.:The Imaginary Friend:. .Page 6 Origin.

I was tempted to give a critique on the first page but I decided it might be best to do it here - for what you've got so far - since all pages have the same good/bad qualities. Okay, first the good:

Your story just jumps right in, which is always great for a comic. The story is interesting, and you're not giving all the information at once - which is a great way to build suspense and make your reader curious about this world and what's going to happen next.

So far, the story IS interesting and I'm anxious to learn more about it.

Your character designs are all unique, have their own color pallets, and are easy to recognize as individuals. A couple of them are on the complicated side, but they aren't main characters so that's totally excusable. And they don't look too complicated to me that they would be hard to draw over and over. (Except maybe for the conjoined twins.) Good job there! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="391" title=" (Smile)"/>

Now the bad (and I use the term loosely, since it can be fixed):

First, and the biggest thing that is going to make your comic suffer if you continue to lay them out this way, is that all the panels are close-ups. This saves time in drawing, of course, but your storytelling is going to suffer because of it. It's like the characters are telling me a story when their faces are meer inches from my line of sight. And no matter what I do, I can't step back to see where I am and what the characters might be telling me with their poses, body language, and what their positions are in relation to each other (ie who is standing by who, who's standing, sitting, etc.). All I have are their eyes (or one eye), a close up of the face or other body part. Ditance is your friend in comic layouts. Use it when setting up scenes in the beginning so the reader knows where they are. Continue to use distance and "zoom out" a little to remind readers where they are, especially if a new character enters the scene or if you begin to change location. And please show at least the full head/upper body in most cases. Extreme close-ups (like just eyes, one eye only, can barely see mouth, etc.) usually equal drama, a secret is going to be revealed, tension is being built, drama is to be had, that particular detail is important for the plot, etc. Using it can be a powerful tool, but only if you shake it up a little with some semi-distance, distance, and long-distance shots. It'll help draw readers into the story and scene (as well as the world), and help us get to know these characters better by body language and design.

Second, the talk balloons are a little overwhelming in places, overtaking the character's face sometimes. It's a rookie mistake, but it can be fixed easily. Just leave that extra room for your dialogue as you draw. For me, I write the dialogue on the page in that panel before I scan and color it. That way, I know how much space, approx., my words will take up, and I can re-size my character(s) so that they and the dialogue will fit in neatly.

While on the subject of talk balloons, remember that we English speakers read left to right, and we will read a comic that way too, often following the balloons and words around the page. Left to right from the top to the bottom. Make sure that your dialogue is layed out so it will be read in the order you intended. For talk balloons in the same panel for example, the dialogue to be read first should be positioned above and to the right of the dialogue that is to be read second - even if the same character is still speaking. Because a comic is a blending of pictures and written word, you'll need to accomodate for both so that they blend as seemlessly as possible. It is hard at first, but eventually you'll get the hang of it with practice. Even I find myself in difficult situations where I get the poses perfect, but the dialogue/balloons are hard to fit properly so that the are read in the right order while not covering too much of my art.

I think I've thrown in my two-cents for now. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="391" title=" (Smile)"/> I hope I helped. And best of luck to you in continuing this story. I'll be looking forward to reading it! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="366" title=" (Big Grin)"/>