Designing Dynamic Layouts with Text and Dialog in Comics

Learn the art and craft of comic book layout. Find out how to achieve a dynamic balance between the art and text, including narration, dialog, and sound effects.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Exercise files and what you should know

1. Getting Started

• Introduction to comic terms

2. Rules for Writing

• Left to right and top to bottom

3. Adding Placeholders

• Using a script to begin laying out your page
• Space for speech
• Roughing in balloon placements

4. Pausing and Pacing

• Effective pauses: When less is more
• When you say nothing at all
• Fast energetic scenes
• Conversations and useful overcrowding

5. Narration and Caption Boxes

• Caption boxes for narration, location, and time
• Inner dialogue

6. Sound Effects

• Examples of good sound effects
• Challenge: Add special effects sounds
• Solution: Add special effects sounds
• Sketching out sounds

7. Putting It Together: Designing Dialogue on a Comic Page

• Setting up an InDesign document
• Formatting text from the script
• Building balloons and boxes
• Dropping text
• Adding tails and finalizing your page

Conclusion

• What’s next?

Bonus Movie

• Creating a comic page: Start to finish