Sunday 15 November 2020

Nothing Lost

 Hello Reader(s)

Here we are again, another week older, and with luck a bit wiser. OOOH, and more importantly, here is Flight of Fancy's latest page.

















Page 15

Well, finally a close up of our protagonist!

You probably know this already, Mr. Ghost, but I have difficulty coming up with designs for female characters.  I think it has something to do with the hair - how the heck do women style it?  What looks good, what doesn't?

I (deftly) worked around this conundrum by having our hero with really short, Mia Farrow Rosemary's Baby short short hair. I think it works... A) because I think I can draw this person page after page, but also because B) she's a pilot in the military - fashion takes a back seat to skill, discipline and all that. Problem solved!

I really like the drawing in the first panel - the outside of the field hospital. Instantly recognizable for what it is, but also interesting. Buuuut... that's just part of the story. 

This was the first hospital I drew, and while it looks really good, I got thinking that I wanted our hero still in the place where the crash took place, which is probably some base overseas where there aren't fancy hospitals like this one. And here we have another reason / example of why it is great drawing in a crappy lined paper exercise book... who cares if the image is wrong or doesn't work.  Erase it down or turn the page and get at it. No damage done! Nothing really lost!


3 comments:

  1. BOTH field hospitals look great but - you're right - the new one looks more military-like.

    And we finally get a good look at our hero! And she looks great! The hair looks good and seems realistic and her face is really well modelled.

    Again, it's kind of funny that you bring your animator habits to the comic book medium -- you basically animate the hero in the last two panels. Weird but good!


    Illustrated Ghost

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  2. Yes, I guess it is kind of animated, but the audience is getting to know this person. They need to see their emotions as they change and happen.

    Also, comics / graphic novels have the power to slow the reader, which gives them time to consider the story and characters. It holds them there.

    I thought by breaking this action across two panels it would be stronger and slow the reader a bit, making the character more understandable and her emotions more palpable.

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  3. And -- it works! We've been wanting to see her face for so long that we're very interested now in everything about her.


    Illustrated Ghost

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Thanks for your input!