Manga Paper

I finally stocked up on manga paper from Kinokuniya - I was down to my last 4 sheets! I use the I-C Inc brand. It is a lovely thick cream paper with the ruler and margins in pale blue. (This blue apparently doesn't copy in photocopies, and pretty much disappears when scanned once I do the balance correction.)

I like to draw within the margin, but I do know the others in Kiseki tend to draw all the way to the edge of the page. In my opinion, that's a very digital-era look and it does look very nice and flashy.

However the manga I grew up reading was more traditional so thats what I want to continue and learn how to use.

I believe you can convey different feelings with panelling. If you spread the panel beyond the margin to the edge of the page, it can feel open like a panorama. That's why introductory shots of buildings and landscapes tend to have this kind of panel. The increase in size also helps give importance and a sense of time and space to the scene. I also like the feeling of borders, with the negative space helping to push the panel out at the viewer. (However, I also go right to the edge when I'm running low on space!)

Alternatively, smaller panels have tighter/faster pacing and/or are less important visually. It doesnt mean they are not important to the story, but you are usually not trying to call the readers attention to something within the panel. Note usually! What comes to mind would be many small panels where it's various stages of a complicated action, like someone cheating at cards or a really impressive sports move in slow-motion.
I'd love to talk more about what I think about panelling, but this is more a post on paper!

Here is a sample from TMoTW chapter 2:

Click to enlarge

The red box is the margin, where I try and put most of the information. The green box is the edge of the page - beyond that is the bleed. You should draw beyond the bleed, because you never know if the printer is gonna cut right on the line of the edge. You have to leave a margin of error, otherwise they could cut it wrong. If they cut it too far beyond, you could have an unsightly white space where you didn't draw. If they cut it too far in, you may lose information, so you must be careful not to have anything too important at the edge of the page. As you can see, my speech bubble is too close! Kiseki requires a 3mm bleed.

Here is a sample page from the I-C Inc paper. They have an explanation sheet included with each pack of paper - in Japanese! My additions are in orange and are not a translation, but instead how I use the guides on the paper.

Click to enlarge
It's really nice and easy if you're drawing traditionally to use this paper, so you are 100% sure where the bleed and margins are.


Want to learn more about manga paper and panelling?

Manga tutorials - manga paper
A more thorough explanation of how to use manga paper, as well as downloadable sheets you can print out.

An interesting tutorial on panelling by an OEL manga artist:
Paneling, Pacing, and Layout in Comics and Manga #1

Will Eisner - Comics and Sequential art
He has a beautiful use of the whole page and sometimes instead of boxes for the panels, he uses the negative space or framing the shot within images, e.g. having the figure framed through a doorway. It really gives a fluid look to the whole page. I really recommend this book - Eisner is one of the greats of comic storytelling. Although I suppose if you wanted to purely focus on manga, you could give this a skip - however, I think the mark of an artist is research to broaden their horizons!

I have not read a manga specific panelling book, but if you have any reccomendations I'd love to try and check em out! After all, I'm still learning and very keen to learn more!