Panel work

Really proud of this one. This is another sample scene from the story I mentioned in yesterday’s post. Let me give you an idea of what happened in this scene, I will not give anything away. The guy with the blue hair saved the guy’s life who is furthest back. The guy in the back failed at his job and the blue haired guy was not really allowed to be in the same place as him, but he was lucky he was there. The blue hair guy likes to keep to himself and doesn’t really want all this attention. That is all you need to know.

So now you have a little context you can understand why I did the things I did in this panel the way I did. So first lets start with the composition. I call this a bridge. A bridge composition leads the reader’s eye across the panel and into the next. Usually seen between two other panels. This could also be used for the last panel of the page, but that is not why I created it.

Let me break this down so you can appreciate this piece more. Now remember this is all subliminal and it is supposed to just give you a sense of movement in the art.

To move the reader's eyes across the panel I created a “W” shape with the front figures. I started with the captain’s head and created a “u” shape with his arm. I did the same thing with the guy with the blue hair. This creates a path for you to follow.

Now the figures in the back help move this along too. I made all their heads in a chain-link design and connected the two front figures together. And the guard that is peaking over the blue guy’s shoulder is leading you to look off the panel and into the next one.

Cool right? Most of you didn’t realize there was so much going on in this? But wait. There is more!

I used all their facial expressions and gestures to not only tell a story, but to further help lead the reader’s eyes smoother.
The Captain’s eyes are on the person he is talking too. The guard next to him is looking at the captain’s hand on the blue hair guy’s shoulder. The captain’s arm leads you past the concerned eyes of the guy in the back and covers his mouth’s expression. Without giving the story away, I hinted at his future as a guardsmen. Now if I did show his whole face the reader would notice it too much and be pulled the wrong direction and I want that to be a secondary thought to someone paying close attention. I also put him on eye level with the reader to make it more dramatic if you did notice. He is looking right at the captain saying his bravery will be mentioned to the hire-ups and to tell what he did, that means the guy in the back failure will be mentioned as well. YIKES!

Now this is my favorite part, the guy next to the concerned fellow is anticipating what the blue hair guy’s reaction and words are going to be, so I point his eyes right at the blue haired guy’s mouth. Like right in there. You can almost hear him talking yourself.

The blue haired guy is looking at the words coming right out of the captains mouth and he is giving this uncomfortable smile and thinking to himself, please do not mention I was here, dude. This guy is going to muff everything up in my life, I know it.

Since I have him looking at the captain’s mouth I needed something to pull you back into the other direction. I used two things to help. I made the blue haired guy's ear point straight back and I placed the hand on the shoulder leading to the head all pointing in the same direction screaming go to the next panel. The blue haired guy’s hand also points to the shoulder hand in case you got lost in details.

So in short, the over all composition is a round shape centered at their conversation pulling you in with side indicators leading you off.
I also like to think of scenes if I was looking down from over their heads and they would also be standing in a circle shape.

Now the color really helps you focus on the important stuff. I made the front characters in a darker tone because I want you to focus on them since they are talking. The group in the back are the same colors as the two in the front I just tinted and faded them to create depth and to help make things more clear for the reader to comprehend. Their faded color also creates a shape that leads you right off the page.

In the end, I dropped a tint over the whole piece so it brought them all together and blended them nicely in the same place.

Again, I’m really proud of this one and wanted you to know why. A lot goes into storytelling.

Just take note this is a sample panel and dialog and character designs are subject to change when we start. We are getting closer every day on beginning drawing pages.

I hope you enjoyed this.