Sometimes there's no getting around it. In making comics, no matter what is going on in the page story-wise you're going to have to acknowledge one hard fact.

The focal point.

I call it that because that's what your eye will be drawn to when scanning it over while reading your comic. It's unconscious and immediate. The reader can't help it. There's always a zone or area that your vision will want to go to first, like a kid in a buffet line that sees the desert island with the pudding cups at the end the minute she walks into the restaurant.

Sometimes it's not a problem, because it lines up nicely with your 'money shot'. That's a term, probably from someone else, for an important part you want the reader to look at. Advertisers have known about this since the days of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The money shot sometimes is not what they're actually selling to you. It's a game of bait-and-switch.

Here's a page from Mayfield Eight 3 where the focal point and the money shot marry up nicely. Anyone glancing at the page will want to look first at the scared and splattered face of Cal Ryder in complete terror (last panel). His eyeballs wide open, staring straight at you. That's fine because that's where I want your eyes to go.

Another example from 'Once and Future' by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, and Tamra Bonvillain.

A knowledgable old woman has just faintly caught the sound of a monster you don't see yet. Her glance over to the distance (Panel Two) is the most visually important looking thing on the page.

What does it look like when you get it wrong?

It's not a deal breaker. But it does make for awkward action, when you're trying to sell too many things on one page. Here's an example of my work (why not hoist myself on my own petard?) of two guys in prison, newbies, and one's trying to break the ice by starting a Yahtze game. Two pages shown here. Fair enough, he gets the reaction of the insane homicidal psychopaths who are grinning at him...

... but what I wanted to ALSO showcase was the danger from the Aryan Nation-type bald dude who happens to pick up a stray die. What I should've done is stretch out the action a page or two more so Mr. Supernazi can have his own 'money shot' all to himself. As it is he plays 2nd fiddle to the crazies above him (red circle blue circle).

Again, not a deal breaker, but you're bound by the compositional structure you make. Why not make it work in your favor?

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