whiterosebrian: How about a sample of

How about a sample of “doing it right”?  Note what the captions say about the primacy of storytelling.  This is from Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics.

I’ve typed out the author’s instructions for those who can’t read it, and bolded the part about not sacrificing the point of the panel to show how “cool and sexy the heroine is.”

5) OK, so you’ve got a possible layout. Throw a spotlight next to the heroine, and enough of a gangplank/catwalk in there so the readers know where she is and that she isn’t just floating in space.  But what if you wanted to see more of her figure?  Just pull the camera back on the elevation.

6) Now the camera lines show the heroine to be a little less than twice the apparent size of the boxers - which makes sense, since she’s a little less than twice as close to the camera as they are.

7) Draw another layout to test this arrangement.  It’s nice enough, but the first layout with the camera closer to the heroine is probably better.  This panel isn’t about how cool and sexy the heroine is, it’s about what’s happening in the ring.  Go back to the first layout, move the characters around a bit and start to work out vanishing points.

This is the three-point perspective - everything converges.  The toughest point to place will probably be the vanishing point representing down, but you’ve got a head start on that.

It’s nice to see “how to draw comics” books that talk about these things and how they can affect and detract from the storytelling.

(Page from Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics From The Ground Up, Jason Cheeseman-Meyer)