Analysing a Page
A strong analysis does not list techniques. It builds an interpretation from specific choices on the page and connects them to a claim about the whole text. Start with what is there, then explain what it does.
The six-step routine
| Step | Question | Sentence starter |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Locate | Where is this page, and what is happening in the story? | "On the page where..." |
| 2. Observe | What exactly do we see, and how is it arranged? | "The page uses... and..." |
| 3. Analyse | How do layout, panel, colour and text work together? | "The narrow panels and muted palette make..." |
| 4. Interpret | What does this invite the reader to think or feel? | "This positions the reader to..." |
| 5. Connect | How does it support a claim about the whole text? | "This supports the novel's argument that..." |
| 6. Qualify | What else could this page be doing? | "However, the page also..." |
What to look at
| Element | Questions |
|---|---|
| Panel | What shape and size? What is included and excluded? Where is the camera? |
| Gutter | What happens between panels? How much time passes? What must the reader infer? |
| Layout | What is the reading path? Where does the eye go first? Is the grid stable or broken? |
| Colour | What dominates? What contrasts? Is the palette warm, cool, muted or saturated? |
| Character | How is the figure designed? What does posture or expression show? |
| Words | What do captions, dialogue and sound effects add? What do they leave out? |
| Page turn | What is withheld or revealed? |
Observation language
| Instead of... | Write... |
|---|---|
| "The page is dark." | "Most of the page is deep blue and black, with one yellow window." |
| "The panels are small." | "Nine narrow panels are arranged in three tiers, each showing a close-up of a hand or object." |
| "The character looks sad." | "Her shoulders are hunched, her mouth is a flat line and she looks down at the floor." |
| "There is a lot of text." | "Four caption boxes and three speech balloons fill the upper half of the panel." |
| "The page is confusing." | "The eye is pulled from the bottom-left panel to the top-right by a bright red object, against the reading direction." |
Model paragraph
On the page where the protagonist returns to the boarded-up house, the layout breaks from the regular grid used earlier in the chapter. A single wide panel shows the house, but the lower third of the page is divided into four narrow panels of the same cracked window. The repetition slows the reader down and makes the house feel both enormous and inescapable. The muted brown palette is interrupted only by a red bicycle in the foreground, which recalls the bicycle on the opening page. This supports the novel's argument that the past is not left behind but keeps returning in ordinary objects.
| Move | Where it appears |
|---|---|
| Locate | "On the page where the protagonist returns..." |
| Observe | "A single wide panel... four narrow panels... muted brown palette... red bicycle..." |
| Analyse | "The repetition slows the reader down and makes the house feel..." |
| Interpret | "This supports the novel's argument that..." |
| Connect | "recalls the bicycle on the opening page" |
Writing an introduction
Name the graphic novel, the creator or creative team if known, and your interpretation of its central idea. Avoid a plot summary.
Model. "The Long Way Home" (a fictional teaching example) follows a boy who finds a note addressed to his future self. Through a restrained palette and a repeating motif of rain, the comic argues that growing up is less a matter of leaving the past behind than of learning how to carry it.
Analysis planner
| Field | Your notes |
|---|---|
| Page and context | |
| Panel layout | |
| Reading path | |
| Colour and light | |
| Character design | |
| Words and image | |
| Effect on the reader | |
| Claim about the whole text | |
| Alternative reading |
Common errors
- Retelling. Describing the plot instead of the page's construction.
- Technique spotting. Naming a gutter or a close-up without explaining its effect.
- Ignoring the page. Analysing one panel as if the rest of the page did not exist.
- Mind reading. Claiming what the artist intended without evidence from the text.
- Overgeneralising. Using one page to characterise the whole graphic novel.
- No claim. Offering observations that do not add up to an interpretation.
Next, apply the analysis to your own comic plan.