How Panel Composition Shapes and Evokes Emotion: A Positional Theory of the Artistic and Textual Elements of Comics

Note: This post is part of my ongoing pre-doctoral exploration into how panels communicate emotion and narrative flow in comics. Here, I’ll examine how composition and placement shape the reader’s emotional experience using an example from Noragami by Adachitoka.

How do we decide how and where to place certain elements that are relevant to a panel?

Once the artist has decided on how to lay out the panel, where to place it within the page, and how much room each panel needs to take, it is time to decide how and where to place various relevant artistic and textual elements within each panel in such a way as to drive the narrative forward – visually and emotionally.

In the example below, taken from a page in the manga Noragami, we see the main characters Yato and Hiyori interacting with one another. The first panel displays a close-up drawing of Hiyori, perhaps to show the reader that she is blushing and feeling embarrassed, which in turn helps the reader understand her feelings as she says what's on her mind after the reader gets a glimpse of her thoughts. The absence of other prominent artistic elements within the panel draws the reader's attention entirely to her, and nothing else. 

Page from Noragami by Adachitoka (© Kodansha Comics), used here for educational and critical analysis.

This then leads us to the next panel (keep in mind that manga is read right to left), where we get a glimpse of Yato, whom Hiyori is talking to. This panel helps the reader see Yato's state of being as he listens to her. The angle the artist has chosen, coupled with the position of the characters within the panel, conveys them as having equal prominence in the scene. However, from a pure physio-narrative* perspective, Hiyori has prominence as she is standing over Yato.

This positional characteristic communicates a tender moment in the relationship between these two characters. The reader can relate them to each other as the artist chose an angle from which the reader can easily see them at the same time, as they share the same amount of space, thereby helping the reader understand their relationship more deeply. Suppose the artist had chosen an overhead angle instead; the reader wouldn't have been able to relate the characters to one another as easily. And their positional singularity (or uniform prominence) wouldn't have been as clear, or would have gone missing altogether.

Point to note: Always take care when positioning characters or elements within your panel. Pay attention to the visual prominence of your artistic elements — do they have uniform prominence, or is one visual element more prominent than another? Is a particular element taking up prominence when it shouldn't be? Think of the "why" behind your artistic decisions, and choose that which will best convey your idea and the scenic narrative accurately to the reader.

Furthermore, notice how the artist hasn't shown much prominence to the background elements within this second panel. This helps to gently draw the reader's attention to the main elements (the characters) rather than taking their attention elsewhere.

Another thing to note is how this second panel's visual angle complements the third panel, which is a close-up of Yato's face. Here, the reader can see him blushing at what Hiyori said. Once again, the absence of other prominent artistic elements within this last panel makes the reader focus entirely on Yato, thereby taking them in close to what he is feeling, and perhaps at what he might even be thinking. Leave a comment down below if you can ascertain what his thoughts and feelings might be.

Before I conclude, I want to draw attention to the placement of the final speech bubble. Notice how it overlaps the second and third panels at the same time. This shows Hiryori's words, "I promise I won't forget!" pass onto the last panel, which shows a close-up of Yato's face so the reader can see his emotions when he hears those words. This is why intentional positioning of textual elements is just as crucial as the positioning of their artistic counterparts — it drives meaning and emotion.

Suppose the artist had placed that speech bubble in the last panel alone, the effect, perhaps, wouldn't have been the same. It would have detached the timing of Hiyori's speech and asserted a different time altogether.

*physio-narrative - I use this term to describe the physical appearance and position of a character within a panel, as relevant to the narrative. In the above example, Hiyori standing over Yato explicitly implies to the reader that she is prominent over him in this scene, but from a spatio-narrative viewpoint (another term I like to use), they both share approximately equal space within the panel's visual angle. These terms are working concepts I've developed and are subject to refinement later on.

Final thoughts      

The positional aspect of visual and textual elements is critical when planning a panel's composition. Their prominence, overlapping nature, position, and physio-narrative angle should be carefully considered with the overall intention of conveying the narrative's emotional aspect to the reader. But care must be taken to ensure all panels within a page and the following pages are synchronous with each other. Otherwise, narrative deviances can occur.

When placing characters or other visual elements within a panel, consider their relevance — visual and emotional. How well can you convey narrative emotion through the intentional placement of artistic elements within your panel? Can you add something more to emphasize emotion, or can you take away something instead? Consider testing with readers if you want to make sure the emotions of the character that you want to convey are being communicated the way you intend.

Your turn     

If you are a comic book artist, how do you plan the composition of your panels? Do you pay attention to emotional resonance? Or do you focus on the artistic side of it alone? The comments space is open for discussion. 

Moreover, if you have a particular page or a panel from a comic you've read that struck you emotionally, let me know. I might even feature it on this blog for a textual and artistic analysis!