b o a p

As already mentioned Noda-sensei offten arranges the frames so the direction of the main lines is set by the gaze or the hands/arms/body and often converge at the one point. More examples of it:

Sometimes Noda-sensei also uses the reflection of the lines to emphasize the opposite of the characters or to show the agony of choice/hesitation.

I have already given the last page for the Loomis method as an example, but I really love this one because the reflection is not only in the lines, but also in the actual position of the characters (on the main line) in space, as if reflected in a lake!

Also, this use of lines is very similar to the tattoos of Abashiri prisoners, which may be a coincidence... unless?

Perhaps the methods used by Noda have a different name, but they are very similar to those that I described. And this approach to composition has too pronounced a system to be just an accident.

In conclusion, over the years of drawing the Golden Kamuy, Noda-sensei has honed his skills almost to perfection. Already from the middle of the manga, you can see that he began to understand volumes and shapes better, control the line and composition. I admire his work endlessly, it brings me boundless delight. Huge huge love for Golden Kamuy, thank you, Noda Satoru, for it.

P.S.: some of the lines I drew roughly, so it's okay if you see a main line differently, the composition is a very flexible thing.

I have endless admiration for Noda as an artist and writer. He perfectly prescribes the characters, skillfully builds the plot. But what I admire most as an artist is his work with composition.

Composition as such is based primarily on shapes and lines. They work together, complementing each other to create the perfect picture.

Different artists have different approaches to composition. Someone relies more on shapes in their work (and then the whole composition can be written into simple shapes such as a triangle, ellipse or rectangle). Someone tends to the lines and takes as a basis their dynamics. Someone, of course, combines them. But Noda-sensei belongs to the second category, so we will talk more about it.

One way to make a composition better is to adhere to the SCI rule, according to which the elements in a composition are arranged around one of three lines: S, C or I. Sometimes it's not so clear: very rarely do artists roughly draw these axes with a single line. But building auxiliary lines around them that guide the composition according to the desired movement is a more common case.

I do not know if Noda has studied this method or rediscovered it, but he definitely uses it, and prefers to use C- or S-lines as a basis (the main movement is highlighted in crimson, and auxiliary movements are highlighted in orange).

Another method that Noda-sensei often uses is the Andrew Loomis composition method. It is based on several intersecting lines, and objects are superimposed on them.

Noda-sensei prefers to use the Loomis method on pages with a large number of frames and a complex composition.

As you can see, Noda-sensei offten arranges the frames so that their movements converge at the same point. The main movements themselves are not necessarily tied to strict lines: very often the direction is set by the gaze or the hands/arms/body.