Panel of the Day #7
Added 2019-07-31 21:57:51 +0000 UTC"Frankenstein," as reprinted in "Frankenstein: A Junji Ito Story Collection" (VIZ Media)
Written and drawn by Junji Ito
This panel rocks. First off, the rendering on The Monster's cloak is killer, and totally sells the threat he presents. The way Ito frames William is also masterful, tucked to the left (remember, manga is read right-to-left, so he's technically the second character you'd see), but also as he stands in front of the nearly-spot-blacked tree to really make him pop against the densely detailed background. To further highlight William, he's the only element that's rendered with screen tone, which helps him further stand out against all the detailed pen work.
Speaking of the pen work, there's a ton of it, but Ito knows where to go heavy and where to lighten up. He uses a ton of frenetic rendering on the background which lets you know it's there and it's dense, but also *kind of* washes it out, whereas there's a lot of rendering on The Monster but it's mostly just heavy blacks with some hatching to add a little texture and value. Had he rendered The Monster the same way as the background, odds are it would all blend into mush. Lastly, William is practically ligne-claire, he's so sparsely rendered, but he's also a child, and the more you render a child, the less childlike they look.
There's a lot going on in this panel, but all of it shows just how masterful Ito is in his approach. It's really awesome.
