Mateu-Mestre Marcos. Framed Ink

Design Studio Press, 2010. — 128 p. — ISBN: 978-193349295-7.Examines negative space and composition in 2D media. An essential reference book in any artist's library.The ultimate guide to visual storytelling! How to make the audience ""feel"" the story while they are ""reading"" the story. Using his experiences from working in the comic book industry, movie studios and teaching, Marcos introduces the reader to a step-by-step system that will create the most successful storyboards and graphics for the best visual communication.After a brief discussion on narrative art, Marcos introduces us to drawing and composing a single image, to composing steady shots to drawing to compose for continuity between all the shots. These lessons are then applied to three diverse story lines - a train accident, a cowboy tale and bikers approaching a mysterious house.In addition to setting up the shots, he also explains and illustrates visual character development, emotive stances and expressions along with development of the environmental setting to fully develop the visual narrative.General Thoughts on Narrative Art
Think, feel. What Is the whole story, the specific sequence. the shot about?
How do we bnng an audience Into our world?
The general tone of the story / Consistency
Not telling the audience things. but making them feel things
Drawing and Composing a Sing le Image (Basics)
Atmosphere
Lighting
Drawing In chiaroscuro
Studying reality as It appears in rront of us
Working the flat surface/ A basic checklist
A quick word on lenses
Composing Shots with a PurposeThe visual message within a still composition (analyzing eimmp/es)
The restaurant (a general case)
Establishing shots
Animating the scene
Looking down. reeling down
Overpowering upshots
Using the negative space
Order vs. chaos
Complex vs. simple
Big vs. small
Angular vs. curved
The «tree vs. forest» effect (numbers)
Big, medium, small
Landscape as a character
Conceal and reveal (emotions)
Weird beats, weird shots
POV (point of view).
Daytime /Nighttime
Keeping the focal point
Scale progression
Knowledge vs. unawareness (intercutting)
Beyond Jhe standard points or Interest (icons)
Action shots
Working with motion
Camera move within the set/ Camera motivation
Horizontal pan (The trainsition)
Vertical pan (Epic shot)
Changes in the mood (The visit)
Reveal (A new land)
Locking the camera (Road dinel)
locking the camera (High desert meeting)
Composing for Continuity
How one thlng affects the next: thinking In continuity
Why build up to a climax?
Ramping up (1) — Train flat from the side
Ramping up (2) — Train in perspective
Using the same elements. we can deliver very different messages
"Cowboys" Part 1: Keeping the camera on the same spot
"Cowboys" Part 2: Changing the camera positloo with a purpose
Using the same elements. we can deliver very different messages / Transitions
"The Bikers" Part 1: Mystery house
"The Bikers" Part 2; Mobsters in the attic
The line
The Graphic Novel
lntroduction
The characters
Overall silhouette / The head
Overall silhouette/ The body
Dyaamlcs of expresslon / The face
Dynamics of expression / The body
The panel and the page
The panel
The page
Balloons and onomatopoeias
Last Thoughts