What is Sequential Art?

Sequential art describes art forms that use images in a deliberate order to tell a story or convey information. It’s most recognisable in comics, manga, webtoons and graphic novels, where panels guide the reader’s eye and build a narrative through juxtaposed images, often supported by text. Coined by Will Eisner, the term covers any carefully arranged sequence of pictures (and sometimes words) that creates meaning, movement and emotion. The spaces between panels become just as important as the panels themselves, as readers infer what happens in between.