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Story Boarding or Graphic Novel Creating Artists, Help!

Once upon a midday dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over work for school, of which I whore,
While I cursed, nearly snapping, over my lack of mental acting
As if my brain were surely napping, napping while surely I needed more.
'Tis some roadblock', I grumbled, 'blocking at my mental door-
Only this and nothing more.

Ok, so I have a project for my color theory class, a final project and for it I have to create a story board/graphic novel thing. when I sat down to think I almost instantly came up with Poe's 'The Rave' as my choice.
So now that I know what I wan to do I was wondering if any of you artist types out there that are into story boarding or graphic novel creating could possibly lend me your brains and problems solving and composition abilities?

I NEED HELP!
For now my thoughts were to do a very dark very dreary graphic novel-style piece. I'm planing to do it on a scroll so the story slowly unrolls in front of the viewers eyes. I just really need help with ideas and composition and text DEFIANTLY TEXT! Also, perhaps an idea or two on how to wall mount that scroll so I can install it as a fixture anywhere I might need.

So, who out there can help me out?

I hate storyboarding so I don't want to make suggestions as to content. But just as a quick tip: my storyboarding teachers have always encouraged us to start out with fast thumbnails on post-it notes. That way you can rearrange or replace them easily.

Good luck!

The post its sounds like a good idea. I'm in the middle of scripting a graphic novel, and I've done is draw a bunch of tiny blank pages on a sheet of paper, and plot out whee I want particular scenes to happen, and how many pages/panels to do them in. I suppose you could just write and outline, but I tend to think things out visually.

In developing Heathen City, I take care of scriptwriting and storyboarding, which is facilitated by the excellent software Comic Life. Available from www.plasq.com, there's both a Windows and a Mac version. In addition to being extremely convenient and easy to use, it comes loaded with dozens of sample page layouts.

I've found that when beginning a new page, the easiest thing to do is to consider what the page should feel like, what it should convey, and then browse the archive of layouts to see if anything catches my eye.

After that it's a matter of importing that layout and tweaking it to taste -- very, very handy!

Wow, thanks for the comments and info guys.

In response to Celty and Richard, I agree and like that idea. I actualyl did a few quick thumbnails for the first few panels so I think as well that are a wonderful way to organize and plan. I'll try to do the rest in class today to get everything planned out.
also you both gave me a wonderful idea. I think in stead of drawing all my pannels directly on the scroll, I will draw and tear them out of another canvas and then attach those pieces to the scroll. I think this might create a cool visual effect to help aid and emphasize the interesting, interactive and engaging feel the scroll creates.

In response to Alex: Holy crap that is such an awesome resource and a wonderful idea! I can see how that would help with organizing and speed up the beginning steps of the process. I think that would be a wonderful resource for me with the frame and text layout. I'm going to look into something like that for future projects, thanks!

Right now as for theme I want, dark, moldering, eerie and uncanny.
Since I don't have an archive of layout to browse, I'm going to find a few comics I like and peek at those to figure it out. =) See what about their layouts I like, and what I don't. I think also I'm going to use some elements for the scroll in Okami because there were some wonderful elements used there and it seems only fitting to have some Asian influence with a scroll illustration and story.

=) Thanks you guys, very good food for creative thought.

For help in figuring out comic composition, one good source is, of course, other comics, and graphic novels. Study them to see how they achieve a particular mood or effect. Berni Wrightson springs to mind as a horror comic artist, and I believe he even did a couple of Poe adaptations. The better manga artists are also very good at conveying mood.

good realy good!

So a big thank you to everyone who commented and offered some information.

I ended up just going with the notes and little thumbnails I had. Originally I was going to do many many more frames and have a much more literal piece, but thanks to my instructor (and limited time do to procrastination) I decided to go with something more loose and figurative.

As I told it to the class, Poe's witting is very potent in its wonderful ability to be both linguistically and visually lucid and yet ambiguous at the same time. His literary imagery can be so unequivocal an yet so cryptic. so many interpretations and visions can be derived from his works. I absolutely love this and so I tried to incorporate this into the piece. It's very fluid, very loose and very unsettled. Most people use four sided "rectangles" for frames and I decided I refused to use such restraints because Poe's work does not restrain itself as such. It is very open, very free, erratic and yet it's organized and intelligently designed. So I used a series of "invisible rectangles to organize the page. I have a multitude of frames and frames within frames. Perhaps you can see them.

Another thing I did to help organize this was to write down a few words that I felt most strongly described the poem. The words I picked were: dark, moldering and uncanny. I also tried to convey these visual cues throughout the piece. I expounded upon those notes So a big thank you to everyone who commented and offered some information.

I ended up just going with the notes and little thumbnails I had. Originally I was going to do many many more frames and have a much more literal piece, but thanks to my instructor (and limited time do to procrastination) I decided to go with something more loose and figurative.

As I told it to the class, Poe's witting is very potent in its wonderful ability to be both linguistically and visually lucid and yet ambiguous at the same time. His literary imagery can be so unequivocal an yet so cryptic. so many interpretations and visions can be derived from his works. I absolutely love this and so I tried to incorporate this into the piece. It's very fluid, very loose and very unsettled. Most people use four sided "rectangles" for frames and I decided I refused to use such restraints because Poe's work does not restrain itself as such. It is very open, very free, erratic and yet it's organized and intelligently designed. So I used a series of "invisible" rectangles to organize the page. I have a multitude of frames and frames within frames. Perhaps you can see them.

Another thing I did to help organize this was to write down a few words that I felt most strongly described the poem. The words I picked were: dark, moldering and uncanny. I also tried to convey these visual cues throughout the piece. I expounded upon those notes and wrote myself up a sort of synopsis for what I wanted the piece to portray, but I won't tell you what it is. Let's see what you think the piece is saying.

Also, considering half the name of this class is "Color Theory" I tried to us color in an effective manner. I have to say I had a lot of trouble with this part. When I read the poem, mentally, visually, I saw no color. It was all grays, whites and blacks to me. Adding color seemed to almost taint my preferred interpretation of the poem. Luckily for me, I had to use color if I wanted to pass the assignment. I do believe it was a wonderful lesson. I feel I have enough color to show an effective knowledge and use of color and to make the piece and actual "color theory" painting yet stay very true to my own original interpretation of the visuals in the poem.

If there was one element in this piece that I think was weak and would do again, it would be to remove most of the text (which was done last minute, shame on me) and to perhaps better place what text I did have. I believe I may try to fix this. We'll see. A close second in line of what I think is weak about is my dear friend: basic design. I need to take that class next. I have very little, and not all too horribly in-depth technical knowledge about basic design. I believe there are design choices with this that could have been stronger.

So then, what do all you say?

Here are some detail shots.
http://ebonstripes.furtopia.org/Non-Anthropomorphic/G_to_PG-13/For_Class/BasicDesign_ColorTheory/StoryBoardA.jpg
http://ebonstripes.furtopia.org/Non-Anthropomorphic/G_to_PG-13/For_Class/BasicDesign_ColorTheory/StoryBoardB.jpg
http://ebonstripes.furtopia.org/Non-Anthropomorphic/G_to_PG-13/For_Class/BasicDesign_ColorTheory/StoryBoardC.jpg

I think the final piece was interesting as one cohesive artpiece and quite artistic and dark, although I wouldn't call it a storyboard or a comic in the standard definition of those two. I think a comic usually does a good job depicting what is going on through expressive shots with words buffering the action, but by itself isn't a compositional art piece rather than sectioned off pieces of art. In other words it's not an illustration or painting.

For my own work I try taking out the words out of the art piece and seeing if the art can explain to the viewer what is generally going on.

If it is not clear I rework the panel and try to convey the message as that is most important.

ON this note, even in the inking stage my own layouts need to go and be rearranged with perspectives reworked.

http://whisperpntr.artspots.com/image/17561/comic-sample
http://whisperpntr.artspots.com/image/18490/wip-comic

On my art pieces (sorry comfy critting my own art not others) notice how the first strip has more follow through than the second. And also in the second strip (top panel second link) the sabretooth doesn't run but just suddenly jumps into action?

This botched realization is still with a lot of editing under the belt in the thumbnail stage. On that note, while I do as much layout work as I can on thumbnails, sometimes it still pays to take a step back and see if I understand what is going on. If I don't, I try to "animate" the expressions in my head as much as possible and ask if it is necessary to rework the entire panel.

Sometimes I do and yes it's a lot of work, but also a lot of satisfaction when I get the motion and expressions down.

:)

Btw if this is for a graphics design class, my advice might not be spot on. Hope this helps even if so! :)

This was for a basic design class focusing on color theory. The piece wasn't meant to be a traditional story board or a traditional graphic novel. It was supposed to be very short. Originally I had the idea for a much longer, much more linear and literal narrative piece but I had to drastically shorten it and also decided to make it more figurative. Some people did little more then use color and shapes to tell a story of color or of movement, or so forth.

I have to say I'm quite confused with your statement here "In other words it's not an illustration or painting." I'm under perhaps the mistaken assumption that an image that was "painted" is by its nature a "painting" and a piece that is illustrative of some form of information or communication is in its nature an "illustration". Maybe there are more generalized and maybe "professional" definitions, but it perplexes me that painting an image wouldn't make it a painting. The only thing not applied by brush on that page is the text.

I'm curious what about it is lacking for your definition of a painting and illustration. And can not a painting be an illustration as well, and an illustration also a painting? I always hear these things referred to as separate things, but I can't understand for the life of me what the exclusive difference is.

I think the focus and main point of this piece wasn't communicated well on my part. The assignment was to create an illustrative and narrative piece, using the elements of color learned in the course. It could be traditional storyboard or graphic novel styled or any way we chose. I wanted a blending. I almost left the text out completely, like I said, it was a last minute add and I feel it is a major weak point.

This was not meant to be a comic really, or a storyboard, but both elements I tried to incorporate in the results. I asked for help because I've never done anything like this before and I was seeking elements that I could use and understandings that might make this a more powerful illustrative piece to help deliver the visual idea better. =)

I'm not sure if that made any more sense, hopefully it did.
Thanks for the wonderfully in depth response BTW, best response I've had yet!

Regarding your definition of a painting being something that's painted, and an illustration being a painting that's telling a story, I think that's pretty accurate. What I think Whisper Panthress meant by "In other words it's not an illustration or painting," is that the layout and division of the canvas isn't illustration or painting; it's just the container for illustrations. I do believe that the layout of a page, especially in sequential art/design, is very important and should use the principles of design with purpose in very much the same way you use it for a painting or illustration. The way you design the panels can be used to help communicate the action, mood, and story.

Because I'm a trained graphic designer/illustrator and have to integrate illustrations with type and stuff like that, I believe that the entire spread of a comic book is one complete composition. One illustration. One whole with separate parts, just like a painting. Yes, a painting doesn't split the canvas into parts, but you still have positive/negative space creating their own closed areas that you have to consider the compositions within those smaller spaces. So in theory there really isn't much of a difference between an illustration and a panting, except that you are showing something that's 4 dimensional on a 2 dimensional canvas.

Anyway, about hearing paintings and illustrations being referred to as different things: during an illustration critique people might say that something is just a painting because it lacks a strong narrative value; there's no story being told in the image, or rather strongly enough. For example, if you are drawing a character for a story, you shouldn't have that character in isolation because then it's just a portrait: a painting of a figure. When you have that character doing something in their world, then you start telling a story with it and it becomes an illustration. Drawing characters interacting with their world and other characters spawns all kinds of great story ideas too. Graphic design critiques are the same way too. "It's too illustrative," is something I heard a lot when a design was being too heavy handed when communicating something visually.

So there's my two cents.

I'd like to clarify. I didn't mean to say composition was unimportant in sequential or comic art, though that is unfortunately what can be clearly implied.

Instead I am focusing on the story and storyboarding.

When I was working for production at my old alumni in hong kong, my supervisor placed far LESS emphasis on the overall storyboard layout than the depiction of the action, mood and feeling. This I know is correct as storyboard layout is pretty much a sheet of rectangular squares.

For a full page, standard sized comic (not tiny like mine though yes you could still make an attractive composition), it is obvious the overall appearance is more important than a sheet of squares. As important as telling the story? I argue, no. I know of some comics that are sectioned off like a storyboard and are uniform in appearance that have better character dynamics than some spectacularly laid out comics in properly comic formatted composition.

For me storyboarding is a term I would use for the roughing of layout used in the production of animation and film to express key actions and events. Whereas a comic or graphic novel is a finalized piece of art with a deliberately arranged layout catered to the target audience for easy reading.

I also agree with Metsys' explanation in the difference between painting and illustration. Though you're right in that it is a term that can be often times interchanged.

Tigress said:
...when I sat down to think I almost instantly came up with Poe's 'The Rave' as my choice.

Aw, it was a typo. I was prepared for a preposterous mix of dark Elizabethan imagery and twirling glow sticks. :P