This document describes the process of converting a comic called "The Arcane" into an electricomic while following formal constraints. Specific techniques are discussed such as using iris shots and intertitles like in silent films, and structuring panel sizes and sequences according to the Fibonacci sequence. The electricomic breaks the comic into steps that explain stylistic choices to set an old film tone and pace the revealing of information according to the mathematical structure. Resources for viewing the electricomic online are also provided.

1. 9/29/2015 Skubit Comics Blog: An Electricomic with Formal Constraints: The Arcane
http://blog.skubit.com/2015/09/an­electricomic­with­formal­constraints.html 1/4
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Skubit Comics Blog
Sunday, September 27, 2015
An Electricomic with Formal Constraints: The Arcane
Here I present the method I used for transitioning the first part of The Arcane digital comic into an electricomic.
I'm following in the tradition of Oubapo in providing additional formal constraints, which may not be clear on
first glance.
Step 1:
This is the comic title. The text has four lines, each getting progressively larger according to the fibonacci
sequence. In this case, the sequence of growth is 1-1-2-3. So the first two lines are the same font size.
Step 2:
This is the iris shot. These were employed in silent films. When the film ended, the circle (or the camera lens)
would close. In this case, we are opening the scene with the iris. Also notice the Sepia tone on the frame. This
was a common technique of tinting black-and-white films; and in this case, I used it to give the comic an older
feel.
Step 3:
This is an inter-title, also commonly used in silent films. Notice that the sequence on size is now 1-2-3-5. We've
dropped the first number from the fibonacci sequence. This will be a common pattern on inter-titles as the next
one will start at 2-3 and so on.
Inter-titles are important since we are operating within certain formal constraints. Some panels prove to be
unusable under these constraints so inter-titles help fill in the story gaps.
Step 4:
Here is a standard box-letter frame giving some sense of tension that something is about to happen. I could have
taken a wider view, but I wanted it to still have the feel of an old film in single panel frames.
Shane Isbell
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2. 9/29/2015 Skubit Comics Blog: An Electricomic with Formal Constraints: The Arcane
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Step 5-6:
Speech balloons give a sense of time passing, with balloons at the top of the frame occurring before balloons
below it. In this case I wanted to just show the half of the scene which is spoken first: the right-half. This goes
against natural reading order but makes temporal sense. When the user clicks, the left side of the panel appears,
with the cowboy's response.
Step 7-9:
This panel scene is divided into three panels, flowing from left to right. You may have noticed that the first panel
only shows the speech balloon, not the speaker. The panel below is to the far left.
The reason this is done is because I'm following the fibonacci sequence of 1-1-2 on breaking the panel, which
means a division of 25%, 25%, 50%. If you recall, in Step 5, the panel is divided in half, which is sequence 1-1 or
50%, 50%.
Point: Notice that the panels sizes are also following a fibonacci sequence. The iris shot is single panel (step 2).
This is followed by the initial base scene (step 4), also single panel. And then we have 2 panels (step 5-6) and
then 3 panels (step 7-9). This is the sequence 1-1-2-3, which we will follow throughout the comic.
Step 10:
We are now beginning a new sequence of panels. Like step 2, we are again showing the town but this time some
strangers are in the distance.
Step 11:
Again an inter-title after the first panel in the sequence. This time we are starting the size of the fonts as 1-2,
increasing the size on each line.
Step 12:
One panel
Step 13-14:
The coloring on this was a bit of an accident. I had been using the Sepia feature on Fireworks but as a short-cut I
decided to do it through Mac Preview and the color wasn't as washed out as the other panels. I decided to leave
this in, as many silent films are spliced together from multiple sources and may be of different tints. But again,
you see the 50/50 split of the two panel frame. We are going left-to-right to follow the flow of the speech
balloons.

3. 9/29/2015 Skubit Comics Blog: An Electricomic with Formal Constraints: The Arcane
http://blog.skubit.com/2015/09/an­electricomic­with­formal­constraints.html 3/4
Posted by Shane Isbell at 1:33 PM
Step 15-17
This construction was also an accident, as I didn't have the CSS values correct but I liked the sense of tension as
the panels got progressively larger. We have the 25/25/50 panel sequence of 1-1-2 horizontally. Interestingly, it
follows the same sequence vertically.
Step 18:
This is the 3rd fibonacci sequence (act 3) of the story. It starts with a scene of the strangers in the saloon.
Step 19:
Inter-title, starting with size sequence of 3-5-8. Since this is the 4th title/inter-title, we've dropped the first 3
numbers in the fibonacci sequence. This constraint forces us to minimize the use of inter-titles, otherwise they
will get too large for the screen.
Step 24-26:
I won't go into the all of the rest of the panels, as I think it's clear what the constraints are. I do want to point out
that steps 24-26 are a bit different, as the flow is left panel, right panel and then middle panel. I did this because
the middle panel is farther in the distance, so I wanted it to remain more mysterious until the last. Technically,
this breaks the ordering of the sequence into 1-2-1.
Resources
The elcx file is located at
https://github.com/skubit/thearcane-electricomic/blob/master/arcane.elcxproject/TheArcane.elcx
The YouTube video showing the electricomic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHdG3lWCd8c
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4. 9/29/2015 Skubit Comics Blog: An Electricomic with Formal Constraints: The Arcane
http://blog.skubit.com/2015/09/an­electricomic­with­formal­constraints.html 4/4
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