How do you start planning out and drawing scenes for a comic?

[DualDragons]

So I'm starting to reach the latter half of writing my planned comic, Square One. I practically only have 2 more chapters to wrap up and a epilogue to the story (the comic itself isn't too long, about 10 chapters and a short prologue & epilogue). And somewhat soon I'm going to translate the scenes in the script into draft pages.

I was thinking of doing drafts for scenes that take place, so I can practice for when I have to draw the actual scenes. I don't want to 'think' in panels yet, but in the way of how the scenes are built and filled out. That way I can experiment with camera angles and background details to make the panels stand out a lot.
I want to bring out a lot of dynamics in the scenes, especially since it is an action comic.

Hence why I ask how you handle drawing scenes in that regard. How do you come up with a way to plan out the details, content and angle of a scene? And (if you do them) how do you handle action scenes? Who knows, maybe I could learn a thing or two from you!

[Kaydreamer]

I'm still working this out by trial and error myself, but I can tell you what NOT to do.

DON'T

• Draw things finished page by finished page. That's what I've been doing up until two days ago, and my pacing really suffered for it. I'll eventually go back and re-make those pages (and their vertical versions), likely toward the end of this year, once I have more practice under my belt.

DO
Okay, so this is what I do which actually is helpful. I think through my scenes as movies in my head, going through the dialogue, visualising different camera angles and so-on. Once I've got an imaginary scene I like, I'll pick out 'key frames' from it. Like storyboarding, but in reverse. These key frames are what end up as panels.

Once I've got all my key frames noted down, I try to figure out a panel arrangement which can accommodate them all. This is a challenge in page format, and it's what has messed me about a bit. But if you're only creating a vertical version, it's a little easier. It's easier to pace something when you can control how long a reader has to scroll between panels! You also don't have to worry about page turns.

After I have a page layout which I think works, I'll scribble brief notes in each panel before moving on and repeating the same process with the next page, and the next, and so-on. (Well, I do now. I didn't before, and I've learned my lesson.)

Something To Try

• If you do intend to have both vertical and page versions for your comic, try making your rough draft in one, then switch to the other, to see which way you find planning the most natural! I've drafted about 10 pages ahead using page format. In the next chapter, I'm going to try making my draft in vertical format instead. Then, I'll rearrange all those sketches into pages and panels. It may mean my page turns are less impactful, but I'll take that tradeoff if it means the web version has better pacing.

[DualDragons]

Yeah, working finished page by finished page is not optimal indeed. The only reason I do it now is because I want to wrap up chapter 4 of my ongoing comic
But for my planned one I'm most likely going to do it on chapter basis, where the pages flow into each other if that makes sense.

I'm not sure how much I'll be using vertical/scroll format, as I have little experience with it. Might be worth trying, but I'll have to figure out how to do my action scenes in them.
Thanks for your answer and insight!

[artemficta]

I estimate how much of the script I want on the page by visualizing it in my head, then I box that out since I do page format. After I have it boxed out I move to Blender where I use humanoid models in my background set up to set up a 3d mock up of each panel. This is great for playing with camera angles and poses.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I...don't plan, I just sit down and roughly sketch what pops into my head. Then I fully draw one panel at a time.
I've found that planning too much takes away my desire to actually make my comic.

So...yes. I do it the way we're not supposed to. But...that's me. A rebel to the end.

[OffBased]

From what I’ve read, my way is kinda similar to what Jack Kirby and Dave Sim would do: I have the scene in my head, then I start sketching that scene in however many pages it’ll take. Lots of erasing and rearranging there. That tended to get out of hand since I always wanna add more, so recently I started ““““outlining”””” what will be in each update. One or two sentences that says something like, “Wither goes to this place with Ruin.” so my scope is limited

[Caro]

I uhhhhh don’t do a lot of heavy planning. When I do thumbnails I don’t go back to edit anything and its usually really close to the final outcome or I end up improvising on the page. I’m BAD.

[naheravieri]

Usually I write the skript for one chapter first. Then I open a veeery large Canvas as a storyboard overview over the whole episode (and to keep more or less the same length per upload) and start sketching. In this phase I do a lot of rearranging panels and speech bubbles, come up with angles that just 'feel right' in the situation and for the mood overall. And after I've done the storyboard, I start doing the lineart based on that on the actual comic canvas.

.. at least that's how I've done it so far. Which is not really that much. But it works just fine for me.

[N1ghtm4r3]

i go through a similar process where i kind of envision my comic as a movie or tv show, picking and choosing frames to tell the story,

[TedGravesArt]

Personally I don't think in panels when I'm writing. It often plays like a movie in my head when I'm writing it though, and many of those angles will come through in the art when I lay out the pages.
I use page layouts, not vertical scroll. Something that's helpful to me is identifying key panels that need to be laid out in a very particular way. Page 5 of Heaven Hunters Issue 3 is a good example of this. I knew I wanted that panel to hit really hard, so I decided pretty early on that it would have it's own page. Cool, that means that that page has a locked beginning and end, which means that the panels before and after it need to line up properly, and I needed to plan for that locked event several pages ahead of time. From there I can start making decisions about how many panels can fit in that space, and then count up how many I need for the story beats. Sometimes I have to expand or compress story beats to make everything line up properly, but if you plan several pages ahead it's not a big deal.
Something that's difficult but SUPER important with action scenes is maintaining spatial awareness for your reader. Weird camera angles can be dynamic, but can make your action hard to track, while static side shots can be bland and boring. A rule that I try to employ as much as I can is the 180 degree rule. Try not to cross that eyeline. If you need to cross it, or the eyelines change, try to keep the angles of your characters in the panels consistent, or maybe pull the camera out for a shot that indicates what's changing about the scene. Organize your camera angles in a way that makes it very clear to your reader what's happening.

[DreadedDinosaur]

I sketch my comic out as one long drawing to make the best use of the vertical scroll experience.

Dreaded Dinosaur Man | Tapas

[noenoh]

I was used to plan each chapter using a storyboard so it generaly looks like this

but now Im trying to figure webtoon planning on digital (in this precise momment tbh Im reconfiguring some pages I had already sketched on manga format oTL kill me)

[arbiterswake]

Generally I do a loose sketch/draft of the panels and my ideas and see if it flows, that way I can add more panels to it if I feel that the pacing is too fast or isn't clarifying enough detail.

Then I do a cleaner sketch on top of the draft just to show details so I won't get confused as to what I'm inking during the line art phase.

Ultimately it's important to remember that everyone has their own ways of establishing their comic or planning things out in detail. Find what works best for you.

Since you've written your comic out, in my opinion, it'll be important to visualize those "action" or "silent" moments where the viewer needs a clear depiction of what is going on since they won't have text to guide them in those moments.

Edit:

Almost forgot to add: IF you have a clear image in your head of how you want a scene to look.. DO NOT be afraid to use references.

For example if you want an action scene to look a certain way, look at examples and emulate those scenes with your style.

It can get really frustrating when you have something so vividly visualized and are having a hard time putting it on paper.

[rajillustration]

I try not to think too much in details--but in broad strokes. So I think of my characters as shapes, trying to contrast big shapes and small shapes, dynamic angles and straight on shots. Interest is made through contrast, and while you don't want to go so ham it's confusing, being aware of the overall size and gesture of your picture can help bring a whole page together.

This is harder in page format, I feel, because as a reader, you see the whole page at once when you first look, and that's where you make your judgement of whether or not you like the page. It's only after that first look that you go a little closer to enjoy each panel one by one--and then maybe go really close to see small details. My thumbnail stage is really for me about judging the impact of the page as a whole--as if it were an abstract painting.

So this is what my drafts look like --it's mostly notes to myself, lines indicating direction I want the eye to go, some chaotic gestures where I'd like there to be chaos, contrasting to the still places I want to feel still.

And if it works in the abstract then I can translate that to more finalized details

(Originally I wanted to animate the three panels of the penny flipping from panel to panel but alas, that would take forever and be a huge file)