Sep 10, 03:28 PM · Pull Backs
After all the weak panel layouts I grew up with during the flashy 90s, I felt compelled to go back to the past and try something a little more traditional with my own layouts for Golden Boy. As a result, I started work on a page tonight that I had originally roughed out with a 9 panel layout.
While I was drawing it, I started thinking about the reader, and then I started to see that the reader was going to have no idea where they were at in the book when they got to this page. There is no smooth transition on this page from the previous page. Basically, I had changed scenes from the previous page, but I started to think that there needed to be a better establishing shot for the scene, because with nine tiny panels, it is hard to show an environmental change. I kept fighting it in my head, reluctant to change the original layout, but I couldn’t honestly do that to the reader.
Here is my solution:
I combined three panels and pulled back the scene from three close ups on the top row and three close ups on the bottom row. This way you can see that Cole and Elise are back at the Midtown Gym. The reader will (hopefully) never notice the scene change now.
Tip of the hat to the master, Mike Worley, for noticing the above problem in my work previously. I had unconsciously been trying to correct it; he shed the light on it.