Is this action scene clear enough?

[AshanaArt]

This is my first time drawing an action scene, and I’m not sure you can tell what’s going on? I’d there’s stuff I need to fix Id rather do it before coloring/rendering since it takes longer. It should look a bit more dynamic and less messy once color/rendering is added since my art style is heavily reliant on it.

What’s supposed to happen is Alan (guy with 5 eyes) gets mad at Nyx, throws a punch at her, she trips him over, he draws a knife and so does Nyx, and she stabs him.

Here’s what a page will look like with color:

[kyupol]

The motion lines and coloring and selective blurring is what makes an action scene intense and understandable.

Here's one of my sample action scenes...

Don't worry, even professional action manga like Naruto have hard to follow action scenes. It's an art in itself...

[AshanaArt]

Thanks! I plan on adding blur/effects in the rendering stage

[CheBureiku]

Everything is 100% clear up until the last 2 bottom panel. I easily tell that one character is getting their punch dodged and then tripped. I can also see them fall down, trying to get up while the other character pulling out a blade/dagger.
But then I am confused about what the character with the dagger is doing. Are they still in the middle of pulling the dagger? Are they hesitating to attack because they're distracted by something else? I think primarily the hand placement in the second to last panel kind of throws off everything.

[AshanaArt]

Thanks that’s really helpful! I’ll try to add a panel to make the movement a bit more clear.

[KevinReijnders]

It's kinda vague imo.

I don't agree that the big issue here is speedlines or selective blurring. The problem, imo, is the entire composition of the panels themselves.

The sizes of the panels are kinda random it seems and don't indicate a natural reading order. They also have odd placement imo.

---

EDIT:
I have taken the liberty of making some adjustments to the comp to try and make it more legible. I used your own drawing for this.

[jwabeasley]

Thanks Kevin, I was going to say something similar. More dynamic panels and a trans-panel line of action would go a long way to improving this.

[KevinReijnders]

Yeah exactly! In order to make an action scene (or any scene really) readable, the hierarchy of panels in how they guide the readers eye is chief.

[lizardlullabye]

Small note on the 2nd panel.
It looks like a "slow" punch because there's no anticipation of Alan getting ready to throw a punch. For faster action, possibly consider replacing the pose with an anticipation one.

So in case of punching, (1) you may anticipate (get ready) by pulling your arm back with a helping twist of your torso and lift of the opposite leg. Then you swing forward with your fist gaining speed (2 - your current sketch) to final form of (3) arm straight foward and torso twist to help stomp your opposite leg down. See picture below.

In short, jumping from frame 1 to 3 is faster that jumping frame 2 to 3.
However, frame 2 to 3 might work well for slow motion or demostrating Alan is surprise-attacking or terrible at punching, but whatever works for your story.

[wolflu66]

I think the panel layout on this page could use some adjustment.
The current version is slightly confusing, making it difficult to follow the reading order of each panel.

[conventurecomics]

I think it's good for an action scene.

[AshanaArt]

Thank you so much! I struggle with paneling so that helps a lot.

[AshanaArt]

Thank you all for the feedback! Here’s what it looks like with edits + flat colors. It’s pretty dark right now but the shading should add more contrast/make it look less messy and the blur effects should make it more dynamic. I’ll do the rendering tomorrow since it’s midnight for .me and the rendering stage takes 3-4 hours minimum

[feuersichel]

Niiice! The panelling alone helped alot

[AshanaArt]

Here’s the mostly finished version

[skPollen]

Is there going to be dialogue? Because I think it would be clearer on what's going on if there's dialogue.

[AshanaArt]

It’ll have some dialogue, but the page doesn’t contain a full conversation.

[miuthecat]

The page is very confusing, biggest flaw is that it doesn't even show the stab, since you dont show it, it seems the guy stabbed himself. The 7th panel (counting left to right) must show the dagger hitting the body.

[skPollen]

I think even just a little dialogue will help contextualize the scene.

[AshanaArt]

The pages before it are also probably required to understand the context, as this is the 14th page of the chapter, I just wanted to make sure the movements are clear.