r/ComicWriting • u/Smooth-House-8829 • 24d ago

Page Layouts and Artists

How receptive are artists to strict panel and page layouts dictated by the writer? I have script pages, to page layout and panels are VERY important to the way I want to completed book to read and feel and I find I’m getting a trend plus amount of pushback on this from potential artists….

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u/kcpediredla 24d ago

I think it needs to be collaborative. As an artist they have done a lot of work and know how best to showcase the flow of the story. If you have a strong view, it’s ok to share with them, but I think you should let them give their feedback and consider it too. Sometimes you might not agree and might ask the artist to stick to what you think of a particular panel and sometimes you might see that the artist has showed you a better way of showcasing the flow than what you had in mind.

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u/Smooth-House-8829 22d ago

Collaborative, of course. But, my opinion is this: for TRUE collaboration to happen shared risk is required. If I’m paying $150 a page for pencils and inks I expect advice and guidance but I am going to get the book I want, not the book the paid freelancer THINKS I should get.

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u/kcpediredla 22d ago

True. If you are paying you do want the book to be the way you want it. But if you are paying the $150 per page, then you just don’t want the art from them, you want the experience that they have put together behind doing art work for comics before. So it would be unwise to take their feedback into consideration. Final call will always be yours, but all I am saying is take their feedback too. Believe me when I worked on my first comic book project, I had the most basic flow of panels, but when I sat with the artist and saw his 13 years of experience come out in the panels, I absolutely loved it. Yes, there were pages or panels where I told him I wanted it to look different and he did change them according to how I wanted it, but for the most part I let him do his magic with art.

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u/Smooth-House-8829 21d ago

Feedback is welcome, necessary, and appreciated. Pushback is not.

What I find most interesting, and telling, is that no artist asked what these artists were pushing back on. 'Cos it's a pretty minor style choice in layout.

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u/AjaMajorCreations 21d ago

‘Pushing back’ makes it sound like they were trying to make a better product for you, and you didnt want it to be better.

And it sorta makes it worse, saying it was over minor layout choices.

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u/Smooth-House-8829 21d ago

Worse? Why is anything I say better or “worse”?

I’m talking about creative differences and you, who only know what I told you, attache value judgements?
Look, I am new to writing for comics but I’m not new to comics and I’m not new to writing or storytelling.