Pencil Practice Proposal.

[Wolfie]

Aw, FlightPath, I could hug you for caring enough to listen and re-post that info! You wouldn't believe how much misinformation is out there, so it often feels like "educating one person at a time." Feels great when the correct info then starts making its way around.

Let me add a bit more detail, for those who care:

In the old days, artists used to get plots only, which was cool. That way the storytelling was left to them, and the writers then added the dialogue later. It was more work for the artist, but in my opinion produced a more dynamic final product. Nowadays, most scripts include a very specific, page-by-page, panel-by-panel description. The artist CAN add or remove a panel, but it's tough,as you're about to see...

Let's say there's something a little vague in the script and the artist wants to clarify things a little, he or she might have to add a panel for clarity's sake. But if there's already 6 panels in the script, you risk having an overly busy page. Hm. What to do? Cluttered-but-clear page or dynamic-but-unclear page? Dale is a stickler for clarity, so he'll sacrifice his art looking "pretty" so that the readers can follow the storytelling without getting confused. He always says "I serve the story first." Unfortunaetly, that means he often isn't as "flashy" as other artists.

Conversely, sometimes you might find you can combine two panels when they're redundant or one is unnecessary. Sounds easy, but there's a hundred little things to consider. For example, dialogue in comics must always go from left to right. When writing and drawing for comics, you have to ALWAYS keep that in mind. Well, let's say you have a team like Alpha Flight, and in panel 1 you established their positions in a room or around a table. You have Guardian speak first. He has to be on the left. The more characters are in the scene, the trickier it gets to choreograph. So there may be panels you would like to combine so you get a nice, juicy, dynamic panel, but you CAN'T because of the order of the dialogue. So, no-can-do. Argh.

Sounds complicated? Yep. It really, truly is. I'm just the WIFE of an artist, not the artist. After over decades spent together, I know a lot of the rules, but I'm just scratching the surface still. These are just two very, very basic ("Comics 101") rules out of the hundreds of factors that every artist must consider when planning each page and panel. It's an incredibly complex job that, in my opinion, is greatly unknown and often misunderstood.

So there you have it. Hope you found this interesting and helpful!

Wolfie

[bigbloo]

Aw, FlightPath, I could hug you for caring enough to listen and re-post that info! You wouldn't believe how much misinformation is out there, so it often feels like "educating one person at a time." Feels great when the correct info then starts making its way around.

Let me add a bit more detail, for those who care:

In the old days, artists used to get plots only, which was cool. That way the storytelling was left to them, and the writers then added the dialogue later. It was more work for the artist, but in my opinion produced a more dynamic final product. Nowadays, most scripts include a very specific, page-by-page, panel-by-panel description. The artist CAN add or remove a panel, but it's tough,as you're about to see...

Let's say there's something a little vague in the script and the artist wants to clarify things a little, he or she might have to add a panel for clarity's sake. But if there's already 6 panels in the script, you risk having an overly busy page. Hm. What to do? Cluttered-but-clear page or dynamic-but-unclear page? Dale is a stickler for clarity, so he'll sacrifice his art looking "pretty" so that the readers can follow the storytelling without getting confused. He always says "I serve the story first." Unfortunaetly, that means he often isn't as "flashy" as other artists.

Conversely, sometimes you might find you can combine two panels when they're redundant or one is unnecessary. Sounds easy, but there's a hundred little things to consider. For example, dialogue in comics must always go from left to right. When writing and drawing for comics, you have to ALWAYS keep that in mind. Well, let's say you have a team like Alpha Flight, and in panel 1 you established their positions in a room or around a table. You have Guardian speak first. He has to be on the left. The more characters are in the scene, the trickier it gets to choreograph. So there may be panels you would like to combine so you get a nice, juicy, dynamic panel, but you CAN'T because of the order of the dialogue. So, no-can-do. Argh.

Sounds complicated? Yep. It really, truly is. I'm just the WIFE of an artist, not the artist. After over decades spent together, I know a lot of the rules, but I'm just scratching the surface still. These are just two very, very basic ("Comics 101") rules out of the hundreds of factors that every artist must consider when planning each page and panel. It's an incredibly complex job that, in my opinion, is greatly unknown and often misunderstood.

So there you have it. Hope you found this interesting and helpful!

Wolfie

Thanks for taking the time to explain all of this! I always love learning about the nuts and bolts of comic book creation.

So do all writers do this panel by panel description now? Or are there still writers today who just hand artists the plot? If they just hand them the plot, that means they need to go in after the layouts are done to script the story, right?

[Wolfie]

So do all writers do this panel by panel description now? Or are there still writers today who just hand artists the plot? If they just hand them the plot, that means they need to go in after the layouts are done to script the story, right?

You're welcome, Bloo!

I don't know of any who still work with plots. The only exception I've seen in the past 10 to 15 years is Stan Lee, who gave Dale a plot to work from for the What If #200 story they did together last year. Of course, that doesn't mean nobody does plots anymore, just that we haven't come across any in a very long time. I'd actually be curious to know. Maybe I'll ask Dale to ask the peeps on his Twitter...

And yes, it would mean that the writer would have to go in afterwards to add the dialogue.