Panel Grids: 6, 9, 16...?

[dewline]

Some comic books I've read over the years distinguished themselves by sticking as closely as possible to a "grid" system of panel layout. The "base" number of panels would vary from artist to artist, book to book, but within a book, it would almost never vary unless you really wanted an attention-getter moment in the book in question. Ditko-era Spider-Man, Watchmen, Miller's first Dark Knight series, Legion of Super-Heroes during the "Giffen-Bierbaum-Squared" era...these stand out as some of the best examples of the method I recall reading to date.

So, I've got a question to throw out to you to answer with your opinions: Is this a method of layout for beginners to stick to as a survival tool, or hardcore pros to show how they really excel under self-inflicted pressure, or both?

Comments

[jcoville.livejournal.com]

I think it's a method of storytelling. It works for keeping the process of reading the comic extremely simple. No having to dart your eyes around the page figuring out where the next panel is. It's also very effective for sucking you into the story/world. Without any fancy design stuff, you just read the story and not even think about the art so much.

Depending on how much information there is to give in the story, it can be useful to use 9 panel grids or even 6 panels.

I suspect beginners would benefit from doing a story in 6 & 9 panel grids. In short, it forces them to use the same amount of space for each part of the story. Which makes you figure out how to use that space in a wide variety of ways. EG. for a knock out punch you have to stick it in the same sized panel as everything else and still make it the high point of the story. No big splash page to "cheat" with. No long panels to show somebody flying across the room either.

It helps to handicap yourself sometimes, just to figure out other ways of doing things. The more methods you have telling a story (and the more you use them) the less stale your work will become in the long term.