Panels

Panels by David Myers

A **panel** is an individual frame, or single drawing, in the multiple-panel sequence of a comic strip or comic book. A panel consists of one drawing that depicts a single moment. Comic strips in daily newspapers typically consist of either four panels (//Doonesbury//, //For Better or For Worse//) or three panels (//Garfield//, //Dilbert//), all of the same size. In Asia, a vertical 4-panel arrangement (//yonkoma//) is common in newspapers, such as with //Azumanga Daioh//. In a comic book or graphic novel, the shapes of panels and the number of panels on a page may vary widely. ([])

Panels can come in any shape or size however depending on the preference of the cartoonist. The shape and size of the panel are usually designed by cartoonists to convey a certain mood. Making a comic strip with original panels isn't really difficult. You just need to use your creativity and follow some simple rules. Like making sure that all panels are readable and that the story is easy to follow! The following extracts from how to draw funny cartoons.com gives a few examples of the different types of panels we can have in comics. Below this is a cool comic character called Bonom who has his own adventures with the //Panels.//

No panels at all!


This particular example is pretty obvious. But not many comic strip artist are using it on a daily basis. This is a good choice if you want to give an impression of open space, of freedom!

Using different colors in the background


This more visual alternative is cool to depict the mood of your character. In this case, it would suggest that the character is getting angrier as the strip progresses!

Changing the lines opacity


What I like about this example is that your character, even if he's surrounded by lines, doesn't seem to be trapped! It's like a good compromise between no lines at all and lines that are dark and thick. For further examples check out []

But the action doesn't have to always happen inside the panels however as some cartoonists depict characters reaching outside the panels to perhaps portary a message about the character or to create humour in a piece. Take **Bonom** for example.

**Bonom:** // Subverting the panel //

I discovered Bonom whilst researching for this wiki. Bonom is an experimental minimalist comic: It is wordless, black and white, with no background, and has almost no story only variations on the character: Bonom: //lost in the space and time of the comic's panel.// Below are a selection of Bonoms adventures with a link at the bottom for those who are interested to the Bonom website.



References: [] []