I received emails about my graphic novel post. Several people asked about the same issue. How many ‘script’ pages equal a drawn page. I touched on it quickly, but here’s some more info about it.
rough layouts – sample 2 page spread from Earthling!
There is no standard conversion because there are many differentials. It depends on the size of the drawn page, the style of the script – both mechanically (is it written by panels, or prose, or screenplay formatted) and creatively (third person, first person ETC) and finally the amount of text a creator likes to have on a drawn page. I don’t like text-heavy pages. I try and avoid large blocks of text if possible. If a page ends up visually dominated by the text, I don’t see the point of the drawings. You may as well just write the story in prose.
Earthling! will be published at approx. 6 x 8. So it’s a pretty small page. You are limited to 9 panels or less per page (approximately). I prefer graphic novels written in the present (first person) and to use character dialogue to drive the story forward. I try and avoid third person (ghostly) voice over and stage directions. But I have to admit, I will use a few ‘Later that day.’ headers in the book. With younger readers in mind, I think it helps to make some things very clear. But I’ll keep trying to cut them or avoid them and use dialogue, location, or pacing to suggest the change in time.
A picture taken with way too little light – that shows a script page broken into 3 drawn pages
But not all paragraphs in a script are equal. A short action description on a script page can take a lot of drawings to communicate. I have been working and reworking a few paragraphs in the script that describe a ZeroBall Tournament. What’s ZeroBall you ask. It’s like MeteorBall, but played in zero-grav. Having no gravity makes for a much more exciting game, don’t you think?
Well, the 2 paragraphs have taken 13 drawn pages of art – so far. Because once I begin to translate the action, I find little moments that we need to see in order for the scene to carry emotional weight. And I am also trying to find ways for the characters to further their stories within the action of the game. If they take a hard foul, do they show it hurts? Does the coach react? Does the player grab his arm? Using a number of panels to communicate an emotional state can be gratifying to read. Letting the characters act on the page means they need space.
rough layouts – sample 2 page spread from Earthling!
