Getting Back in the Saddle

 Hello Readers.  

Wasn't it nice to take a bit of a break and over the holidays?! What?  It was too long since the last installment of Flight of Fancy?  Awww, your attention to this blog is touching but, sheesh, can't a guy take a break?  It's not like I'm going to forget how to draw these characters or loose my place in the story! We all know she's going to win a million bucks and then have to pay off her attacker. 

Whatdya mean that makes no sense?!

Ok, ok, here's a couple pages! Don't say I never gave you nuthin'!

Page 92

 

Page 93

I think the drawings on these pages are nice, but man, as you can see I had to do some cut and paste to put the panels and word bubbles in the right places. Everything was arranged about right, but I left space between panes that had to be trimmed.  Page 93's panels at the top are still a bit off but what's it matter, right?

The characters are drawn quite well.  In that last panel on 92 you'll see Dave's design has changed a bit - he looks older and bit fatter and like he can't run very well anymore. Fancy looks perfect in the panel above.

I like the wee bit of comedy in page 93.  I spend a while trying to figure out how the jet would open and how to show it.  In the end I figured I was spending too much time on something the audience wouldn't really need or care to know about.  Still, the drawings are nice.

I hope you like it. It has been a while.  Gotta admit, I have lost a bit of focus, direction and energy, but I'll try to keep at it and WILL TRY to finish.

Where The Action Is

 Hello Readers... Happy Holidays!  We're almost there - to the holidays that is!

Aaaand because we're almost there, I thought I'd give you the gift of TWO pages of Flight of Fancy.  Here they are! Don't eat them all at once.

Page 90

Page 91

A little pause at the start of page 90.  Maybe you remember Fancy came rushing over to the Trenton airport. Can't neglect the pacing - sometimes fast, then slow parts, then fast.  Makes it more interesting, and easier to read through.

And that little dialogue with Dave in which Fancy says she's been poisoned; I put that in just in case it wasn't clear before what was going on.  Whether she was or wasn't poisoned, she thinks she was and is after Lawrence to find out what's going on and why. The middle panel on 91 is great.  I really like Dave's expression and his face - looks solid and is drawn well.

When drawing this thing I always try to make the drawings clear, not cluttered or too busy.  Sometimes I skip drawing the background (page 90) because I am trying not to clutter it.

But I LOOOVE page 91, and I think it is because of the backgrounds (and maybe the shading too!).  For someone who's been trying not to draw backgrounds, it looks like when I have done so, they improve the pages hugely and I like them the best.  I like the wide shot in the middle of the page. It looks open and like a place you could explore.  It feels solid  and real.

Fancy and Dave look great in the top right panel, and I like Dave's pose on the bottom left.  Not as keen on Fancy's.  Alas...

Check, check, check!

 Hello Dear Readers.

I think you're in for a treat today, not a treat of quantity, but of quality.  Here is is!

Page 89

THIS is where I wanted the quality to be.  Good character designs, good drawings, exciting action, personality and emotion shown.  OOH, and it's dynamic too!

Panel 1 - Mom being moved out to an ambulance on a stretcher.  Tough to draw to get the perspective right and not make the stretcher look TOO huge or Mom small.  CHECK!

Panel 2 - Good drawing of Fancy running and the jeep looks quite good and solid.  CHECK!

Panel 3 - I know I said I wouldn't do crazy camera angles, but I thought this wasn't too nuts and would be pretty easy to film - Did you hear I got this thing optioned?  No, me neither.  Anyway, should this ever get sold and they want to film it, this'll be an easy shot to get.  Drawing a bit of detail on the jeep hood and the shadows helps this look not so flat.  CHECK!

Panel 4 - Fancy looks tired, still a bit sick but sure is determined.  The screen left hand on the steering wheel isn't quite so great, but I think it works.  CHECK!

Panel 5 - Reuse of previous image.  CHECK!  Good time savings!

Panel 6.  GREAT drawing of the jeep.  Also, I think I finally got Dave looking about right - Mid 60's ex military man who's had it with the buttoned up, pressed shirt look, enjoys the donut beside his coffee a bit much, so one turns into two, but he could still bench press you, your mommy and a heap of your stinky diapers.

Ah, I love when a page comes together!

The Morning After

 Hello Readers,

Wow, WOW! Would you believe it? Another installment of Flight of Fancy!  Only page 88!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 88

 Last week we left Fancy leaving the bathroom after chucking her cookies, and now she's finding some unsettling things - bottle of ... poison? and Mom sick too.

The first two panels were a bit tricky because I wanted to subtly suggest Fancy was in the kitchen, which is why I put the coffee maker in there. 

And about Fancy, nice drawings throughout - the design is on model, but she looks sick, tired.

The poison was a tough part.  I was trying to think of how to make someone profoundly sick but not kill them.  I thought about lamp oil (kerosene) and gasoline but they would smell too strong and you wouldn't be able to get past the smell.  People can be poisoned with lots of food products that have gone off, but how could you make a food (rice, for example) go bad at short notice? Also, when food is off, it can kill someone.  If you come up with a good way to kill someone in such a way that they eat the poison of their own volition, let me know and then I'll pass your contact info on to the police, OK?!  I put the coconut scented essential oil in there, because I needed something.  Maybe I'll come up with something better.

Fancy's movement around Mom's bed worked well too.  I was thinking of a wide panel that shows the whole bed and with Mom lying on one side.  The panel could be split down the middle, and Fancy shown on the left side, then the right. These panels are pretty small, so I thought doing it the way I did might work better with less wasted space and more close ups on Fancy.  

But what about Mom?  Is she going to be ok?  And where did the poison come from?  Lawrence made dinner... did he, could he have done something?!  Stay tuned!!

 

Sickening Realization

Hello Readers!

Hello? Anybody there? I hope you didn't get frustrated with my absence this week and have quit reading.  Well, if you're there, then... YAY!  I hope you enjoy this week's exciting installment.

 Page 86

 

 

Page 87

Maybe you thought I didn't post last week 'cause I got sick like Fancy did here!  WOAH!  Looks bad!  I bet you didn't see that coming!

These pages turned out quite well. Good character drawings pretty much across both pages.  Fancy on the bottom right of 87 looks bit too realistic, but that's easily fixed. Looking at these pages I can see the characters would all need a bit of adjustment - Dave's design doesn't quite match Amar nor the woman's design. I think I made those two others a bit too cartoony.

 

I really like the location drawings, especially the really low, distorted image of the house exterior and the tilted panels also help give a sense that something's not right.

 

Believe it or not, the shot into the washroom was fairly challenging in that I wanted to make it clear we were looking into a washroom and that Fancy was sick in there, but I didn't want to clutter it up or make it too obvious.

 

We're (finally) in the home stretch here!