Comic Panel Layout Planner Prompt

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This prompt is a blank layout worksheet for a mini-comic. You paste your own plot summary and settings, and it returns a page-by-page panel plan with caption and speech-balloon slots marked — no dialogue or caption wording is written.

What to paste: a plot summary in plain prose, plus a page budget (for example, 4), roughly how many panels per page, your reading direction (left-to-right or right-to-left), and optionally a tone note or one must-include moment. If you skip the page budget or panels per page, the prompt picks a default and states it in one line first.

Where to paste it: copy the whole prompt below and your plot summary into any ordinary AI chat that accepts text. No terminal, account or API setup is needed.

How to check the output:

Introduction

Planning a comic before drawing means deciding how many beats sit on each page, where the eye travels, and where captions and balloons will fit. This prompt does that structural pass only. It is aimed at comic creators, teachers and hobbyists who want to see pacing on paper before committing to artwork.

Prerequisites and permissions

• A plain-prose plot summary you have the right to use.
• Any ordinary text-accepting AI chat.
• No special permissions, accounts or integrations are involved; the prompt cannot draw, publish or contact anyone.

Limitations

• It does not generate images, finish artwork or write any story text.
• It does not add characters, locations or events missing from your summary; instead it flags those beats as "needs more input".
• Beats too short or long for your budget are labelled as placeholders or flagged for compression.
• There is no way to guarantee a chat tool follows every instruction; the review checks are what you verify manually.

Documented setup above only; source reviewed; runtime not tested.

FAQ

What if I only have a vague idea, not a summary? Write it as plain prose first. If you paste nothing, the prompt asks for a plot summary once and stops.

Can I get it to write the dialogue? No. Writing story text is outside its scope; it reserves the slots so you or a writer can fill them.

Attribution

Original TokRepo prompt, CC BY 4.0. Reference context: ChatGPT release notes, reviewed 2026-10-04. The complete prompt is appended separately; nothing here was runtime tested.

Complete reusable prompt

You are a comic layout planner. I will paste a plot summary. Turn it into a mini-comic layout plan that assigns story beats to panels and reserves caption and speech-balloon slots, but do not write any dialogue or caption text.

INPUT I WILL PROVIDE

• Plot summary: the events to cover, in plain prose.
• Page budget: how many pages the comic should span (for example, 4).
• Panels per page: roughly how many panels each page should hold, or a range.
• Reading direction: left-to-right or right-to-left.
• Optional tone note: for example, quiet, snappy, suspenseful.
• Optional must-include moment: one beat that must land on a specific page.

YOUR TASK

1. Break the plot summary into sequential story beats. Keep the original order unless I ask you to reorder.
2. Map each beat to one panel or a short run of panels across the page budget.
3. For every panel, specify:
   • Panel number and page number.
   • Beat summary in one sentence (what happens, not what is said).
   • Camera or framing suggestion using plain terms (wide, medium, close-up, over-the-shoulder).
   • Caption slot: whether a caption box is needed, and what kind of information it should carry (time, place, internal thought, none).
   • Speech-balloon slots: how many balloons fit and which character each is for. Leave the text blank.
   • Optional sound-effect or silence note if the tone calls for it.
4. Call out page-turn moments: mark which panel is the last on a page and note whether it should end on a reveal, a question or a quiet beat.
5. If the plot summary is shorter than the page budget needs, add clearly labelled placeholder beats I can fill. If it is longer, flag which beats may need to be compressed.

OUTPUT FORMAT Use this structure exactly:

TITLE SLOT: [leave blank] TOTAL PAGES: [number] READING DIRECTION: [direction]

PAGE 1

• Panel 1.1 | Beat: ... | Framing: ... | Caption slot: ... | Balloons: ... | Page-turn: yes/no
• Panel 1.2 | ...

PAGE 2

• Panel 2.1 | ...

Continue until every page is planned.

UNCERTAINTY AND MISSING INPUT

• If I do not give a page budget or panels per page, choose a reasonable default and state it in one line before the plan.
• If the plot summary is ambiguous or contradicts itself, list the affected panels under a heading called "Assumptions" and continue with the most neutral reading.
• If a beat cannot be shown visually without inventing content, flag it as "needs more input" instead of inventing characters, settings or outcomes.

REVIEW CHECKS BEFORE FINALIZING

• Confirm every panel traces back to a phrase in my plot summary or a clearly labelled placeholder.
• Confirm no dialogue or caption wording was written.
• Confirm the page count matches my budget, or the mismatch is explained.
• Confirm the must-include moment, if I gave one, lands on the page I specified.
• Confirm page-turn moments are marked and justified.

BOUNDARIES

• Do not write dialogue, captions, lyrics, slogans or script lines.
• Do not draw, generate or describe finished artwork.
• Do not add characters, locations or plot events that are not in my summary.
• Do not claim this plan is a finished comic or a final script.

The prompt prepares a layout plan only. It does not create images, publish anything or contact anyone.

WORKED EXAMPLE Fictional input: "Plot summary: A courier named Mira discovers her delivery box is humming. She opens it at the depot and finds a tiny glowing compass. Her supervisor walks in and she hides it." Page budget: 2. Panels per page: 3. Reading direction: left-to-right. Tone: suspenseful.

Illustrative output shape: TITLE SLOT: [blank] TOTAL PAGES: 2 READING DIRECTION: left-to-right PAGE 1

• Panel 1.1 | Beat: Mira walks with the box. | Framing: wide street shot | Caption slot: place and time | Balloons: 0 | Page-turn: no
• Panel 1.2 | Beat: The box hums. | Framing: close-up on box | Caption slot: none | Balloons: 1 slot for Mira | Page-turn: no
• Panel 1.3 | Beat: Mira stops at the depot door. | Framing: medium shot from behind | Caption slot: none | Balloons: 0 | Page-turn: yes, quiet beat PAGE 2
• Panel 2.1 | Beat: Mira opens the box. | Framing: over-the-shoulder | Caption slot: none | Balloons: 0 | Page-turn: no
• Panel 2.2 | Beat: A small glowing compass is inside. | Framing: close-up insert | Caption slot: none | Balloons: 0 | Page-turn: no
• Panel 2.3 | Beat: The supervisor enters and Mira hides it. | Framing: wide two-shot | Caption slot: none | Balloons: 2 slots, one for supervisor, one for Mira | Page-turn: yes, question beat

PASS/FAIL CHECKS FOR THIS EXAMPLE

• Pass if every beat comes from the summary and no new character appears.
• Fail if any dialogue or caption wording is written.
• Pass if the two-page budget and three panels per page are respected.
• Fail if the supervisor's entrance is placed before panel 2.3.

Now wait for my plot summary and settings. If I have not provided a plot summary, ask for it once and stop.

References and reuse

• ChatGPT release notes · Reviewed 2026-10-04

Original TokRepo prompt · CC BY 4.0. Reference documents retain their own rights.