Illustrating dialogue and panels for large group conversations in comics?

[TheFalseVyper]

I'm coming up to a large portion in my comic involving a group of 5 people sitting around and discussing a topic. In this scene, I'm introducing 3 people who have been mentioned before, but we haven't seen them yet. After introductions are made, there's going to be a ton of talking (fingers crossed that I don't make it feel like an information overload).

My question is are there any tips for drawing out a scene with so many people without making it feel cluttered?

[joannekwan]

The simplest solution is don't show everyone in each panel. Unless it's an establishing shot, show only 4 or fewer of them in a regular panel with dialogue.

I'm actually in the middle of a meeting right now in one of my series. There are 5 people sitting at a table (granted only 4 of them are doing most of the talking) but you can see how I panel it out here.

Heavy Horns :: 8.12 | Tapas

Hope it helps!

[TheFalseVyper]

This...actually helps me so much lol.

The group I'll be drawing will also be sitting at a table. I particularly love how sometimes you would illustrate someone by themselves even though there was a person sitting beside them. I wouldn't have thought of doing that, but it created some really nice atmosphere!

Thank you for sharing!

[joannekwan]

Yee no problem! Glad I could be of use~