Going Back

Hello Readers.

I hope you will remain readers after today... we shall see because, well... 

Did I ever mention I'm terrible at telling jokes, and by extension, stories?  Well, yes.  Unlike you, IG, I'm one of those people who get half way through telling a joke or story when they realize that they missed delivering some pertinent information that is required to make the punchline or the story really work.

More on that after the pages.

 

Page 78

Page 79

Ok first, about the artwork, composition and panels on these pages.  I love them.  I think they turned out great.  Great drawings, interesting angles, especially the last on page 79.  I know it is kind of hard to see the people in the bottom right of the panel, but whether you do or not, I think the composition provides a sense of foreboding.  

I get that the man in the longer tunic looks a lot like Lawrence and I agree, it can be confusing as to who this person is.  I hope that will come clear as you see more pages.

I also get that there isn't much info delivered here.  This sequence takes a few pages.  Hang in there!

But about my deficiency as a story teller... I got to the start of page 78 and realized that I hadn't given ANY backstory to Lawrence and to make his actions clear and understandable, I was going to have to. Remember, the storyteller who didn't give pertinent information soon enough?  Yep, that's me!  I did it again!

Much as I didn't want to do a flashback, I couldn't see how to tell his backstory in any other way.

Ok, so for these pages and the next few, it's not a big deal, and the telling is fairly straight forward... but... UG... I gotta go back and add more backstory, which means inserting pages between ones you have already seen.  I'm not sure how I'm going to do that.

I might just post those pages as usual and then tell you where they go, and then after  a few weeks, add those panels into the posts so it looks all seamless like.  Who will know the difference?  Just you and me, IG!

Dancing with the Stars

Hello Hello!

Funny thing... yesterday I got a comment on my blog... from someone new!!  I was jazzed, I thought, WOW, I'm finally getting an audience... not that you aren't audience enough for me, IG, but still!

But the comment was about using a particular sort of saw to do some special woodworking. 

I kinda think it was a scam.

How does that relate to today's installment?  Well, let's look at the pages first...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 76

Page 77

 

Well... ROMANCE! and by that, I mean SEX.  We've finally gotten to that part in the relationship!  It was hard to put this off so long, which I tried to do to make it a bit more realistic and also, I hope, build the chemistry between the characters.

I had the flight sequence in mind for some time, and knew I wanted to use that "Fly me to the moon" song. I think it all worked out well, and what could be more romantic than flying around an actual sky with a special someone than around a dance floor wearing patent leather shoes?!

And the sudden jump from the flight to them in bed, the song still playing, worked out pretty smoothly.

I really like page 77.  Nice drawings, no nudity (sorry, IG) but suggestive enough, and then the change of scene - he's going out to get groceries.

Oh boy, if you thought we'd changed gears suddenly here, well, hold on to your butt!  The next turn is a doosy!  And did you say "scam"?  What sort of trickery might be afoot?!  Hmmm!

Taking to the Skies

 Hello Readers!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you're having a great weekend and filling up on potatoes, yams, cranberry etc and leaving the turkey to gobble up some bugs outside!

Speaking of flying nonsense, here's another couple pages!

Page 74

Page 75

Well, unlike some other posts when I show you some mistakes or missteps, I'm not doing that here. I did a complete Page 74 but it was SUPER cheesy, I just couldn't post it here, it was embarrassing. Let's stop taking about that, and talk about these ones here.

Pretty clean, pretty too the point.  Character designs look good, the action looks good and is understandable.

Two little issues: Lawrence in the top of Page 75 should look a bit "ghosty" because this shot is from Fancy's POV, and since she's wearing the AR goggles, she's looking at a projection or image of him.  Maybe that whole business about what are the pilots really seeing is coming clear?  Maybe not.  Anyway, this was a fairly challenging drawing to do - to make it look like you are where Fancy is and show Lawrence there, but of course the cockpit is so small, there's no way he'd fit. I think it works.  

The second issue is the jets.  Turns out that since the design is so un-remarkable, they aren't so interesting from different views, especially the final one.  They don't really look like anything from that angle.  That's a pretty good reason to come up with a different design.

Anyway, there you go!

Untangling the Knots

 Hello Readers!

From the comments it became clear that last week's installment was a bit confusing.  Hmm... Dang.

Well, maybe this week's pages will clear some things up or move the story along so the confusion is quickly forgotten. Here we go...

Page 71

Page 72

Ok, so, let's go back a bit.  Fancy, Marcel and Jake were in the flight simulator, Dave was watching out the window as they piloted the real jets through the flight simulator.  Fancy's foot suddenly hurt while doing a maneuver. Dave suggested Fancy look out the window at the remaining flying jets.  Moments later, Lawrence took over and ended the simulation. At least that's how I'd hoped the scenario would play out.  Maybe I mixed up the last page's panel order a bit.

I like all these panels, all of them... except maybe the last on page 72. It's cute, it's romantic and I just don't like it.  Maybe it's too "cute-sy". It's a drag because this is one of the first moments we see how the characters feel about one another. 

Jake and Marcel are funny and well drawn in that first panel, Lawrence and Fancy are pretty consistent throughout.  The jets look really good in all but the last panel.

But that last panel... maybe it's the flat perspective or that the jet looks so boring and not really like a jet.  I dunno.  What do you think?  Can you suggest a better angle?  Maybe some better, less obvious action that still shows how they feel.

Back And Forth

 Hello Most Faithful Readers (Yes, I mean you, IG!!),

Yes, I missed last week and yes, it is because I was busy and yes, I know that's a terrible excuse considering this single blog is the reason why you get up every morning! 

And yes while I have just one page to show you, I have some behind the scenes missteps to show.  How exciting is that!

Page 71

Perhaps you recall on the last page, Fancy had some sort of problem with her darned foot, when sent her jet into a bad turn but she recovered. So we're picking up from there.

I like the first panel here, with Dave and Fancy considering Fancy's bum ankle and the message on the last panel is good - it shows what she's feeling and thinking deep inside.  The expression is pretty good and wistful, even if the drawing is off model.

Now that I look at it, Lawrence on the first panel is too static.  I wasn't quite sure how Lawrence felt when I drew him there, which is why his posture is pretty un-remarkable.  Ah, but there is a reason for that... a "behind the scenes" reason, and nothing so interesting as subtext or something story related, something more mundane!    

You might need to click on the image below to see it larger.

Ok, so like I keep going on about, I don't really know where I'm going with this story which means I sometimes take the story into a knot or dead end and I thought that was happening in the first two pages.  

On the first on the left page, we see Marcel Jack expressing their excitement about the simulation and then their incredulity with the real jet when they see it.  On the next page we see their refusal to fly inside the jets. 

Part of my interest in this story is seeing these particular jets in action and piloted.  If these pilots refuse to fly in them, it is conceivable that other pilots might also, which could knock that bidder out of consideration. And then if he and his jets were out of consideration, they would move to the story sidelines, and I wanted and needed to keep them more front and center.  

We'll see how this goes... there are so many directions one could take this story, and I'm trying to find the path through it. There is another BIG hurdle coming up in your viewing pleasure, so hang on tight... or get ready... or... stay tuned!