Will Eisner's The Spirit may be the Ur-Example of using unusual page layouts to visually reinforce story elements.A situation involving recursion or infinite regress might be drawn as panels within panels, getting smaller to the point of invisibility.Two characters flirting might be drawn in a heart-shaped panel.A character who is very angry might be drawn in.To reinforce a character's thoughts, the theme of a conversation, or a theme of the work in general.A character picking a lock might be depicted in a key-shaped panel.The path of a bullet might be drawn in a panel which spans the page left-to-right, but only occupies a small amount of vertical space.If broken glass is involved, the panels might be shaped like jagged fragments of broken glass.An explosion might be depicted in a jagged, pointy.

'Pop-up' panels around a central illustration might depict different characters' reactions.Two triangular panels joined along their hypotenuses depict the events. Two events are happening simultaneously in different places.

Comic life 3 how to shape panels