Question about the layout and framing of your comic strips

[theismcomics]

Hey, I publish my webcomic on facebook as well as tapastic, and I wanted to use as much of the image real estate for the comic frames themselves (so it will be easy for people to read on their facebook feed). This is why there are NO white spaces between my frames. A while after starting doing that I noticed that I seem like the only person in the world of webcomics not to put white spaces between my frames. I'm wondering if there's a fundamental reason for that (like maybe it hurts readibility or some other rule of design that somehow doesn't bother me as much as it should). Please let me know what you think, I'm really struggling with this issue (considering going back to the "standard" way).

Here are some samples:

http://imgur.com/gallery/Etnmifp/new

http://imgur.com/gallery/keUBplG

http://imgur.com/gallery/i4bZmjQ

Thank you.

[Kayke]

The space between comic panels is commonly called a gutter. They do help with readability because they give the reader a chance to pause and also indicate passage of time, allowing readers to assume something happened between panels. They're kind of the visual equivalent to the period at the end of a sentence, letting the reader pause for a second and process. It's subtle, but without that pause the comics panels can kind of blend together like a run on sentence.

If you want to read about it, Scott McCloud has a chapter about it in one of his books: "Blood in the Gutter" (Understanding comics, Ch 3)

[lunchtiiime12]

That's very curious. My work is condensed, no "gutters" because I intend to print it when we finish the first season. Reading manga mostly, I don't usually see "breaks" in the action. I suppose there's no real rules to how it's done, maybe I will consider adding more breaks and pauses too.

Interesting food for thought.

[theismcomics]

Thank you for the reply. I guess I'll use more breaks

[Kayke]

Your comic has gutters? It just means the white space between panels. If you look at OP's comics the panels are touching, divided only by a line.

[lunchtiiime12]

Hi, no I'm saying it does not, due to our interest in printing. Ours don't have any space either. I'm wondering if adding space for "pause" is a viable thing in printed media.

[Kayke]

It's literally just that little white space in between the panel borders that gives a brief pause for the readers.

When I look at your comic on Tapastic it definitely does have a space between panels, as most printed comics do.

[AnnaLandin]

@theismcomics I think your panelling style reads just fine, but adding a bit of space between each panel might give them a bith of breathing space. It helps lead the eye of the reader across the page, and indicates a passage of time between each panel - otherwise it might look as though it's just one big picture, rather than several individual panels.

Hi, no I'm saying it does not, due to our interest in printing. Ours don't have any space either. I'm wondering if adding space for "pause" is a viable thing in printed media.

... Your comic does have gutters. They're right here - I've circled them in red, with arrows and everything:

Those little gaps between the panel-borders? Those are gutters.

[thomassayle]

I wouldn't worry about it, because you're doing the 4 panel box thing as well which wont work for printing.
But unless your really don't want to i would add some gutters (the gaps) makes the reading flow better.

[theismcomics]

Thank you AnnaLandin :o)
I think I'll switch back to having gutters again.

[lunchtiiime12]

OMG LOL

Look, I'm not the smartest person in the world xD

Thanks for pointing that out. I thought you meant stuff like this where there are big gaps, or where there's like one image every 3-4 inches down the page so you have to scroll. I don't really think those little gaps we have cause any kind of pause, do they? Obviously at least to me the difference between tiny gutter and no gutter is almost nothing, as I didn't even know the difference.

[dglisson]

@lunchtiiime12 Actually, those gutters make a huge difference, tiny or not. Even small panel borders help the human mind understand that instead of this being one big picture or collage that there is some sort of break between one image and the next, not only that but the brain interprets those blank spaces and defined panel borders as the passage of time. This way people know that what happens in the next panel (right or left depending on Eastern or Western preference) happens AFTER the one before, even if the gutter is tiny as you stated. That's why if you have an inset panel (that is when one panel is completely INSIDE another panel, with a clearly defined border) the reader will interpret that inset panel as happening simultaneously with the panel that it is within.

[saerel]

To me, the difference between with or without gutters between panels could be compared with thedifferencebetweenwithorwithoutspacesbetweenwords. I can sort of read without spaces between words, but it's easier with

[AnnaLandin]

Even a small gutter makes a difference! Your brain interprets that blank spot as a passage of time between one panel and the next. : )

And in the Grassblades-page you linked to - that particular page as extra-large gutters because I wanted to indicate a kind of slow passage of time, and to space out the four panels over the entire page without making the first two panels too large (as they are supposed to be very small moments). Grassblades is intended for print as well, so I always draw in an A4-format, and try to lead the reader's eye across the page from top left to bottom right.