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?
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.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, 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.
ReplyDeleteWell, 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.
ReplyDeleteI would have just cried.
ReplyDeleteI have decided to draw smaller to make room for the lettering.
ReplyDeleteNot 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?
ReplyDeleteNot 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?
ReplyDelete