Area H · The Page

From demoKey

Panel shape per beat

Frame one setup as a square, a vertical and a panorama, each for a different job, then build a calm run of panels and break it at the turn. His soldiers and mercenaries are demos; any setup of yours works.

FI1 p.108–110 (The Panel; panels A, B, C and F; scan pages 107–109) · FI2 p.106–110 (Panel combination as a language; figs 9.1, 9.4–9.7).

What he shows

One setup, many formats (FI1 p.108). He opens by saying that the same basic setup can be framed and displayed in many ways and formats, depending on the narrative needs of the moment. His setup is three soldiers on a Pacific island, looking for an abandoned radio.

The square (p.108). Panel A uses a perfectly square format to present the three characters. It holds just the essentials to show they are soldiers, and you can already see what makes each one different, despite the sketchy drawing. One wears a camouflage helmet that matches his shirt. One wears a helmet and a white T-shirt. The third is bareheaded and smokes a cigarette. Cropping out everything else keeps the focus on the drama and tension of the trio.

A square panel labelled A: a soldier in a spotted camouflage helmet gripping a rifle fills the centre, a bareheaded man smoking on the left, a helmeted soldier on the right. — Panel A: the big helmeted soldier and his rifle fill the centre, with the smoker on the left and the third man on the right. FI1 p.108.

He then frames the same three men in a tall vertical and in a wide panorama, each for its own job. Those two panels are in the key below.

Any shape that serves (p.110). Circles, ovals, triangles, inverted pyramids and the like all work, as long as they serve the story and don’t confuse the page layout. Then he warns against overuse. If spectacular, dynamic devices run through a whole graphic novel, there is nowhere left to go when you need a special moment or the build to the end.

A panel shaped like two overlapping circles showing dense jungle palms and leaves in black and grey, labelled F. — Panel F: jungle seen through a shape made of two overlapping circles. FI1 p.110.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.110

“let’s create rhythms and then let’s break them for dramatic effects.”

Formats played against each other (FI2 p.106). A graphic novel can use every frame format in one story and on one page, and can even break the panel border. He pairs shapes with feelings: narrow frames for claustrophobia, open frames for space, regular rectangles or squares for calm or relative calm, and wild irregular shapes for action or stress. You can split a page into many panels, or let one frame run across two pages.

The calm baseline (FI2 p.106–107). Fig. 9.1 is the opening of Trail of Steel 1441 A.D. He calls it slow and full of shadows. There is some variety in panel format and size, but no big changes. The restraint matches the eerie, quiet moment.

A five-panel page: a wide shot of an armoured warrior standing over a figure on the ground, then tighter panels of a face, the warrior's face, a boy's face, and the warrior again, with empty balloons. — Fig. 9.1: five near-rectangular panels. A wide shot of the warrior over a figure on the ground, then tighter faces, the boy, and the warrior again. FI2 p.106.

Then the break (FI2 p.108–110). He shows three ways to break a calm run, all in the key. In the temple maze, panels turn more and more tall and narrow. After the maze comes the total opposite, an open double-page spread. For a fortress battle, the panels go off at every angle. He stresses that the pages before and after that battle were kept plain on purpose.

Mateu-Mestre · FI2 p.110

“Then, suddenly, the serene mood breaks with a more powerful layout as fighting begins.”

His version: open after you've done yours

A tall vertical panel labelled B: three soldiers small at the top of a sandy slope, a cable running down to a large radio set at the bottom. — Left, B: the three men small at the top, a cable, the radio big at the bottom. He says the vertical shows the descending path to the radio, with only the men, the space between them and their goal, and the transmitter (p.109). Right, C: a rifle in the foreground, a soldier pointing, palms and sea. He says the panorama gives the size of the landscape while fitting one rifle, which sets the drama, the period and the men’s will to push on (p.109). Both FI1 p.108.

A wide panorama labelled C: a rifle and hand fill the left foreground, a soldier points right, a small figure stands beyond, palms and sea on the right. — Left, B: the three men small at the top, a cable, the radio big at the bottom. He says the vertical shows the descending path to the radio, with only the men, the space between them and their goal, and the transmitter (p.109). Right, C: a rifle in the foreground, a soldier pointing, palms and sea. He says the panorama gives the size of the landscape while fitting one rifle, which sets the drama, the period and the men’s will to push on (p.109). Both FI1 p.108.

A page with a wide panel of the old mercenary and his son by torchlight, a face panel, then four tall narrow panels: rats, a staircase up to a door, an eye, and the mercenary climbing among rats. — Fig. 9.4: after one wide panel and a face, four tall, narrow slivers of rats, the staircase, an eye and the climb. He says earlier pages had more regular panels (FI2 p.108).

The right half of a double-page spread of a mountain range, with a framed inset panel showing a small caravan crossing a snowy slope. — Fig. 9.5, the right page of the double spread: open mountains, with the caravan as a cut-in panel inside. FI2 p.109.

Two consecutive comic pages: the first with slanted panels of soldiers and a gravestone cross, the second with panels cut at sharp angles, arrows flying, a MIGUEL!! burst and KLANNG lettering. — Figs. 9.6 and 9.7: slanted panels, then sharper angles, arrows, shouts and a KLANNG as the fight begins. FI2 p.110.

He adds that 9.4 and 9.5 together show how a frame’s aspect ratio, and its size on the page, can reflect how we would feel if we were physically in that place (FI2 p.109).

When you practise

Read once

Write one line: what should this frame make you feel?
Pick one setup of your own: a few characters, something they want, and a place.
Square: thumbnail it to present the characters. Keep only what shows who they are and how each differs. Crop out everything else.
Vertical: thumbnail the same setup to show the distance between the characters and their goal. Keep only them, the space between, and the goal.
Panorama: thumbnail it to give the size of the place, with one foreground element that carries the drama.
For each format, make the two thumbnails before any detail: value masses, then lines of tension.
Write one line under each: what is this format for?
Calm, then break: thumbnail a calm page from the same story, with plain vertical and horizontal splits and panels of similar size. Then thumbnail the page where the turn happens and break that rhythm: narrowing verticals, angled panels, or one open frame.

This beat needs the frame to hold:
So the format is: square / vertical / panorama / other, because
The calm run is broken by:

CheckHis own test for any shape: does it serve the narrative purpose without becoming a confusing agent in the page layout? (FI1 p.110). For the break: are the pages around it plain enough that it lands? He says the battle reads as powerful partly because the pages before and after keep similar-sized frames and minimal contrast (FI2 p.110). Then the session check: shrink and flip each thumbnail; does it still read as your intent? Compare with his B, C and the three FI2 breaks in the key.

My note · what’s mine hereMine: the step order, the one-line “what is this format for?”, the fill-in box, and doing the calm and break pages as thumbnails to keep it inside the hour. Showing A and keeping B and C in the key is my split. Gaps in the source: he gives no proportions for any format, and doesn’t say how many calm pages a break needs before it lands. He doesn’t explain F beyond the general caveat. A seller’s watermark covers his starburst panel G on p.110, so it isn’t shown here. On a vertical scroll the width is fixed by the screen, so the same choice moves into panel height and the space above and below each panel; that carry-over is mine. FI2 p.106 sets the graphic novel against a movie or a mobile screen; he doesn’t discuss vertical-scroll comics.

Panel shape per beat

One setup: square, vertical, panorama, each with a job. Then a calm run, and break it at the turn.

Keep asking: what are the narrative needs of this moment?

From demoKey

Tempo by panel width

Use panel width as a heartbeat: in a dark place, the panels narrow as the tension rises, then one wide, lit panel reveals what was there. His palm reader’s office is the demo; any dark place and any fear works.

FI1 p.114 (Fragmenting the Scene; page M; scan page 113). Context: p.109 (sequence D; scan page 108).

What he shows

Width follows motion (p.109). Before the dark room, his sequence D already uses panel width. As a soldier runs downhill, the panels open more and more in the direction he runs. They end by showing his final pose and his two comrades. The diagonal made by the panels’ bottom edges adds to the action and drama.

An arrow labelled D runs left to right above two thin tall panels of a soldier running down a hill under a rope bridge, then a wide panel of an explosion over crouching soldiers. Below the slanted panel bottoms, a large triangle labelled E with palm leaves, a beached landing craft numbered 23 and a tank. — D: two thin panels of the run, then a much wider panel of the explosion. The panel bottoms form one falling diagonal. Below it, E fills the leftover triangle with palm leaves and the beach. FI1 p.109.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.109

“the last panel becomes suddenly wider than the others”

The dark room (p.114). A young investigator has been left alone in a creepy palm reader’s office. She looks at the staircase he just left by, which is the only light. Then she looks to her right, into the dark. The camera is her point of view. She senses someone next to her but can’t see anything. As her eyes adjust, all she can make out are abstract shapes. Her heart beats faster and faster, until another light is switched on and shows what she feared most.

Three panels: a close-up of a young woman in glasses blowing a bubble-gum bubble, a dark room with a lit staircase and a small lamp, and a nearly black panel. — The first tier of M: her face, the lit staircase with a small lamp, then the dark. FI1 p.114.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.114

“as the panels get narrower and narrower, accelerating the rhythm”

His version: open after you've done yours

A page labelled M in four tiers. The top tier has her face and the lit staircase; the next tiers are darker and darker with faint shapes and a close glint of an eye or lens; the bottom tier has three narrow nearly black panels and a wide panel marked CLICK where a lamp lights a large figure close to camera. — Page M: each tier darker than the last. The bottom tier has three narrow, nearly black panels with faint shapes, then a wide panel marked CLICK, where a lamp lights a large figure close to camera. FI1 p.114.

When you practise

Read once

Write one line: what should this page make you feel?
Pick a dark place, a character, and one light source. Make the camera the character’s point of view.
First tier: the character, the place, and the light source, so the reader knows where the light is.
Make the value-mass thumbnail for the whole page first. Plan each tier darker than the one before.
Thumbnail the panels after that as the eyes adjust: only abstract shapes in the dark. Make the panels narrower and narrower as the heartbeat speeds up.
End on one wide, lit panel that reveals what was there. If a switch causes it, letter the sound.
Work in black and one grey. Leave out detail. The dark carries the page.

CheckHe states no check. The session check: shrink and flip the page. Does the run read as speeding up, and does the wide panel land as the release? Compare with his page M in the key.

My note · what’s mine hereMine: the step order, the whole-page value thumbnail first, and working in black and one grey. Showing D as the lead-in is my choice; the map cites only p.114. Gaps in the source: he doesn’t say how narrow is too narrow, or how many narrowing panels come before the break. He doesn’t discuss the reading order of the narrow panels. Some dark panels are hard to read in the scan, and I can’t tell whether the glint in tier 3 is an eye or a lens. On a vertical scroll, my guess is that narrowing becomes shorter panels with tighter gaps, and the reveal a tall panel after a longer gap. That is my carry-over, untested against his method.

Tempo by panel width

POV, one light, darker and narrower, then one wide lit reveal.

Keep asking: is the heart beating faster?

From demoKey

Four-change turn

Hold a quiet run on one stage, then mark the story turn by changing four things at once: the setup, the panel format, the main element and the lighting tone. His detective is the demo; any discovery beat works.

FI1 p.114 (text for page N; scan page 113) · p.115 (page N; scan page 114).

What he shows

The quiet stage (p.114). Page N uses the layout and its panels to move the reader through the moment easily, following the character and his thoughts. The camera doesn’t need to change position from shot to shot. At first nothing intense happens and the detective’s emotions don’t change. He is quietly putting his thoughts together until he finds a mysterious object on the pavement. So the first panels share a similar, quiet rhythm, with basically the same elements and setup.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.114

“Wandering around the same “stage” is a particularly effective and theatrical approach”

Three full-width panels of the same alley: a small dark figure in a hat on a fire escape against lit walls, then lower on the ladder, then at street level beside parked cars and a traffic cone, each with a caption box. — Tiers 1–3 of N: the same alley, the detective a small dark figure against lit walls, moving from the fire escape down to the street. Each tier has a caption. FI1 p.115.

The turn (p.114). When the special thing happens, the one that changes the course of his investigation, he changes four things together:

the setup;
the size and format of the panel (narrower);
the main element in the panel (from the man to the glasses);
the overall lighting tone (from the man dark on light to the glasses light on dark).

His version: open after you've done yours

The full page N: three full-width alley panels, then a much shorter bottom strip of dark pavement with a pair of round glasses picked out in light and a caption reading MAYBE I WAS WRONG. — Page N: the three alley tiers, then a much shorter strip. Dark pavement, a pair of round glasses picked out in light, and the caption “MAYBE I WAS WRONG”. FI1 p.115.

When you practise

Read once

Write one line: what should the turn make you feel?
Pick a beat where a character on one stage finds something that changes the story.
Thumbnail the quiet run: a few panels on the same stage, with the same elements and a similar rhythm. Don’t move the camera relationship.
Make a value thumbnail of each quiet panel. Decide the lighting tone: is the character dark on light, or light on dark?
Thumbnail the turn panel and change all four together: the setup, the panel size and format, the main element (the character gives way to the object), and the lighting tone, flipped from the quiet run.
Use placeholder text for captions if you need them.

Quiet run: stage · main element · tone on
Turn panel: setup · format · main element · tone on

CheckHe states no check as such. Tick his four changes from p.114 against your turn panel: setup, panel size and format, main element, lighting tone. Then the session check: shrink and flip the page; does the turn still jump out as your intent? Compare with his page N in the key.

My note · what’s mine hereMine: the step order, the fill-in box, and using his four changes as a tick-list. Gaps in the source: he doesn’t say whether all four changes are always needed or whether this is just this example’s choice. He gives no guidance on caption placement here. The round glasses look like the ones the young woman wears elsewhere in the chapter; he doesn’t make that link here, so that’s my reading. All four changes carry over to a vertical scroll as they are; there the format change would be a change in panel height or shape. That carry-over is mine.

Four-change turn

Quiet run on one stage. At the turn: setup, format, main element, light tone, all at once.

Keep asking: did all four change together?

From demoKey

Path overlays

Draw the structure under a page as an overlay: a line through the eye centres or along an object’s path, eye levels locked across panels, or one vanishing point shared by every panel. His pages are demos; the overlays work on any page.

FI1 p.112–113 (Choreographing the page; H, I, J, K, L; scan pages 111–112) · FI2 p.106–107 (figs 9.1–9.2) · p.110–111 (fig. 9.8).

What he shows

A main line (FI1 p.112). When a run of panels repeats one element, he places that element’s main point along a main line in every frame. That helps fast reading and gives a smooth, “cinematic” move. In H the main point is the centre of her eyes; in D (p.109) it was the running soldier’s whole head.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.112

“it should follow a predetermined and harmonious path”

One vanishing point (p.112). The same idea applies to whole pages and action sequences. On page I, every panel is in structural harmony with the others, because all their perspective lines meet at one single vanishing point.

Page I: a woman in a dark suit climbing a ladder in an alley, a young woman in glasses looking up beside a building, and a wide bottom panel of a figure in the alley, with balloons such as NOPE, YEP and HEY! PSST! — Page I, clean: the ladder climb, the young woman in glasses, and the alley below. FI1 p.112.

The object’s path (p.113). Page K is choreographed around a small box, the characters’ “object of desire”. It is thrown up in a struggle; the guy in the cap shoves the girl aside, grabs it and runs. He lists the devices panel by panel:

Panel 1. A tilted upshot, so you feel part of the struggle and off balance. The background is pure silhouette so it doesn’t distract, and the irregular panel shape does the same job.
Panel 2. The two bodies make two opposing diagonals.
Panel 3. After two constrained panels of fast action, the panel opens out sideways to give the thief room to run. Her arm points the eye in the established direction, to the left.
Panel 4. A tense pause before the next action: a “neutral camera shot” straight on her face. After this, he keeps the screen direction left for the rest of the chase.

Page K: a box flying against palm silhouettes with a HEY!!! WHADDA... balloon, a struggle between a man in a cap and a woman in glasses, a wide panel of him running as her arm reaches in, and a wide frontal close-up of her angry face. — Page K, clean: the flying box, the struggle, the run, and her face. FI1 p.113.

Characters on fixed lines (FI2 p.107). In fig. 9.1 (shown in exercise 1), the two mercenaries and the boy are always placed along the exact same lines throughout the page. He says this keeps the page’s quiet, smooth flow.

Eye levels locked (FI2 p.110). Fig. 9.8 revisits the extreme vertical panels of the maze, this time for power. Sheriff Montana has finally caught the outlaw Johnny Robber, and stands over him on a hill. The power comes from the height difference between the two men’s eye levels on the page. The narrow panels also strip away everything around the characters, so the page is about their expressions.

Mateu-Mestre · FI2 p.110

“Montana’s eyes are at the exact same height in all his panels”

His version: open after you've done yours

Three panels labelled H pushing in on a woman's face, from head and shoulders to extreme close-up, with a thin vertical line through each eye centre and a grey band joining the eyes across the panels. — H: three panels pushing in on her face. A thin vertical line marks each eye centre, and a grey band joins the eyes across all three. FI1 p.112.

Page I greyed out, labelled J, with black lines radiating from one point near the centre through every panel. — Left, J: page I with perspective lines from one point near the centre through all panels (p.112). Right, L: page K with a curved arrow linking the box in panels 1–3, then a bar down into panel 4 (p.113). FI1.

Page K greyed out, labelled L, with a big black curved arrow linking the box's positions through panels 1 to 3, then a straight bar running down into panel 4. — Left, J: page I with perspective lines from one point near the centre through all panels (p.112). Right, L: page K with a curved arrow linking the box in panels 1–3, then a bar down into panel 4 (p.113). FI1.

Fig. 9.2: the five-panel mercenary page with red circles on each character's head, joined across panels by red lines, one of them dotted. — Left, fig. 9.2: red circles on each character’s head, joined by red lines across the panels (printed on FI2 p.106, explained on p.107). Right, fig. 9.8: the sheriff’s face high in his tall panels, the outlaw’s low in his (FI2 p.111).

Fig. 9.8: a wide top panel with a JOHNNY!!! burst, then five tall narrow panels alternating the sheriff in a wide hat, high in frame, and the bald outlaw, low in frame. — Left, fig. 9.2: red circles on each character’s head, joined by red lines across the panels (printed on FI2 p.106, explained on p.107). Right, fig. 9.8: the sheriff’s face high in his tall panels, the outlaw’s low in his (FI2 p.111).

When you practise

Part 1 · Read his pages

Copy page I, page K or fig. 9.1 from above onto a layer.
Draw the overlay you think holds it together. For I, find the perspective lines and where they meet. For K, link the box’s position in each panel. For 9.1, circle each character’s head and join the circles across the panels.
Open the key and compare.

Part 2 · Build your own · read once

Write one line: what should this run of panels make you feel?
Pick the overlay that fits your page: a line through the eye centres of a push-in on one face; a curve through a moving object’s positions; two eye-level lines for a dominant and a weaker character; or one vanishing point for a whole page.
Draw the overlay first, on the empty panel borders: the straight or curved line, the eye-level guides, or the vanishing point and its lines.
Thumbnail the panels onto it. Keep each main point on its line, each character’s eyes on their guide, or every panel’s perspective on the shared point.
For a power beat, swap the two eye levels to show the reversal.

CheckHis tests: does the main point of the repeated element sit along one main line, straight or curved, so the reader doesn’t lose the flow of the moment? (FI1 p.112). For a page: do all the panels’ perspective lines meet at one vanishing point? (p.112). For eye levels: are each character’s eyes at the exact same height in all their panels? (FI2 p.110). A ruler settles all three. Then the session check: shrink and flip it; does it still read as your intent? Compare with H, J, L, 9.2 and 9.8 in the key.

My note · what’s mine hereMine: the two parts, copying his clean pages to overlay them before opening the key, drawing the overlay before the panels, and the swapped eye levels for a reversal. Each overlay is enough for one session; picking one is my suggestion. Gaps in the source: he doesn’t say how to unify panels that need different viewpoints, since one vanishing point is the only device he shows. He doesn’t say how to choose the shape of the curve, or how balloons sit on the path. The map cites FI2 p.107 for the head lines; the overlay itself, fig. 9.2, is printed on p.106. On a vertical scroll the eye runs top to bottom, so the line through the eye centres, or the object’s path, can be checked down the strip in the same way; that carry-over is mine.

Path overlays

Draw the line, the eye levels or the vanishing point first. Then put the panels on it.

Keep asking: does the reader lose the flow of the moment?

From demoKey

Balloons and sound

Plan the lettering with the layout: give each speaker a balloon of their own, and let one sound effect grow until it becomes the image. His palm-reader scene and dripping tap are demos; any crowded exchange and any repeated sound works.

FI1 p.116–117 (Balloons and Onomatopoeias; O, P, Q, R; scan pages 115–116).

What he shows

Plan them with the rough (p.116). As soon as you plan a page’s rough layout, you have to think about where balloons and sound effects go. Like the art, they must serve a purpose, clarify and help the action, and never be senseless or confusing. So the order and shape they appear in need careful thought.

Three people at once (p.116). In O, the investigator is inside the palm reader’s office. The secret agents who sent her are outside, in touch through an earpiece. The bad guy and the agents both keep talking to her while she tries to answer both. Each side thinks her words are meant for them. He calls it a very confusing situation.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.116

“the distinctive shape and color of each balloon, representing each one of the characters.”

Two people, kept simple (p.116). P shows how to economise and simplify a conversation between the two agents when nothing more complicated is needed.

A square panel labelled P: two men in dark suits stand by a PSYCHIC sign at dusk. A zig-zag stack of rectangular caption balloons alternates left and right down the panel, with long thin tails to each man. — P: two agents outside a “PSYCHIC” sign. One stack of plain boxes zig-zags left and right down the panel, with long tails to each man. FI1 p.116.

Sound as part of the picture (p.117). Used well, sound effects enrich and complete the visuals, and create rhythm, pacing and graphic effects unique to the graphic novel. Like balloons, they need the right places and sizes the moment you sketch the page. They are the comics version of a film’s sound effects. In Q, the sound can take over the visuals completely and turn the panel abstract.

Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.117

“they will substitute the onomatopoeias with the actual sounds they are trying to recreate.”

In R, the lettering also strengthens the frame’s perspective.

A wide panel labelled R: a Formula 1 car numbered 1 races at an angle with speed lines, while huge VRRRROOOAAWWW and VVVRRRR lettering recedes along its direction. — R: a racing car with speed lines. Huge engine-noise lettering recedes in perspective along the car’s direction. FI1 p.117.

His version: open after you've done yours

Three tall panels labelled O of a young woman in glasses in close-up with a dark silhouette at right. Jagged-edged boxes at the top, smooth white ovals, and grey circles low in frame; the last panel has two WHAT ?!? balloons in different styles. — O: the same set-up in three tall panels. Three balloon styles: jagged-edged boxes at the top, smooth white ovals with tails, and grey circles low in the frame. The last panel ends on two “WHAT ?!?” balloons in two styles. FI1 p.116.

A four-by-four grid labelled Q alternating a shadowed woman's eyes and a dripping tap. A small PLICK appears in the fourth panel; in the last row the PLICKs grow and multiply until the final panel is all PLICK lettering. — Q: sixteen equal panels alternating a shadowed face and a dripping tap. A small PLICK first appears in panel 4. In the last row the PLICKs grow and multiply, until the final panel is nothing but lettering. FI1 p.117.

When you practise

Part 1 · Balloons · read once

Write one line: what should this exchange make you feel?
Pick a scene where three people talk at once, with at least one off-panel: an earpiece, a phone, a voice from another room.
Rough the panels and the balloons together, before any art.
Give each speaker a distinct balloon shape and tone.
Number every balloon in the order it should be read.

Part 2 · Sound · read once

Pick a repeated sound and two things to cut between: the sound’s source and someone reacting to it.
Lay out a grid of small equal panels that alternates the two.
Place the sound effect at sketch stage, with its size. Start it small, let it repeat, then let it grow and multiply until one panel is only the sound.
Make the value-mass thumbnail of the grid, so you can see where the lettering starts to take over.
Optional: letter one sound on the scene’s perspective, as in R.

CheckHis test: is any balloon or sound senseless or confusing, and is the order clear? (FI1 p.116). Cover any names: can you tell who is speaking from the balloon alone? Then the session check: shrink and flip the grid; does the sound still read as taking over? Compare with his O and Q in the key.

My note · what’s mine hereMine: the two parts, numbering the balloons, the cover-the-names test, and the value thumbnail of the grid. The two parts can be one session or two. Which balloon style belongs to which speaker in O is my reading from the scenario and the tails; he doesn’t label them. Gaps in the source: no rules on reading order, tail placement, or how much of the panel balloons may take, and nothing on letterform design or weight. He doesn’t name the feeling Q builds. On a vertical scroll the reading order runs strictly top to bottom, so the balloon order is simply the vertical order down the strip; that carry-over is mine.

Balloons and sound

Letter with the rough. One balloon style per speaker. One sound that grows into the picture.

Keep asking: is any of it senseless or confusing?