Panel by Panel: Android Blues and the Full Frame Two-Shot

Hello and welcome to Panel by Panel, an analysis of panels from comics right here on The Duck and exploring what they do, how they work, and what we can learn from them.

This week we will be checking out a panel from the webcomic Android Blues by the user Stahlberg. Our panel this week is from page 344 of the comic.



Our panel is deceptively simple this week, essentially a two-shot, but there is some tricky framing here that tends to go overlooked by artists sometimes. Sometimes objects are not given the same weight of characterization as a person in a panel, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. What I appreciate about this panel is that this VW van ends up being just as much of a character as the human shown in the frame. The whole van being in frame, along with the character's fully extended body is a surprise, especially given the horizontal nature of the panel.

This would not be a go-to angle for me for such a reveal, especially given the pose of the character chosen here and the horizontal nature of the van. If I were depicting this scene I feel like I'd take the easy way out and have the van cut off by my frame, putting the emphasis on the person. I appreciate that this panel went this route and I think compositionally it is more interesting than the common alternative most artists may go for.

Again, this is all deceptively simple stuff going on, but looking at it I get a real sense of framing and craftsmanship, even down the extremely simplified background. The focus here is on two things and neither has precedence over the other and is given the same importance. It's a different way of doing things than I would at first blush and I like it.

What do you think, though? Am I making much adieu about nothing, or does the framing catch anyone else off guard?
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