Panel Grammar

What belongs inside a panel — and what the gutter carries between panels.

14 min · Read → Apply

Step 1 · Read

One moment per box

A panel is a photograph of time. The gutter is everything the reader fills in.

Each panel should hold one readable beat: an action, a reaction, or a line that lands. When you need two beats, that is often two panels — not a crowded collage unless you mean chaos.

Wide panel = time slows; height = vertical motion or falling.
Silent panel = let the reader hold the breath.
Splash = one image worth turning the page for.

Step 2 · Apply

Put it into practice

A short exercise to turn what you learned into skill.

Describe a three-panel sequence (no drawing required): what each panel shows, and what the gutter asks the reader to infer.

Name the beat, not the camera jargon.