Panel (cut)

Meaning

A panel is one drawn unit of a webtoon. It is the "frame" of printed comics, except that in a vertical-scroll webtoon frames are not arranged on a page but flow in a single column from top to bottom. A panel therefore has no horizontal placement, only height. An episode usually runs 50 to 80 panels, with heights ranging from a few dozen pixels (a fast reaction beat) to more than a full screen (a decisive moment). Just as a "cut" in film is a unit of editing, a webtoon panel is a unit that slices time. One panel is one moment.

Why it matters

In a webtoon the panel is the unit of time. How long a reader looks at a panel is proportional to its height and information, and the gap after it becomes a pause or a beat of silence. When adapting a web novel, the writer controls two things: which moments become panels (selection) and how large each one is (emphasis). The novel's "he stared at the bankbook for a long time" becomes one bankbook panel filling the screen with a long gap below it. Counting panels also matters. Panels per episode equal the artist's workload, and the decision to split one novel chapter into two webtoon episodes comes from the panel count.

Example

Breaking one paragraph of prose into panels.

Novel: Doyun raised the radio. Go in alone and Yuri lives. And he is alone again. He spoke into the radio. "Left stairwell, then."

Panel breakdown:

• Panel 1 (medium) Doyun raises the radio, back to the door.
• Panel 2 (small) Close on the radio. Yuri's voice in a balloon: "I'm not leaving."
• Panel 3 (very tall) Doyun's face, half in shadow. No dialogue. Just the eyes.
• [Gap]
• Panel 4 (small) Doyun's hand pressing the radio button.
• Panel 5 (medium) Doyun opens his mouth. Balloon: "Left stairwell, then."

The novel's two interior sentences ("Yuri lives. He is alone again") became the tall face panel and the gap. They are not written. The reader reads them while scrolling past that face.

Common mistakes

• Too much per panel. Three characters, two lines and background exposition in one panel leaves the reader unsure where to look. One panel, one piece of information.
• Skipping reaction panels. After an event comes the face of the person who saw it. Reaction panels make the emotion.
• Adapting without counting. If novel chapter 1 becomes 120 panels, it must be two episodes. Panel count decides episode count.