Comic Artist - Volume 3 2016

Artist insight

Workshops

STORYTELLING TIPS

FOR COMIC BOOKS

Lewis LaRosa talks about how to interpret scripts and lay out pages

to emphasise the action and enhance the narrative...

T

he comic book artist’s job is

to visualise the writer’s script

in the clearest way possible.

If comics were films, the

artist would direct, shoot,

act, design the costumes, make the props

and do the VFX. The amount of control

you have over the book is really exciting.

Comics aren’t T V shows or films, and

have their own storytelling tools. It’s

amazing how much the shape, size and

order of the panels affect the narrative.

Layout alone plays a crucial part in

moving the reader’s eye, the pacing and

rhythm of the action, the importance of

certain story beats, and whether or not a

scene is peaceful, full of dramatic tension,

or dominated by crazy action.

There’s no one right way to interpret a

script and visually tell a story other than

to make it easily readable, as engaging as

possible, and true to the writer’s intent.

Lewis LaRosa

LOCATION: US

Lewis is a

comic book

artist whose

work includes

launching and

designing The Punisher

MAX. Currently exclusive

to Valiant Comics, he

made a splash illustrating

Bloodshot: Reborn.

http://ifxm.ag/l-larosa

Collaborating with your writer and editor

• and even your inker and colourist – can
  really be beneficial by not only making
  sure everyone’s on the same page, but for
  bouncing ideas around.
  Using Bloodshot issue 25 as an
  example, I’m going to guide you through
  the different layout and camera angle
  techniques a comic artist uses to pace
  the storyline, highlighting the action
  and the emotion along the way.

2

RELATIVE PANEL SIZE

Maximise the size of the most important panel

on the page to increase its impact. The second panel

on page 12 of the issue, where Stalker Dog soldiers fire

away at Bloodshot, was easy to identify in the script as

the most exciting panel on that page, so it was drawn

to dominate the page. The first panel and last panel are

reduced to quick before and after cuts.

1

PACING TECHNIQUES

The first three panels on page 11 of Bloodshot

25 are all the same size, shape, on the same row, and

are relatively small compared to the big fourth panel

where the Stalker Dog soldiers burst into the room

and attack the main characters. Those first three

panels were all about building up to the fourth

explosive panel. Tension and release.