← Academy
Graphic Novel Craft · Lesson 2
Pacing Across Pages
Page turns, cliffhangers, and when to let a spread breathe.
16 min · Watch → Read → Apply
Step 1 · Watch
Watch & reflect
Hopkinson on putting a reader in a moment — the same eye learns what to show in a panel.
Step 2 · Read
Deepen with reading
A page is a rhythm. The last panel on the page is a promise about what happens when the reader turns.
End a page on a question, a reveal half-seen, or a line that cannot wait. Open the next page on motion or silence — not on exposition you could have placed earlier.
Step 3 · Apply
Put it into practice
A short exercise to turn what you learned into skill.
Plan a two-page turn: what the reader sees last on page one, and what opens page two.