Do camera angles bother you?

[Innocynce]

For instance: would you be confused/upset/freak out if a comic used something like tilted and/or diagonal or even upside down shots to portray or put emphasis on when something goes bad?

Like a conversation suddenly shifts for the worse, so the camera does too. Or a fight is going well for our protagonist, but the villain has trick up their sleeve and the camera tilts to emphasize the inhumanity of their actions.

Would you mind that or prefer simple side-by-side and behind-infront angles only?

[VibrantFox]

varied angles to provide emphasis, so long as they're executed well, can actually do a lot of good when added to a comic

it's not a piece of advice i think is shared often enough but using things like film or tv as inspiration or reference when framing comic panels can be very useful. not to mention the fact that having varied panels helps to keep a reader interested in what they're looking at

if you're looking at a conversation with nothing but shoulder or wait up shots flipping back and forth between the two characters talking you're going to get bored but if the focus switches to elements within the room/space that they're in, portions of their face or their facial expression (furrowed brows or a crooked smile) it adds intrigue

The same can be applied to action scenes where scale or impact can be shown by how far the "camera" zooms in or out, showing intensity by focusing on the characters or their weapons.

Looking at other comics for reference to see how to apply it can help but i'm a firm believer in mixing up panels and angles otherwise you risk having a very dull looking comic (unless that's the intent)

[Headypigeon4180]

I've been trying to get better with my camera angles, due to the fact that for the longest time I didn't know how to draw things like Bird's eye views. My later comics will be much better with proper variety of necessary camera angles but my policy is if It doesn't tell the story i'm trying to tell I don't do it. ^^

[darthmongoose]

There are two problems that tend to occur with camera or viewpoint in comics that make them look amateurish:

1. Not thinking at all about where you put the camera or putting it in the easiest place to draw. This means always putting the viewpoint right in front of the characters at head height, often focusing in on one character even when it's a scene where two characters are talking and a shot that includes them both would make more sense, or cropping in close on characters so you don't need to draw background in scenes where the position of the characters, where they are, or how they're interacting with the environment is very important.

2. Choosing your camera angles based on what's the fanciest, not what's the clearest. This means constantly throwing birds-eye and worms-eye views, fish-eye lens effects and extreme foreshortening, dutch angles, extreme close-ups... like the camera is zooming all over the place like something out of a wacky 90s MTV show. It's impressive from a technical angle, but makes it look like the artist's visual storytelling skill is lacking because they don't know when to use techniques appropriately.

Choose the angle and distance that most clearly gets across what's happening. Flat camera angles tend to be more comedic, while shots with depth are more dramatic, so use that. More zoomed out means we can see the environment more, while close-ups focus us in on details or emotions. Throwing in a bit of a diagonal really helps make compositions sparkle. Use extreme shots only for extreme moments, whether comedy, drama or action, but don't be afraid to use them, and work hard at your anatomy and perspective, so you can use them when you need to.

Personally, I keep things simple. On a basic level, my "cheat sheet" goes like this:

• Use a wide establishing shot of the characters in the environment when you start a new scene. Slightly elevated is usually good because you can see more of where characters are in the environment.
• Whenever a character enters a scene, there should be a shot where you see where they are entering from that has them and the characters who were already in the scene.
• Mix between head or head-torso shots, shots showing both in profile and over-the-shoulder for dialogue, and you should be fine, and if it's dragging, your dialogue scene is staying in the same position too long and you need to spice it up, try having a character walk somewhere or do something to break the monotony if you can't change the scene.
• Shots from above show the character in the environment, and may make them look small or lonely.
• Shots from below make the character look powerful and imposing.
• Show the full body in action shots if you can, don't pull in too much and rob those shots of energy by reducing the "distance" of the movement.
• Try to maintain mostly the same direction of movement or momentum in action sequences as much as you can.
• If a character is facing right and at the left of the panel, they are about to move, if they are facing right at the right of the panel, they have moved. Use this to get across motion and momentum.

[BoomerZ]

Even though as usual @darthmongoose is pretty much explaining most everything I think about writing, I just want to add one thing. Read up on storyboarding for movies. There is zero reason for you to invent the wheel as hollywood has been driving a car for 100+ years. Med shots, establishing shots, full shots, etc... These are all well know and how to portray the emotion or pacing you want. Here is a quick read: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/types-of-camera-shot-angles-in-film/

[thepenmonster]

Artists using all of them bothers me.

[ueonts]

I think when it’s done it needs to be done in collaboration between writer and artist. With just writer, they can overestimate their bounds of what is capable, with just artist they can miss the impact on the story a certain visual decision might have.