Writing With Pictures: Step 4 - Paneling

Step 4: Paneling

            Once an author has identified the number and type of images he/she wants to include in a sequential art narrative, he/she must next consider how to lay those images out on the page.  Paneling – the process of determining the size, shape, and arrangement of images throughout the narrative – not only controls the sequence in which those images are read, but also influences a reader’s pacing, perception, and point of view.  The next video podcast highlights a wide variety of examples of paneling within professional graphic novels.

            INSTRUCTIONS: After watching the podcast, consider various approaches to paneling the images of the visual adaptation of your text.  On a series of blank pieces of paper, draw the lines of the various panels that will make-up each meta-panel (page).  Lightly number those panels so that they correspond with your list of images.  [Resist the urge to start sketching anything within those panels yet, though!]