Sunday 11 April 2021

Adding Drama While Keeping It Together

 Hello Faithful Reader(s) - you know who(se) you(s) are!

Today I've got a page for you, but a little more "behind the scenes" stuff. Don't get too excited, because, well, it's just a panel I dropped, but still!  OOOH, behind the scenes stuff!  OOH!

















Page 42

OK, this page turned out pretty well and it's a nice break from camera angles outside the jets to right inside a cockpit as seen in the first panel. I think it is dynamic and especially helped by making the panel dividers on diagonals and tilting the camera view a bit.

I like how the 2nd divider angle is less sharp, which (I think) helps suggest some return to normalcy between the 2nd and 3rd panels.  

I hope the action on the 2nd panel is clear - that the jets just missed each other. I could have drawn them closer together just as they pass one another.  Perhaps I should go back and do that - yes, if I ever go back and work on this thing in a more finished way, bla bla bla.

Adjusting the proximity of the planes in the 2nd panel might also help the 3rd panel in that it would look less similar than they do at present.

Ah, but let's talk about that behind the scenes stuff that I mentioned at the start.






This panel was initially the first panel on the page - it is quite like the current 2nd panel on the page above and it skips over the near-collision and kills the drama. We need to see that "OH NO, they're too close" moment, and I think it worked best to show it in a more "first person" way. 

So, this again speaks to my preference for drawing in crappy lined paper books - I can add, change, remove panels pretty easily while still keeping the story together and orderly. These books make it easy to go back in a previous scribbler and see what happened or review a design.  Also, those printed blue lines - yes they look pretty bad in this rough form, really help me control and manage the pages and panels. I guess I find it funny that I need and want some containment on the story pages to keep it manageable.  Ha!

 

3 comments:

  1. Another great page + behind the scenes factoids -- cool!

    I like the page a lot and I really love the action that the jets are going through. I didn't love one little aspect of the last frame -- the one jet is partially off the bottom of the panel and it just looks... wrong. It somehow grounds the jet. It takes away all speed and elegance. I know it's a minor thing but - bah - I just instinctively don't like it.

    I DO like - or even love - the first panel! VERY cool. We're somehow both inside and outside the jet cockpit at the same time. Inventive, dynamic -- cool!


    Illustrated Ghost

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  2. I see and agree with your displeasure with the last panel and how it suggests the lower jet is grounded. I wanted it to look like it was flying beside or around the near-collision action. Needs a re-working.

    The first panel where it looks like you're both in and out of the cockpit, yes, that is kind of neat. I don't think it would look quite that way because the camera would be intersecting with the canopy, so light, reflections and distortion from the glass would obstruct the views, but since this is drawn, well... I can get away with it.

    I have no idea how they'll film it when they get to it... you do know this has just been optioned by Clint Eastwood's film company right? He saw it as an updated, re-imagined Firefox!

    I'm excited about that, but still waiting on the cheque.

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  3. The jet doesn't look literally grounded but it just kinda feels less free and fast and flying. Maybe it's just me being weird.

    A Firefox reboot - whoo-ee!


    Illustrated Ghost

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Thanks for your input!