So, on Facebook this week somebody posted a link to Wally Wood’s 22 Panels that Work, it’s a tutorial page with exactly that; 22 various panels using different angles, shadows, compositions, etc. that go into making an interesting and visually exciting comic. I’ve been aware of it for a long time now and probably on a subconscious level try to duplicate the science behind it everytime I sit down to draw the comic…(at least it’s always in the back of my mind to try to draw an exciting panel. John Buscema’s How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way is also an influence in panel construction). Sometimes I just draw the comic to get it done and the influences take a back seat to getting the comic out to the public (I’m not saying do mediocre work, you should always strive for the best, but sometimes you just need to get the work done without being too fancy). So, I figured, what the hell and I decided to do this weeks comic using some of Wood’s techniques from his tutorial. Looking at it now, each panel works well individually and each one would work well to add a point of drama to a page, but put together one after another, it’s almost too dramatically overwhelming. It’s almost like a pop art explosion. Could you imagine a whole comic drawn in this way? It would lose it’s excitement very quickly. A quiet panel or sequence would benefit from the punctuation marks that these panels represent and I’m sure that’s exactly the way Wood intended them to be used. You’d think that after all the years I’ve been reading comics and reading about comics that this kind of thing would be second nature to me, but it’s not. I’m still learning and that’s a good thing. To some people this comes naturally…there’s 17 year olds out there who can kick my ass in the drawing department …and they’ve only begun to hone their craft. But I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and by pure stubborness and perseverance keep learning and getting better and hopefully keep my readers engaged and entertained in the process. Keep creating my Brutha’s and Sista’s and I’ll see you here next week! – Jim