Scene setting and establishing shots

Recently going back and reworking pages for both the print and Comixology releases of the first trade paperback of From Above, allowed me to check out some of my pages from the series to date.

I’ve always been a fan of scene setting and establishing shots. Whether that be an intimate room scene or an action scene. I like to know where characters are in relation to their environments before the scene starts to play out.

I think that’s why I really like these two pages. One I did for Issue 5 and the other I did for Issue 6. Maybe its the games background in me but I really dig the downward 3/4 angle shot to really show character in-situ. There are obviously more dynamic camera shots but I prefer to leave these for once things have started heating up.

I remember times when you’d read a book and it’d just be a whole lot of heads floating against blank backdrops or even just cross hatched background pattern. Hey we’ve all been guilty of that sort of thing but in essence it really makes life hard for the reader. In fact I think once I read a 22 page story that had one background in it - not the most immersive visual story telling.

I thinks that’s why as I keep learning in this visual story telling medium (and I have a long way to go), I try to challenge myself with new camera angles and including as much background as possible without over cluttering the panel (even if its just a subtle insinuation in a talking head panel).

I think that’s why I like sequential art so much. You feel like you are constantly learning and pushing yourself. Sure it feels frustrating that I’m not where  want to be yet, but it is invigorating to know that there is a touch of improvement with each new panel and that is all the incentive we need, right?