An Introduction to Storyboarding

The boxes in manga come from the use of camera angle and frames in a movie. The idea is that the focus of a frame allows the reader to better appreciate manga's fluidity in expressing storyline. Unlike Western Comics where frames are often carefully posed pictures that could be used as a stand alone products, manga is more motion geared and often a single frame is like one in a movie. Only specialized boxes can be used as a single pose.

If a storyboard is too messy then it makes it difficult for the reader to concentrate on the story, and if the framing is done too meticulously it can distract from the tale itself and make the manga focus on structure instead of story. Remember, the framing process is used to enhance your story, not vice versa.

Unless there is special requirement from the story a basic layout will show the background for the placement of character (setting), this allows the reader to immediately identify with where something is happening and how it affects the character/s.

In the above example (Arklain manga pg I - 2002 January Issue), the opening sets the scene, an ordinary looking street in a place that is obviously not our world. Lets separate the frames and take a closer look.

That's the opening frame. It shows the time and place of the event. The dress and building construction are obviously different from our own world. And a label gives the town a name.

This is the second frame. It shows a number of people, notice that because they are not considered important characters they do not get much exposure and are used more as background for the three frames in front. But their words give the reader an idea of what the situation is and how it got there.

The three frames here are the ones that show what's actually happening with the main characters from different angles. The hand and the face in the first obviously shows that the dark-haired one is kneeling or sitting or relatively short compared to the hand's owner. The framing of the man in the middle suggests the hand is his, and he has a haughtier positioning. The hilt of the katana in relation to the black hair is another hint on what's to come.

In this frame the key elements are the standing man and the kneeling one. The standing one is holding a katana and obviously being cheered on by the crowd. The large frame of his face shows little, but the enlargement allows for a deeper understanding of the reader as to which character is more central to this manga since this is their first close up.

The last frame is given some FX and a broad simplicity showing only blood and the panicking birds. It lets the reader imagine what has happened instead of showing them and smoothly leads to the next page where they will find out.