Cinematic Storytelling and Compositional Pitfalls

A good comic always starts with good composition. This lesson continues from the previous one on composition and lays out David’s process for cinematic storytelling and how to avoid some of the common mistakes you might run into when making your comic. You’ll learn about camera angles and how your choices for each panel influence your story. If you enjoy this lesson be sure to check out David’s other lessons in his comic drawing course.

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#drawingcomics #composition #storytelling

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ABOUT PROKO:

Instructional How to Draw videos for artists. My drawing lessons are approachable enough for beginners and detailed enough for advanced artists. My philosophy is to teach timeless concepts in an entertaining way. I believe that when you are having fun, you learn better. I take pride in producing high quality videos that you will enjoy watching and re-watching.

CREDITS:

Production Assistance - Patrick Bosworth, Sean Ramsey
Publishing - John Birchall, Alex Otis

Music Used with Permission
Intro - The Freak Fandango Orchestra

Additional music by Epidemic Sound

[alexgibson]

I like to think of the 180 rule as looking at a stage in a theater. You can sit anywhere you want in the audience to view the scene but you can't sit on the stage.

[bobstone]

Art education is becoming more and more accessible thanks to guys like Proko

[eddiejones]

Feel like a kid sitting on a heroes lap going wow....thank you!
I feel I just got better seeing this.

[keremaldemir]

good stuff, we really need more storytelling/composition lessons on here and finch is absolutely great at it

[hongquiao]

Concerning the 180 rule, the reason it exists in cinema is because video moves (duh) so you have to be careful
not to disorient the viewer by changing camera angles and viewpoints all willy-nilly.
Comic book panels, however, are static images. Not only that, but speech bubbles point directly at who is speeking.
So I feel comics as a medium can take more liberty with that specific rule.
If you want more ideas on how to frame dialogue scenes in comics, look up "Wally Wood's 22 panels that always work".

[brycetheoddball]

I’ve taken a few storyboarding classes and he explained the 180 rule better than all of them.

[sunshineyrainbows]

I've heard of these tips before but he teaches them so much better

[fatihhh]

this is so timely. I'm doing a comic for my thesis rn

[be_me]

I'm here because im currently taking a class at my school (I'm studying media design), that should be teaching me exactly this but has taught me nothing, so far. Like, it's weird, it's supposed to be a drawing class, specifically for comics, storybords and such but somehow were mostly talking about storytelling. Sure, that's an important part of the process but I already have a storytelling class. Anyhow, so now I have to collect bits and pieces off of YouTube to even be able to do my assignments. It's exhausting but at least I am learning something. If I had the money, I'd pay for more Proko classes.

[artsybiblenerd]

I am always learning something new with David Finch.

[MJWolverine]

I was almost in a Glitch in the Matrix panic after clicking a David Finch video thumbnail, watching David's introduction and then suddenly Proko's intro started rolling.

[OrangeDragonofDusk]

These tips are very useful! Thanks for sharing

[christofthedead]

I wonder how much great art the world has missed out on due to art education being held behind such prohibitive paywalls

[lambs]

great video, really nice tips- also love the sound effects, that "aww" caught me off guard LOL

[alextelzrow]

I don't get the 180 degree rule, I've heard it talked about a few times from other youtube videos and from a friend who was into filmmaking, but I don't understand why it is such a big deal. The example you used, of the two characters looking lile they switched places, I agree that would be a bad composition. However, there are more things to consider. What if the background looking at the one side is distinctly different from the other? Or what if you had those two panels in the same scene, but not directly next to each other? You could have the "camera" sort of pan around the scene before you get there.

The main idea of the rule, as I understand it, is to not confuse the audience. But let's say, for example, there is an over-the-shoulder shot of a person about to open a door, followed by a medium or long shot with the "camera" inside the room on the opposite side as the door, viewing the door being open and the person standing at the doorway. This would break the 180 degree rule, but it should still make sense.

Sorry for the long-winded rambling, I'm just trying to explain why I don't understand the 180 degree rule.

[everaced]

Snagged the course as soon as I finished watching this. Exactly what I've been looking for!

[tk]

Yuri did an amazing job with the editing on this one Dave! Flashback to the 90s with Wayne's world 😄

[rengav]

David Finch is a master.
I am very grateful to him.
I confess that I avoid looking at your work, because I feel like giving up

[wingsofmae]

Always exception to breaking the rules.
The 180 rule is great to break IF you want to illustrate a jarring change in the storyline.

[codycloete]

So happy to know I automatically did this the other day when trying illustrations the first time lol background to establish, expanding shot and then a close up to finish the first 3 panels before moving onto the next part of the page