This is something I kinda worry about sometimes. I just planned out a bunch of Bestia's Wrath pages, and several of them have almost identical layout. But then I remember that Jack Kirby, an artist I look up to, used a very basic grid layout.
Does anyone ever feel like that?
Also, my first topic haha
Oct '20
Oct '20
Oh yes, layouts and panels are some of my weakest. I wish I could think of more interesting compositions and angles. I guess it's fine as long as it tells the story well. Some comics have very artistic panels and layouts buts can be confusing to know the sequence of events, so if we talked about extremes I would prefer a repetitive layout than a mess.
I will still try to do better.
Oh yeah, I definitely feel like my paneling isn't all that interesting, like, all the time. But, I personally just try to remember that the panels are there in service to the story, not the other way around. 
yahhh. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on traditional pages tbh? Still a lot to learn and try but like... I feel like I have a good handle on how to vary things there.
Vertical format tho... I'm working on my first comic like that now and I'm having a heck of a time trying to spice up those panel layouts a bit 
it's so tempting to just do full width rectangular panels most of the time but it feels like a waste of potential. I feel like I need to pay more attention to paneling in vertical comics I read going forward to try and learn how to do more/better 
Panels are my weakest, especially because I have to transfer things from a vertical scroller to a traditional page layout. In general, my art may be good, but the angles at which I place the characters are also very limited. I've been trying to work on it. Sadly because changing the paneling to fit better in traditional is hard I would rather just keep the paneling basic.
WOW yes all the time it gets nerve wrecking. but then when I see other webtoon artist work and go like, maybe it isn't so bad. if you are drawing many panels, especially vertically, it tends to get repetitive. the goal is to do the best you can. and look at other artists work to see what they are doing to avoid repeitivness. lol
I do! like there are times that I copy the same panel and edit it, but it bothers me like "hey I'm being lazy again" but the panel I had to make is just almost tthe same so, lmao
Yeah I also want to keep my comic as easy to read \ follow so I don't have tiny panels anymore because its hard to fit text of a readable size on those lol
@CttMaurice I didn't really do any changes to my layout when moving to webtoon \ tapas, altho i edited and redid the dialogue and text of the entire prologue to Bestia's Wrath as in its old state it would be unreadable at the image size Webtoon and Tapas require.
@myumyudapao Well, I think many comic artists reuse artwork. Like, I reused backgrounds a lot and lineart if I needed to draw a pose that had a small change compared to the previous one. Honestly backgrounds are probably my biggest weakness.
I agree that story definitely should come first, but I will try to do something fun with the panels once in a while cause sometimes I think it can be an effective help for storytelling.
Yes! But I suppose it's not so bad. I don't think every single panel needs to be an absolute masterpiece right... right!?
I am learning to cheat a bit here and there, although saying that I'm pushing myself out of the comfort zone these next few episodes - I have up the nose shots and everything. Haha! 
Yes, sometimes I feel like my panels are almost the same. Especially in the long action scenes, if the episode is short then I'm not making enough panels to use all angles and so on, but if it's long enough then yeah, it's noticeable.
I always think there you should have a nice stable format for what I like to call "normal" pages. Dialogue and shit. So that when you eventually break that formula with a "special" page the effect is all the more striking.
I think samey pages are no harm and if you wanna break it up you'll know at the time when and how.
I did until learned about how repetition can help set the pace for readers and help you the author build up to big moments. See here for an example from reddit (if it lets me) https://www.reddit.com/r/comics101/comments/j88ky3/grid_as_a_timing_system_by_frank_santoro/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share20
All the time, I usually keep comics and art books by artists i admire on my desk for panel layout and general composition reference.
Nope! I love the basic grid layout and most of the comics i read are pretty basic in their paneling. I think its more legible and i’ve never seen anybody complain about it!
mmm that's hard to say. I don't really take that into consideration though honestly. I used to for sure! but these days I use a 6 panel format as my template and then change and remove and modify from there. Having a standard format allows you to focus more on the flow and movement between panels. Having every page look different isn't as important as some people want to think. I enjoy comics that are just a straight 9 panel grid and they can and have been used to incredible effect. These are entire graphic novels with no variation on the panels themselves but utilize the space in them creatively. Panelling is hard enough as is. No need to make it even more difficult.
Yeah, well, although I try to change the composition of my panels so that it isn't exactly the same from one page to another, I know that it ain't exactly the most creative one you'll ever see :'D however, I try not to worry about it: so far my main focus is trying to keep up a consistent schedule and art style and to avoid effin' up anatomies too much
I will try to have a few more "creative" compositions in the future, but overall, consistency and readability are my main goals 
My panels are sort of bland, six square panels with longs panels placed in for wider shots. I set them up that way because it's much easier to write for.
I might create a comic in the future where I play more around with panels. However for now, I just want to make my series look consistent.
Yes, I do worry about this a lot. So, what I do is I try and just...keep a note if I've been doing something a little too often and try my best to do the opposite. Especially if I recognize that I can just copy paste one figure into another panel and make just a couple of adjustments--like that's my sign. I gotta get more creative than that.
