It honestly depends on the creativity of the artist, and the placement of this 'negative space' in the story.
For example, I don't like it when comics (or animated series) START with scenes like that, unless the art style/direction is interesting enough to hold my attention (like the opening scene of PMMM...immediately you wonder 'what is this surreal monochrome location, and where is this anime girl running to...?').
Otherwise, it's just like 'I don't know who these characters are yet, why are you making me watch them walk around for what could be no reason, as far as I know?' You gotta do something with it...at least make it fun to watch.
Which brings me to my next point...purpose. Even if a character is just moving without speaking, technically that's not 'nothing'. They are still going places and doing things, and as long as the reader can see that there is a purpose in those actions, you could continue indefinitely (i.e. a wordless comic).
Whether they are traveling or waiting or simply getting dressed in the morning, you should be able to show progression and emotion. It's also a good opportunity to ground the reader in your aesthetic...if you have a 'dark' art style, fill the space with shadow and creepy background elements. If you have a 'cute' art style, play around with bright colors, and try to make every panel feel pleasant and heartwarming.
Basically, when you go without dialogue, you have made a decision to rely completely on your artwork to continue the story, so you have to make sure to commit to it. Really put your soul into those panels; choose each one with care.
Make the reader want to linger over them for a little while...give them the feeling that they are indulging in a well-deserved break from the action.
o_o;; Oooooh...I do have an example from my own work, actually. Whether you'd consider this done 'well or badly' is up to you, I guess:
First, let it be said that I don't like to do this. ^^; It basically denies me the privilege to say "f*ck it" and move on when I get tired of working on the backgrounds...which is something I rely very heavily on in order to withstand comic work.
But I think a few big chunks of 'ma' (negative space) are necessary in most of the stories I write, so it's kind of inevitable. This was my most recent attempt to really push myself to get better at it, at least as training for the next opportunity.
In the script, I basically list out story beats ('looks at the chair and realizes he can't sleep without knowing if his father is safe'->'leaves home'->'uses his night vision goggles'->'wanders in the snow'->'finds the blood') and then just draw as few panels as necessary in order to get the points across. This is because I am lazy, but it's also because I tend to use big panels, so minimizing the number of them is the better strategy in the long run (I actually thought I could do this sequence in half an episode, or at most 3/4ths. It ended up taking the whole length).
Ideally I would have wanted the 'wanders in the snow' portion to be longer, but again, I'm lazy, and the longer I work on one sequence the faster I run out of creativity. In hindsight, I can think of all kinds of cool shots I could have added, but in the moment it was just "I am TIRED of drawing this", and when I hit that point, that is when I stop adding panels. ^^;
