Today we will talk about scene blocking in our making manga series. We were talking about graphic noise before but I want to focus on the new manga that I am working on for the grydscaen short story Rogue. We are currently working on the cover art for the Rogue manga which is set to be longer than 48 pages.
The scene below is from the manga A Storm’s Coming. It focuses on Rom panhandling and an interaction with the Zone Police officer Xander Storm. Rom is in the top panel, the homeless teen with a hat full of change and the Zone Police officer in the next panel questioning him. Making a manga you have to block the scenes as well as tell the story in a logical flow.
Figure 1: Rom panhandling and the Zone Police officer replying
This scene is the top two panels of a page in A Storm’s Coming. There are two more panels below it that continue the story. When scene blocking you need to ensure the story flows and that the reader can linger on a scene for long enough to not interfere with the flow. In this scene the main feature is Rom panhandling. Rom is on the right and Xander the Zone Police officer has to look like he is interacting with him and that is why he is facing the other way. In the A Storm’s Coming anime we can actually put Xander in front of Rom based on the blocking from the manga.
In the dialogue “I can’t afford Iodine pills” which Rom says it is focused from the right where Rom would be seated based on the top panel. This scene shows a continuity in the fact that there are two characters with dialogue that are interacting.
For the new manga Rogue we are currently working on some new artwork for Rom including the cover. For scene blocking you need to take into light the dialogue which is currently finished for Rogue and the story.
Scene blocking can be fast or slow. The number of panels on the page can influence how fast someone reads the page. In the scene above I wanted you to linger on these panels so they are large. In A Storm’s Coming the minimal amount of blocks on the page was 4 with the highest being 7 or 8 based on that part of the story. Some of the scenes were based on my ability to draw the interaction like in the panels when Xander the Zone Police officer is fighting the psychic trying to kill Rom. The fight scenes were supposed to be fast so there is little dialogue and more action which translated to more panels on the page.
Panel blocking needs to be done with an artistic flair. You need to have an eye on the story and also think about the speed you want the reader to go through a page. The art of A Storm’s Coming was something new to me. There are not a lot of backgrounds in A Storm’s Coming which will play differently for Rogue which has a bigger scope and will be a longer manga. I will need to draw skyscrapers, alleyways, buildings and other scenes from the Echelons as Rom gets to his initial block point of Jester’s hacker guild.
Blocking can be done in storyboard or in a “name” which is a rough sketch of a page or panels in a manga. I usually don’t do rough sketches for the manga and just set off on drawing. This may be a drawback because it forces the issue on a page and sets up the page to be either a success or failure. Since I don’t ink and use pencil only we have more leeway.
Blocking is an important facet of telling the story in a manga and a lot of the storytelling is based on the artwork. Since I am mostly a writer my artwork is a lot harder for me to render. I can write a story in my sleep but drawing comes not as easily. When I drew the manga A Storm’s Coming I did it fast in 3 weeks for 48 pages. I will spend a lot more time on Rogue since it is more complicated.
Blocking can be like storyboarding and sometimes you have to take the same ideas. I took a storyboarding class in art school so I am familiar with how that works. Rogue which is a grydscaen short story is visual by nature and written in storyboard format. The dialogue is set and makes sense in a manga format. Having drawn A Storm’s Coming I am familiar with the design of Rom which will be a little easier but there are other characters in the story that I will need to draw. Blocking can be done through panels but getting the character consistent across panels is key. This is something that is hard for me to make the character look the same across panels as I am more a writer than an artist. You can say a writer is an artist but I need more practice. I am glad that I was able to illustrate A Storm’s Coming but Rogue is more ambitious in story and scope. There is technology in this story that will also be hard to draw.
You might want to plan out your manga illustrations in a name (sketch version of the manga) before you actually draw it to help get your ideas down. This would slow me down so I might not do it but I will consider it. Professional manga artists are known to do this. I am nowhere near a professional mangaka. I would wish some day after having 3 manga under my belt that I can do this on a regular basis.
I look forward to drawing Rogue and graphic noise but for now I am focused on Rogue. I am about to get into it in a real way but I am putting it off for about a month and a half because I have a business trip and don’t want to get interrupted. Blocking is important to story telling and should be done with care. Consider how fast you want people to go through a page and the story you are trying to tell. Think about it before you start drawing and try to achieve your best in every panel. I will have an uphill battle doing backgrounds but I am dedicated to make Rogue a step up from A Storm’s Coming.
Be confident in yourself. Be an artist. You can do it. I will definitely try. I look forward to drawing Rogue in the next few months and the final product which will be the 11 chapter story based on Rom the Level 9 hacker. Making manga from grydscaen is a dream for me. I am dedicated to achieve it and I will by any means necessary.
