time as the character reflects, mourns, or plots.
It's also just as important to be mindful of what is happening BETWEEN the panels. Gutters divide the typical comics' page, breaking those chunks of 'presented time' with chunks of 'unseen time'. The 'unseen time' is what transpires 'in between' the panels.
Let's look back at our fight scene page. We see our antagonists facing off as lightning strikes. | | We see them rushing each other. | | We see them fighting. The reader can naturally follow the events in between those gutter lines. |They start rushing one another| |They close in and whip their weapons about|. The key here is that the action IN the panels flows smoothly enough that what is happening BETWEEN the panels is very clear.
The writer has to be mindful of and make good use of both. Now what moments are moments that need to be captured IN a panel? What are moments that can fit easily into the transitions between? In selecting what is being presented in the actual panels, the writer needs to pick those critical moments, where action, or reaction is visible and helps to move the story forward, making sure that each of those presented spans of time show the critical elements of what is transpiring in the story. Likewise, the writer needs to ensure that each panel leads into the next with a smooth transition so that the reader doesn't get confused and wonder what happened 'off camera'.
One of the mistakes a lot of aspiring comic writers make is trying to put too much action in a panel. They seem to forget that that panel is a single, static image that can only show so much, no matter how good your artist is. For example, say Jeff wrote in his script for panel 3 of our fight scene: "Our centaur counters a blow from the Ranger's sword and kicks her in the head with his back feet." Can you form one single picture of that in your head? It would take an incredibly agile and multi-jointed centaur to say the least.
This also happens with writers who want to have too much take place between the panels. It's important that the action in a panel, lead naturally into the next. For example, you can't show a vase sitting on a table in one panel, then jump to show it being broken on the floor in the next. The reader is going to be pulled out of the story and instead be asking themselves, what the heck happened to the vase? You would need to insert a panel that SHOWS the vase being knocked off the table by someone's hand, or an earthquake or a stiff breeze...something that sets the action in motion.
This, like many things in any art form, is a balance. Just as you can overwhelm a panel with too much going on, you can also drag the story by showing too little. Again, using our fight scene page, it could have been...
PANEL 1: They face off in the dark.
PANEL 2: Lightning strikes as they face off.
PANEL 3: They start rushing one another.
PANEL 4: We see them get closer as they rush each other.
PANEL 5: They whip their weapons around.
PANEL 6: The Ranger swings her sword as the Centaur brings his staff to block.
PANEL 7: The Centaur blocks the sword blow.
We've just more than doubled the panels used to tell what was quite expertly done in three. Doing so slows the pace and diminishes the energy of the scene. As each panel represents a beat in time, it also stretches the moment out, making it seem less kinetic, less dramatic and bordering on ho-hum.
In one sense, each panel stands on its own, communicating a single beat or story moment, but it cannot be separated from how well it works with all the other panels around it.
We'll expand on this next time, as we look at a whole page.
NOW ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE...
THE INDUSTRY ROUND-UP
By way of in-house announcements...hope everyone has noticed Visionary's new comic Wednesday initiative is in full swing! So far, debuting all our titles at Drive-Thru Comics, we are premiering a brand new issue every Wednesday, with a new issue in each of four series every month. Right now, we're running Frog Princess and Nox and we just debuted the CBG Best OGN winner Starlight, and the first volume of Phantom Jack, the second volume of which will be print published by IDW! Great stuff, check it out and please support our creators by purchasing PDF downloads! Thanks!
CHEERS AND JEERS
Cheers to Th3rd World on the announcement of Del Rey picking them up for graphic novel distribution and for adapting the novel series Mortal Instruments. Could be a sign of Del Rey's disappointment with their current comic partners...speaking of which...
Jeers once more to the Dabel Brothers. A recent post over at Rich Johnston's Bleeding Cool, shows a still unpaid bill from one studio totaling over $27K, and everything on it predates the supposedly money-making deals they made with Marvel and Del Rey, and all of it WAY predates their public announcement of having paid all their debts. And. Yet. They. Keep. Making. Comics. (sigh)
SMALL PRESS SPOTLIGHT
The first two issues of Lead Slingers Studios' Tales From Neroesville was another acquisition I picked up on my summer convention tour. This was much more typical small press fare, with lots of ups and downs.
First, let's talk concept. The series is an anthology series, featuring various stories all centered around residents of this world's most heavily super-powered populated city. No, I'm not confused, it's Astro City redux. Here the town is called Neroesville, but the concept doesn't even try to differentiate itself from its inspiration. To me that was something of a stumbling block out the gate.
Thankfully it does come up with some originality in its execution. According to the intro page, each arc will be done by different creative teams. The first issue was a stand-alone, the second issue chapter one of a two-part story and sure enough, only the writer James Meadows was involved in both. Both issues had very distinctive styles artistically and clearly did not even try to establish a 'standard' style. To me, as much as I love Brent Anderson's art on Astro City, I wonder if at times it would not have benefited to have different art teams on different arcs, to compliment and emphasize the mood and tone of the story. Anyway, within these two issues, the rotating artists are working to its advantage.
On the packaging front, the books feel a little too much like POD books. Issue two looks and feels much better than issue 1 on that front. The intro page and some of the in-house ads for the studio are not well laid out. They could obviously benefit with a Graphic Artist setting up those pages for them.
The writing was the most polished and best part of the book. Because of the concept, I kept looking for Busiek's style and Meadows does channel a bit of that, but also manages to find his own voice.
Issue one, a stand-alone story of retribution, dealt with a mysterious powered vigilante killing gang-bangers in the beach-front part of town. The narration from the Police Captain, who looked and sounded just a little too much like Jim Gordon, was nevertheless solid writing. Meadows obviously has done some research in Police procedural, and gets his slang, tags and tone right there. This doesn't play as well with the gang-bangers who sound a little too stereotypical and a little too inner-city to be on the beach. Otherwise, the story flowed well. Dialogue flowed, good pacing, good use of tension and drama.
Issue two was clearly a more straight-forward super-hero piece. It's setting up a two-part story that is the mega-crossover archetype, where the collective heroes of Neroesville are about to face a major threat to the world. The story here keeps with the Astro City approach in that it focuses on the most unexpected central characters. In this case, we have two bumbling heroes who A) Don't get an invite to the secret super-hero hangout bar party and B) Get left behind when the Dr. Strange stand-in whisks EVERYONE else away. The story had a lot of well done humor and character dialogue. The humor delved a couple times into 'teenage' level with lots gay, sexual innuendo jokes about one hero who has the unfortunate name of Air Balls.
Artwise...
Issue one was done entirely by James McMunn. Overall I liked it. It has a nice feel to it. In general, very good storytelling, nice variety in his camera angles and shots, good page layouts, nice use of backgrounds, space etc. He also has distinct people, always enjoyable. The gang members look like messed up teens, the cops like worn out public servants, etc. There are a couple spots where he drops the ball on perspective, and one panel where he seemed to forget to fill in the background. There is a stark, shadowed area, the characters, but the rest is a faded gray that fails to push the shadow into the background, or create an environment to hold it making a very odd panel.
Issue two is penciled by Andi Kurniawan, with inks by Meadows and colors by Randy Sargent. Obviously the style they were going for here was more classic, mainstream super-hero. It works fairly well. Again, there is solid storytelling, page layout, camera variety etc. The artist tends to play it a little more safe, choosing more standard angles, and some missed moments where pulling in vs. pulling out could have been done better to hit a dramatic moment or hit the reader better with action. The anatomy is a little stiff as well at points. The coloring on it is basic and generic. It fills in the line work but really does little to make it pop or enhance the story.
Is it worth checking out? Yeah. I'd at least like to see the second part of the issue 2 story and see where Meadows goes next with it. Find out more about the company at their web-site.
Next...
We upgrade to the whole page! Look out!
Join the discussion and add your thoughts on this edition, or the column in general. If you have any questions or suggestions for resources, post them or email them to Sellner so they can be included in future columns. Are you an aspiring or up and coming creator and would like to share your story? Email Sellner and let him know who you are and what you've done.
C. Edward Sellner is the co-founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio, a studio that within its first three years has drawn high praise from the media and attracted the attention of legendary creators in the comics industry. They have been digitally and print published in the mainstream market and their creators currently work with over a dozen different publishers. Their work has been featured on television news shows, radio programs and internet podcasts as well as featured in every major comics news site online.
Contact him directly at cedwardsellner@aol.com
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