Over at cartoonSNAP, Sherm Cohen has a bunch of stuff about story boarding and cartooning. I personally have his Character Design book to use while teaching my 6-12 year old students to break out of some of their drawing habits. His tutorials are, by no means, a replacement for some good, hard education in animation and drawing, but some of the tips work nicely for the comic artist just starting out. We all have to be reminded from time to time that staging brings a dynamic element to our storytelling.
Agree, but I do think there’s an important place for flatness as long as you know what you’re doing. Japanese cinema uses the “flat” compositions above to great effect. (Often it’s in live action, but still.)
This is not only useful, it is awesome. Possibly because it features the scenery from Spongebob Squarepants. 😀
I totally agree, Chris. Sometimes I think you have to understand the dynamic before you can understand the flat composition though. I think the goal is to get the artist thinking about why they’re choosing their layouts and then work form there.