Dear Geist,

How can I tell if the artwork and text in my comic are blending properly? I'm developing my first serial web comic and I have no training in it so I read all the comics advice I can find. The experts say the text and image have to be inseparable, working together for the overall effect. I stare and stare at my panels but no idea if they're any good. Would you recommend a course in creating comics?

Dear Lenore,

Quite right—it's harder than it looks to blend image and text seamlessly! Beginners, seasoned comics creators and everyone in between can benefit from regular study of the work of experts—lots of different genres, from superheroes to young-adult memoirs, from comics you know well to those you've never seen before. To study text-graphics interface in comics you admire, choose a page or section and study the panels one by one. For each panel, cover the artwork with a bit of scrap paper and read the narrative (also called caption) and dialogue text. Then cover the text and study the artwork. Did you need both text and image to understand what was going on in the panel? For example, does the narrative text say “Johann lay in bed, staring into space,” and does the artwork depict Johann doing just that, without any other action or nuance? If so, either the text and artwork overlap on purpose—a purpose that is evident—or some redundancy is clogging the reader's experience.

, gives the example of a panel in which a man is shot in the back. The script calls for a narrative—“Jones is shot from behind”; a speech balloon for Jones—“Gad! I've been shot in the back!”; and a sound balloon behind Jones—“BANG.” Rather than slavishly following this text-heavy script, the artist draws a panel in which Jones is obviously shot in the back, and the carefully placed “BANG” spid balloon is the only word in the panel. Eisner points out that panels containing lots of narration also work well, if the slower-moving, text-heavy style is intentional, and right for the artist's purpose, and consistent throughout the comic or section.

Another good exercise is to read a page or section of a graphic novel or comic and pay attention to your response as you go. Are there any spots where you bog down and skip text or panels? Are there any panels whose text is so sparse or fast-moving that you get confused or lose the thread? Are there any interruptions to the flow, sudden resolutions or obscure bits? Try working one or both of these exercises into your warm-up every time you sit down to work. You'll see exactly how the experts weave images and words together, with or without success, and you'll see a heck of a lot more.

Courses and workshops are always good, if only for the info and energy exchange that takes place with colleagues. But if paying course fees would be a hardship for you, your own careful reading of a range of other comics will be just as productive. Either way, we hope you're hanging out with other comics creators!