How Film Nerds Can Use Manga To Learn Storyboarding & Visual Storytelling

If you already think in shots, cuts, and camera moves, manga is basically free film school sitting on a bookshelf. You get to watch directors at work on paper, using only black ink and white space to control your eyes.

Manga artists plan pages almost like storyboards. Every panel is a shot. Every page turn is a cut. If you study how they do it, visual storytelling and storyboarding start to feel less mysterious and much more fun. This guide walks through simple ways to learn from manga, with a few concrete series like Kaiju No. 8 and The Saga of Tanya the Evil that are great for action-heavy, cinematic layouts.

Why Manga Is a Secret Weapon for Film Storyboarding Skills

A manga page works a lot like a storyboard for a scene. You have boxes (panels) that show moments in time, laid out in a clear order. Your eye follows the panels like a camera moving through a sequence.

If you already pause movies to check framing or camera angles, you can do the exact same thing with your favourite volumes. You still get shot types, staging, and blocking, but you can stare at a single frame for as long as you want. No actor rolling their eyes while you adjust a tripod.

Action-heavy series are especially helpful. Giant monster fights, war scenes, or magic battles show clear movement from panel to panel. You can read them as “how to” guides for staging chaos so it still feels clear and readable.

For a deeper breakdown of how manga pages are planned, it helps to look at guides like Boords’ overview on how to storyboard for a manga, then compare those ideas to the books on your shelf.

Manga panels are like camera shots on the page

Think of every panel as a shot type you already know:

• A close-up on eyes to build tension before a punch.
• A medium shot of two characters facing off to show their body language.
• A wide shot of a ruined city to set the scene before a kaiju appears.

Reading a page from top to bottom is like watching a series of edits. Close-up, cut to wide, cut to reaction. Some artists even use “over-the-shoulder” panels that look exactly like film coverage.

Next time you read a fight scene, call out the shots in your head. “Wide. Close-up. Low angle. Insert.” This trains you to think in images first, before touching a camera.

How manga teaches pacing, tension, and quiet moments

Panel size and shape control the rhythm of a scene. Lots of small panels with tight framing can make a chase feel fast and frantic. Your eye jumps across the page, so the scene feels like quick cuts.

A huge splash panel, or a panel that stretches across the page, slows you down. Your brain goes “wow, big moment”, which makes it perfect for reveals, explosions, or a character’s final move.

Good manga also gives space to quiet beats. A single panel of a character walking home at night, or staring at their hands, can hold a calm mood for a long time. Studying these “nothing happens” panels teaches you how to sit in a feeling, not just in action.

How to Study Manga Like a Filmmaker and Turn Pages into Storyboards

Here is a simple process you can follow in one afternoon, using any action or adventure series with clear art.

 

Step 1: Choose manga with clear, cinematic action and layouts

Not every manga is equally easy to study. For storyboarding practice, look for:

• Strong action or movement, like fights, battles, or chase scenes.
• Clean line art that is not too cluttered.
• Panels that are easy to follow in order.

Monster battle series are perfect for this. If you want something recent with chunky creature action and bold framing, try a volume like Kaiju No. 8 B-Side – Volume 2 manga. For more tactical staging and military blocking, a war and magic series such as Saga of Tanya the Evil – Volume 23 is packed with planes, trenches, and command rooms laid out like film sets.

When you flip through, ask yourself: “Can I tell what is happening without reading the text?” If the answer is yes, it is a good study book.

Step 2: Read once for fun, then re-read to mark shots and angles

First pass is simple. Just read a chapter for fun. Get into the story and let the flow carry you.

On the second pass, grab a pencil and some sticky notes:

1. Look at each panel and label the shot type. For example: CU (close-up), MS (medium shot), WS (wide shot), LA (low angle), HA (high angle).
2. Say the shot out loud as you mark it. “Close-up of her hand.” “Low angle of the tank.” It feels silly, but it sticks in your brain.
3. Circle any panels where the “camera” moves in an interesting way between shots, like a sudden jump from a calm wide shot to an extreme close-up.

You are teaching your eyes how artists guide the viewer through a scene. Over time, your brain starts doing this on its own whenever you read or watch something.

If you want extra structure for this step, you can borrow ideas from guides like StudioBinder’s manga storyboard template, then rough the same grid out by hand.

Step 3: Turn a favourite scene into your own storyboard

Now it is time to get your hands dirty.

1. Pick one or two pages from a big moment. A punch landing, a character death, a huge reveal, or even a quiet talk that hit you hard.
2. On blank paper, draw a grid of boxes. These are your storyboard frames.
3. Copy the sequence in simple stick figures and boxes. Keep it rough. No one else has to see it.
4.  

Once you have the basic boards, play editor. Ask yourself where you might trim or add a shot. Maybe you add an extra close-up to stretch the tension, or remove a panel that repeats the same idea.

This step teaches you that pacing is not fixed. You can shape it.

Step 4: Apply manga tricks to your own short film or animation

Take what you just learned and plug it into your next project.

Before filming or animating, print your script or scene outline. For each beat, sketch tiny manga-style panels in the margins:

• Decide when to use a close-up versus a wide shot.
• Mark where you want a “silent panel” with no dialogue.
• Steal one or two panel ideas from your study manga and adapt them. For example, a three-panel reaction (shock, denial, acceptance), or a long, page-wide frame for your big reveal.

You do not need to plan every frame in detail. Even a quick manga pass gives you a stronger visual plan before you hit record.

Simple Tips to Build Visual Storytelling Habits From Manga

Once you have tried the steps above, you can keep growing your skills just by reading smarter.

Pause on pages that grab you and ask why they work

Any time a page makes you stop and stare, take 20 seconds to unpack it.

Look at:

• The angle. Is it high, low, or eye level?
• The panel size. Big, tiny, or a mix?
• Where the characters stand in the frame.
• Where sound effects and speech bubbles sit.

Jot down a quick note in the margin or in a notebook. Over time you build an instinct for “what looks good”, which then leaks into your own boards and shot lists.

Steal like a film nerd: build a swipe file of great panels

Keep a folder, sketchbook, or phone album just for strong panels. Photocopy, print, or redraw them.

Under each one, write a tag, like:

• “Great low angle for villain intro”
• “Nice quiet close-up before kiss”
• “Clean staging for three characters at a table”

When you are stuck planning a scene, flip through your swipe file. You are not stealing stories, only panel ideas and staging tricks. It is a personal visual library you can reach for any time.

Conclusion

Manga is a cheap, fun way to train your eye for storyboarding without needing gear, actors, or a studio. You get to study how artists control shots, pacing, and emotion, all inside a stack of paper.

Pick clear, cinematic series, read them once for story, then go back to label shots, study panel flow, and turn favourite pages into your own rough boards. Bring those tricks into your next short film, animation, or YouTube video, even if it is only a few sketchy panels in your notebook.

If you spend just a few minutes a week looking at manga like a filmmaker, your storyboards will feel sharper, your shots will feel more intentional, and your next project will be much easier to plan.