Saturday, 17 July 2021

Summer Fling

 Hello Faithful, Unfailing Readers!

Well... it's been a while and I've been delinquent, so I'm rewarding your patience with a number of pages!  WHOO HOO!!


 
















Page 57

















Page 58

















Page 59

















Page 60

















Page 61

Ok, so as the title of this post suggests, we're in the romance part of the story here!  Sorry IG, but I had to do it, and (*spoiler alert*), there will be more!

Let's get right into it.  

The first page here, Page 57 is a carry-over from the last post and an end of the scene.  Perhaps you remember I was trying to wrap that sequence, well I finally did.  Fancy is abrupt, but then she asks Dave to follow up on the "relays", whatever they are! Nice drawings here, nice flow, good poses. The first panel of Fancy is one of my favorites.

On page 58 we're back at Fancy's Mom's house - there's that nice flat perspective again for the establishing shot! Panels 2 and 3 are interesting and dynamic in how the conversation continues while the "camera" moves to the pill bottles on the side table. The panel of Fancy backing out of the room was especially tough - I didn't want to draw the interior of Mom's bedroom, but had to make it understandable about where Fancy was.  I hope it communicates clearly. I wondered if I should put Lawrence just behind her to better link up to the next page.

Ah, and the communication from page 58 to 59, when Fancy finally (FINALLY!!!) hugs Lawrence and opens up her heart a bit.  I was careful to try to show as much of the character's faces as possible to show their emotions (I think you suggested I do just that a bunch of pages earlier, and you didn't think I was paid attention or took your suggestions, but HA!! I did!  And it worked, so there! Who's the smarty pants now, IG?!).  This was a tough drawing but I like how it worked out.  I also like how in the next panel the camera focuses on the teapot, and then pulls back in the next panel to situate the characters. I think this was a subtle and smooth transition in time and location.

Page 60. Hard to draw hands, especially people holding hands but I got it working pretty well. Nice drawings here. In the next panel, I think the characters look too cartoony.  Alas, sometimes you win, sometimes not, but I left it because it worked. Incidentally, I noticed some Archie comics recently and wondered if I should simplify the character designs to look more like those designs, but... well still considering. I like how the mood changes suddenly here... Fancy said something and now Lawrence isn't so happy.

Page 60 flows quite nicely from the previous. Nice drawings, characters look like they are in the location. Drawing characters kissing isn't easy, but success!... and the last panel... skunky drawing of Fancy, but... well, I guess it's ok, but she has a goofy expression, which works, which is why I kept it.

So there you go.  I hope you like these pages and I look forward (as always) to you insightful comments and crazy suggestions! And sheesh, try to take some vacation already, I will if you will!