Frames

The frames that make up the comic panels can be the standard straight lines. But, you can also manipulate the frames to help convey ideas. Also, though you can arrange the panels in a linear fashion, you can also layout your frames in ways that further develop the story.

Here is a standard set of comic book frames:

Each panel is the same size and shape. What changes within the frame is the ‘camera shot’ of the panel. For example, the scene above begins with an extreme close up of a bullet shell, followed by a series of mid shots.

There are many ways to use the design of the frames to tell the story, though.

Here are some examples.

 The panels here, divided by thin black lines (called gutters), create motion. It is like a pan in a film and the camera moves from left to right and reveals how large Dawn (Buffy’s sister has become). As you can see the four panels are, effectively, one picture with the only elements that change in each frame being Buffy and the speech bubbles.

The textures and shapes of the frames can indicate more than just camera movement and a passage of time; they can also help convey what is happening or what a character is thinking or feeling.

For example, a dream sequence:

Here the shapes of the panels change from being standard shapes to being more jagged and organised in a more non-linear way to convey the growing panic and hazardous nature of the situation which Thor finds herself in:

In this example, the trees become the frame of the panel, framing a dream image.

And here the jagged nature of the panel is to convey the pain one character - in particular - is feeling:

This tumblr post will give you more ideas about panels if you want to check it out: http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/841119890/advanced-layouts-paneling-outside-the-box

As well as this wordpress blog:

https://meagocomics.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/frames-and-some-tips-for-beginners-and-not-only/