I find that the way you use panels has a huge impact on how a scene comes across. For example, if a character feels uncomfortable or claustrophobic, you can zoom in on them so that the panel seems too small for them, like a cage. Lots of quick, small panels can make a scene seem action-packed and hurried. It also helps to use the angle of the shot to express emotion. Looking up at a character might imply that the character is dominant or victorious in a scene. Looking down on a character can make them seem helpless. My favorite is the "Dutch angle" where you tilt a shot to make the moment seem uncomfortable. Here's an example from my comic, Binary Star. I wanted the human to seem like she was a stranger being hunted on this world, so in the opening shot, I made her very small and had all the lines pointing straight towards her like she's a target, and in the bottom panel, I tilted the entire shot and made the panel too small for her so that it seems like the walls are closing in around her:
