Mac McCool, MSB : The Right Width of Gutters

Comic Illustrator and Gallery Comic artist Mac McCool made a short but interesting "pointer" post on another blog concerning page comics:

"In comic art, the "gutter" defines the space between panels. How wide should gutters be? Generally, not so far apart that the panels seem disconnected and no longer belonging to a meaningful visual group and reading sequence (fig. 1). When the gutter width is small enough, the page looks like a pictorial unit (figs. 2 & 3). However, most artists do not reduce the gutter to a single line (fig. 3), and we'll see the pros and cons of this approach in another post. Still, if you have the heart of an experimenter, one device with which very few comic artists have tinkered is gutter widths, especially varying gutter widths."

What are the various equivalents of the gutter on the wall and in space? Clearly empty wall space is one. And that appears to work similar to Mac's suggestion. Yet in several canvases which were also gallery comics, abuttment seemed to work better than white space. Hmm.