They're all great, though. Thanks for linking!

Incidentally, all three panel sets were new to me, though I am a lifelong comic book fan. So thanks!

Thanks.

Do people really keep using the "Villain smiling over the arterial spurt" panel? I don't think I've seen that one before.

(*) Last seen in Neil Gaiman's Eternals comic-book mini-series.

I thought so when I just saw the title, but I recognized "22 Panels That Always Work" as being about comic panels because I had seen it before. And I hadn't seen the others.

only my friends who were not comics readers (well, who were not will eisner readers) couldn't follow the sequences at all.

"why is he big & she's tiny?"
"he's in a different panel."
"what panel?"

a few issues in, i learned about how the art is supposed to, you know, inform the story, & if a bus is sinking into a woman's ear, there should be a reason for it, same for fancy floating perspectives, etc.

so my compositions calmed down a lot. now 90% of my panels are rectangular, & when people are talking, you almost always see both their heads, from head-height.

i'm doing my final artboards for a new issue now & of course i have to be consumed with self-doubt about something, & what i've been consumed with is "are my compositions too utilitarian now? when two peple are engaged in a conversation over five panels, does there need to be a reason for them to be the same size & from the same angle in all five panels?"

to sum up, that was a very apropos post. & it made me feel better about myself, that i believe i've never done those sixteen things (especially recycling panels. i hate that).

Xopher@9: I'm sure I've seen that panel at least a couple of times, although I can't point to any examples off the top of my head.

I always used to cut people off at the knees because I couldn't draw feet. Eventually I realised that I couldn't really draw any part of a person very well, so now I put the feet in (and just draw for my own amusement).

It may also have something to do with the odd camera angles, such as looking down at a person, though that does depend on a certain amount of skill with handling perspective effects.

Comics and cinema have some similarities, and one reason why a movie such as Sin City can look good is that the tricks of composition and lighting can cross over.

The other big thing that goes around on Comixpedia and other sites is "don't break the fourth wall -- only amateurs and hacks break the fourth wall."

As an unpretentent amateur and hack, I actively look for opportunities to break the fourth wall, and if I used ANY of those 16 panels my readers would be amazed... because I'd actually be drawing something.

Dave Bell, #16: You know, Sin City is for me a perfect exemplar of why comic book art effects don't work in the movies. That sort of look is not what I go to movies for; it's massively annoying. Then again, that may be just me; Renaissance and 300 failed to work for similar reasons, though Renaissance is excessively dark-hued animation (much like Sin City) while 300 is a bad Frank Miller adaptation (much like Sin City).

=====[Quoth Andy:]======

I don't want to give anything away in advance, but (as usual for this event) the list seems to break down into four or five different categories:

A Report On The Metric System. A topic that I feel has been done to death, in which nothing new can possibly be added at this level. The Challenge: Come up with something that I and the audience will find interesting regardless.

Head Trip. A topic that's frustratigly vague and which seems to invite me to maliciously twist re-interpret it, like a Fundamentalist who's determined to find some sound theological backing for his decision to screw his best friend in a real-estate deal. The Challenge: Not to go so far with this that I wind up running down the clock by talking about how awesome the season premiere of "The Shield" was.

Pennies From Heaven. A protein-packed topic that forces me to wire up a countdown timer to a stun-gun and tape it to my ankle. It's the only way to shut up at the end of my alotted ten minutes instead of blathering on for the panel's full 80. The Challenge: To find the fortitude to keep right on talking even as the smell of burning hair and skin fills the hall.

The Do-Over. I've been speaking at this Conference for nearly ten years now, doing anything from seven to twelve panels per. Naturally, there are plenty of panels where The Perfect Approach didn't hit me until weeks later. So when you seem to have a second chance, you jump on it. The Challenge: Make sure I don't let on how hard I'm trying to manipulate this one guy into setting himself up for my killer "Jerk Store" zinger.

Shrödinger's Topic. I've no clue what this panel is supposed to be about or what the hell I can possibly say. Its state cannot be determined until I observe it happening. I will sit quietly, let the other panelists talk, and then pick up and run with whatever topic they seem to have been speaking about. The Challenge: Listen very carefully to what the other panelists are saying to make sure I don't wind up blindly supporting the point that Canadians all smell funny and if the USA had any balls we'd do something about them once and for all.

I'll leave it to you to determine which categories apply to which topics. Though I will point out that I've no idea what's going to happen on the "Comic Books and Graphic Novels" panel. I've checked out the bios of the other folks I'll be speaking with and I'm not 100% certain that any of them are regular readers. I mean, if you flip to my bio, you'll note that I write about technology and that there's no mention of any sort of wife or girlfriend. This makes you think "Aha! Here's a man who would definitely have a strong opinion about the creative success or failure of the recent 'Civil War' mega-event and the death of Captain America!"

Whereas the others seem to have, you know, jobs and lives. So, fingers crossed.

=====[end quote from Andy Ihnatko]======

Well, they might work for you, or not..