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assignments 4 submissions
Here are my five passes at laying out the page. I chose the second page that David provided.
My initial thought was to end the page dramatically with the scientist leaving the scene, so with my first attempt I laid things out to lead to that moment.
For attempt 2, i reread the script and realized i missed that the last panel is supposed to be through the lens of the camera. I also changed the angle and sizing of panel five to make it more dramatic.
On attempt 3 I did some editing of the script. We are given a description of the building from the outside, then immediately given a new description of the inside where the scene actually takes place. I decided to cut the outdoor panel to make the page more concise. also changed the angle of the clawed hand again. This new angle allowed me to showcase some violence and action. I think it really energizes the the page. After looking at the page as a whole though, I realized the focus goes straight down the page
On Attempt 4, I went all in on the claw. I feel that choosing to focus on it really gave the page a central moment to work around. I also tried to combine panels 1 and 2 from the script. The idea is to establish the lab in the foreground, and have the proko sign in the background outside a window.
For the last attempt, I decided to do what I was told and bring back the panel of the building.
I personally like either 4 or 5 the most. The one I'd choose to work would depend on the rest of the story. If it's important, or difficult to figure out where the scene takes place, I would pick 5. If not, I would go with 4.
What do you think of my thought process? Are there details that I'm missing or should focus on more? Where do you disagree with me?
LESSON NOTES
Now that we've spent some time looking at our scripts, we can start thinking about our layout. How do we want to arrange our panels for maximum impact? What is it we want to emphasize? I show you some sample page designs to optimize your layouts and make the most out of each panel. As we think, we'll design thumbnails that we'll look back on when we design our final layout.
DOWNLOADS
creating-a-comic-page-panel-layouts.mp4
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creating-a-comic-page-panel-layouts-transcript.docx
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ASSIGNMENTS
For this lesson, create at least 5 comic page layouts, using your script. You can always make more if you'd like to, or would find it helpful to do so. Take a look at what you've made, and select the layout you think is best. Which one does the most effective job of bringing the script to life, and why?
And if you’ve chosen a script page that’s not one of the three example scripts we provided in the previous lesson, post it so we can see the script you’re working from!
For this comic book assignment, I made five 4’’x6’’ layouts based on 16 thumbnails. These layouts are based on all three pages of the script.
There was no way to top David Finch’s take on page one (the superhero pages), but I decided to draw it anyway because “there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” It was a valuable experience, especially the establishing shot.
On page two (the mad scientist), I was at first stumped until I remembered that when horror comics were popular in the 50s, it was common in that genre to only have two or three panels per third of the page. This layout is an homage to that older horror style, but with more modern camerawork like Dutch angles.
Finally, there is page 3, the action scene. This scene was the most fun to adapt because it required the most problem solving. The script is supposed to be a faulty one that asks for the impossible. Reinterpreting the script was a good challenge. I tried many different approaches in my thumbnails, from conventional designs to artsy ones that were circular or diagonal. Finally, I made the two action scene layouts seen below. My favorite of the two is the first (the one where the main character has a mustache) because it was not based on any thumbnail. Rather, it boiled down the scene to what I considered its essentials. Everything, from the number and size of panels to the angles and compositions used is purposeful and meant to realize the action of the script in as direct and clear a way as possible. Hopefully, I succeeded! In the second version, the main difference is that I had the main character throw the briefcase instead of dropping it.
Overall, my favorites are the Mad Scientist layout and the first action scene layout. Which do you like best? In what ways could I improve?