I was an intern at Marvel Comics in the winter of 83-84 and I worked on staff in 1988. I had a chance to see a lot of old school editors work their magic on a few books. One of the skills you had to have, was how to put word balloons on a page and not obscure the artwork. Also, how to direct the readers eye to the next balloon and help with the overall storytelling.
Some editors had a tough job with a writer or an artist that did not think of balloon placement or captions. I try to keep that in mind when I draw. Sometimes I mess up. That might be the case with the page I am posting. I think I could have left more room for the writing.
What do you think?
What do you think?
7 comments:
Back in the old days they would have sent that third panel to Robbie to 'stat' it down 75% to make more room for the balloons.
Nowadays, with scanners, it's even easier. I'm surprised they didn't adjust it, with no background it would have been easy.
I should have mentioned that the book was a bit late. Time was a factor.
Well, in panel 1, I would have tried to use more of the space above the characters heads, and then I might have tried to move a balloon into panel 2. Panel 1 is a kind of establishing shot, and so the spatial relationships of the characters are pretty important in this panel, so I would have done whatever I could to get the balloons off them and up to the panel edges or shunt some of the dialogue into the next panel. Then in panel 3, I would have moved the balloons out and up as much as possible, and I might have even tried Siry's suggestion and reduced the size of that panel a bit and had the balloons break the panel border.
I would have just cried.
I have decided to draw smaller to make room for the lettering.
Not that you need advice from a rookie like me, but here's what I do sometimes. If the panel is for the most part square-ish, I'll draw a 3X3 grid in a panel and make sure that there are at least 3 squares available for balloon placement. What do you think of that?
Not that you need advice from a rookie like me, but here's what I do sometimes. If the panel is for the most part square-ish, I'll draw a 3X3 grid in a panel and make sure that there are at least 3 squares available for balloon placement. What do you think of that?
Post a Comment