Understanding Comics - Theory into practice
Today’s 404 is an illustration of exactly why I wanted to start the comic over again. This page of sketches is a (very) rough draft of an exchange that’s part of a longer story I’m hoping to tell. In particular, this page centers around the character of Chiaro – an Oni.
People who work in media – particularly in film or video production – are familiar with transitions. In the case of sequential art, transitions are even more important. Unlike film, which moves from shot to shot, sequential art requires transitions from frame to frame. Part of pacing is in the transitions, as well as the style of storytelling.
The upper half of the page practices aspect-to-aspect transitions. All three images are from the same scene, but all three represent different aspects of the image. The first image is the scene as a whole. While it has a similar effect to a zoom in cinema – focusing the image down to one, particular aspect – it is a different pace from a zoom. It moves you about the room, drawing you in gradually.
The lower half of the page consists of three images connected by moment-to-moment transitions, this time directly mirroring the zoom effect. The three images are of the same aspect of the scene, each one one moment different from the rest. Through three images, the pupil grows larger, the eye fills more of the frame, the fire dances in reflection, and slowly we come to see the image of somebody burning.
The two styles of transition are juxtaposed to create an entire scene. Using the aspect-to-aspect transitions, the scene is introduced – given a place and characters to play it out – while the climax of the scene is drawn out in near-slow-motion by use of moment-to-moment transitions juxtaposed with fragments of the final sentence.
At least, that’s the theory.