How to extend a comic panel without redrawing the art

Last updated 2026-09-22 · 8 min read

What is the short version?

The panel shows two characters from the chest up, because that is simply where the border fell. You need the same panel with more of them visible, drawn in the same art, without the dialogue moving or the faces changing in any way.

1. Tell Vizard Agent to extend the art, not enlarge or redraw it.
2. Name what must stay identical — faces, balloons, background.
3. Check the proportions before anything else.

What do you need before you start?

The image at full resolution, plus any reference material you have for the characters. Vizard Agent works from the panel itself, but a reference sheet makes the extended parts match the artist's own proportions rather than defaulting to a generic figure that does not belong in the series.

• The image. Full size, not a screenshot.
• What to extend. Downwards, sideways, or both.
• Character references. If the series has them.
• What must not change. Faces, dialogue, line weight.
• Where the new edge is. The panel border, or further.

What do you type into Vizard Agent?

Say "using the existing image" and mean it. Otherwise the request reads as "draw me this panel", and what comes back is a new picture of two similar characters rather than your panel with more of it visible.

Prompt

Variants worth knowing:

• "Using the existing artwork." Extend, not invent.
• "Do not redraw the faces." The part readers know best.
• "In proportion to the heads." The check that catches the usual failure.

What does Vizard Agent actually do?

Here is the Vizard Agent sequence on a page where two panels overlapped and both of them needed completing. The interesting part is the middle, where it takes three separate passes to get one pair of torsos right and the third one works by removing something.

1. Opens the image and works out where the two panels divide.
2. Generates test crops to confirm the split before committing.
3. Checks the framing alternatives visually, then produces both panels at high quality with the overlap kept.
4. Opens the character references supplied for the series.
5. Rebuilds each panel as a complete image, using the original art as the source.
6. Redoes the larger panel preserving the conversation at the top and extending only the background.
7. Completes the two figures down to the bottom edge without enlarging the crop.
8. Retries the torso extension more conservatively, leaving the upper part untouched.
9. Corrects the anatomy by scaling the torsos and shoulders up in proportion.
10. Rebuilds from the base version showing torsos only, keeping the arms out of frame.
11. Reconstructs the left side as a continuation of the main panel, preserving the explosion behind it.
12. Rebuilds the frame just before an impact from a supplied pose reference.
13. Replaces one arm crossing the scene while keeping the rest of the composition.

Steps eight to ten are the useful sequence to copy. The first extension is too timid, the second is anatomically wrong, and the third works because it removes the thing that was causing the problem: at that camera height the arms would not be visible at all, so drawing them was the mistake.

Step six is the discipline that keeps the panel yours. Extending only the background, and explicitly preserving the dialogue at the top, means the part readers actually look at is bit-for-bit the original.

Step two is worth doing on any overlapping layout. Panels that share a colour palette are genuinely ambiguous, and a test crop settles where the border is before any reconstruction happens on the wrong side of it.

What does the result look like?

The same panel with more of the scene in it: the original faces, dialogue and line style untouched, the figures continued in proportion, and the background extended to the new edge. The extension is meant to be invisible, and you check it by looking for the seam rather than for the art.

When does this not work well?

Some panels cannot be extended convincingly. Heavy stylisation, hatching that runs in one direction, or a panel where the character is cut off at an ambiguous angle all give an extension that reads as a different artist's work.

• Strong hatching or texture. The new area cannot match the pattern.
• Distinctive line weight. The join shows in the strokes.
• Ambiguous poses. What is below the crop is a guess.
• Very low resolution scans. Nothing to continue from.
• Panels where the crop is the composition. Extending ruins it.

How do you fix a result that came back wrong?

Describe the anatomy rather than your impression of the picture. "The torsos are too small for the heads" is a note Vizard Agent can act on precisely, whereas saying it looks off simply produces another pass with the same proportions as before.

• "The bodies are too small." The torsos and shoulders are scaled in proportion.
• "The arms should not be visible." The figure is rebuilt without them.
• "The faces changed." The reconstruction is redone preserving the original faces.
• "The line style does not match." The extension is matched to the original weight.

How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?

By hand this is drawing, and if you can draw it you probably would. What makes it slow for everyone else is that the mistakes are not obvious until they are pointed out — the torsos look plausible until somebody says the heads are too big, and then it is all you can see.

Common questions

Can it keep my speech balloons? Yes. Name them and Vizard Agent reconstructs around them.

What if two panels overlap? Vizard Agent splits them with test crops first, then completes each separately.

Can it match my line style? Closely, when the resolution allows — Vizard Agent works from your own strokes.

Can it use character references? Yes, and they help — supply them with the panel.

Will it change the colours? No, unless you ask. Vizard Agent takes the palette from the panel.

Can it extend sideways as well? Yes. Vizard Agent can continue a background element such as an explosion.

Can it rebuild a frame that was never drawn? It can propose one from a pose reference, which is a drawing job, not an extension.

What about text in the panel? Vizard Agent preserves it, or replaces one balloon without touching the others.

Is this only for comics? No. Vizard Agent extends any cropped illustration or photograph the same way.

What resolution do I need? As high as you have — Vizard Agent's extension inherits the source's detail.

Can it do a whole page? Yes. Vizard Agent works panel by panel so each one can be checked.

Will the join be visible? That is what you check for. Tell Vizard Agent where you see it.

Can it fix the anatomy in the original? Yes, but say so — otherwise the original is preserved exactly.

How many passes does this usually take? Two or three with Vizard Agent; the anatomy note is almost always the second.