So I mentioned that we would be doing some behind the scenes work, and while on that subject matter, there is indeed some commentary that must be said. In today’s blog, I want to talk about… the FULL PAGE.
Since starting this comic in 2014, I’ve personally discovered much on this long journey. I dare say that a full use of page was honestly something I had not even considered, for I, as a rank amateur back in the day, only saw a page as simple means to align panels. Over the course of time, I looked at a few artist who talked about using the whole page but it wasn’t until webtoons that I started to develop my own style.
Commonly found on webtoons are single panel comics, which are read through the use of scrolling down. It was something I had not once seen before and I dare say, did NOT adapt to it well. My comics were originally done with full on pages and cutting up those pages and making high quality scroll down pages was quite new and difficult for me. In fact I feel my lack of experience is one of the big reasons the comic didn’t exactly fly so high on webtoons. Shortly afterwards, smackjeeves also switched to this format and thus I left that site as well.
Since leaving and the struggle with scroll down comics, one of my working methods is to ultimately challenge the single panel scroll downs and thus not only make use of multiple panels but also design a page that can’t have the same effect otherwise.
Whenever I make page, and it’s possible, I try to make it artistic and present a unique scenario that can only be achieved through use of multiple panels. One such example is this page from chapter 22 where Kalwa goes on a rant. Kalwa’s text balloons are designed in a way that guide the reader down the page and keeps all focus on her. Yet the reader also has the option to view the members of the tribe who show a great deal of remorse, as though they were secondary focuses
Most of the time I do tend mix text with the pictures in order to set up and guide certain scenarios to the reader. Often I deliberately have text leak over into the next panel so that readers will be guided all over the page through the text itself.
This technique can also be used to convey a certain sensation, and example can be found in this page from chapter 24, which at the time of this post is the latest chapter to finish. The use of sound effects coming from the following panel convey a sense of interruption and swiftness. This of course does pertain to real life and Kalwa’s own perspective, as realistically an strong opponent would move quickly on a weak one and hit them before they knew what would hit them. These are types of scenarios and feelings that I try to convey within my pages, and attempt to make the entire page on big illustration in itself rather than just being a collection of smaller illustrations. Something a single panel scroll down comic could never achieve.
So all that being said, I hope this post has been most informative and (possibly) inspirational for some of you. I’ll be doing more posts similar to this in the future when I’ve got something I feel is worth talking about. Thanks once again for reading and I hope I can continue to bring you all more entertainment and some inspiration in the near future.
An adventurous manga series about a teenage girl and her time traveling cell phone. 