Suspense in comics is just plain hard. It has so many things going against its success. No music, soundfx, actual time elaspment in the progression of a scene, etc. You really have to be pretty good at storytelling to make it work at any sort of competent level in a comic. It’s proven to be the biggest challenge for me on Adamsville from a presentation perspective. I mean, how do you shock and scare people when they can so quickly jump to the next point of action?
Well there are three things I have been focusing my attention on. In the above scene you can see two panels that illustrate at least two of them.
1) Pace things out – Do a lot of aspect to aspect shots and moment to moment. In other words, slow the pacing down. This draws out the action and allows the moment to build to the final shot or reveal. I’m a big fan of this type of storytelling.
2) Frame images carefully – In panel 1 of the above shot, the framing of the black against the figure should evoke a feeling of mystery and give us the sense the character is going into something timidly. Then when the reveal happens in panel 2, it should standout a bit more. Again, a lot of black is used in both panels to help evoke the sense of mystery.
3) Place your big reveals on a even page number – This one is just a good idea because doesn’t allow the reader to scna ahead. So when they get to the bottom the odd page number, they have to actually TURN the page to see the reveal in the end.
A series I would highly recommend if you enjoy good suspense and in comics form is MONSTER by Naoki Urasawa. As well as his 20th Century Boys series. Urasawa is just a genuise of this type storytelling in comics and both are great reads. I also spend a great deal of time studying films by Hitchcock and Shyamalan’s earlier works, and I can think of no better suspense film than Jaws. When you break all of these things down you can get a sense for how they do things and hide information from the viewer.
These are just a few ideas around this concept. Does anyone else have any ideas for how to achieve tension and suspense in their comics?
I think you can add to the tension with the angle of the shot you choose, just be careful not to have too many “quirky” angles just for the sake of it. Like you’ve said lighting and framing are key. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experiences!!
Yeah I find that sort of thing with camera angles to not so much add suspense as it does just give a disquieting effect. Which I guess works, but I’m a bigger fan of slower methodical storytelling from the old film greats.
Dude, a trick I heard about was changing the height of the camera for different levels of tension! If you keep the camera high, then you get a sense of openness and freedom, and less tension. Eye level is normal. Then when you go below eye level and start looking up at people it adds to the sense of tension and tightness, more claustrophobic! Try it out 😀
I shall give it a go ona scene coming up 🙂
That Below Eye Level thing can also add a sense of mistrust between characters. And close up shots can also add tension too.
I’m no pro, but I’m hoping to one day create my own graphic novel, once I have a more cohesive storyline and solid drawing skills. Anyway, I’d full well use the pointers you listed, but also use panoramic views if the character was in a vast, deserted space, much like in zombie movies. A lot f shadow too, if the scene lighting permits…and possibly thick horizontal gutter spaces between panels, for that extra pause between reading and comprehending each panel. Hell of a lot less text as well, so that the images can speak for themselves. Nothing creates tension like silence and expressions combined.
Those all sound like great ideas too! There’s lots of ways to build that tension up. But it’s super hard to really coordinate it for a reader. I looked at some of you stuff on your site! Lookin good! Get that story in order and get to crackin! 🙂
Thank you, made me smile! ^_^ I still need to set the story in stone before I do anything, but my games design course helps me get better at drawing. Hopeully by the time I graduate from uni, I should be able to dedicate more time to getting my ideas out to the world. 🙂 Best of luck with The Unknowns, love looking at your blog posts!
Thank you! 🙂 I’ll look forward to sharing more as I go. Good luck on your courses.