Rainy Day Pick-Me-Up

Hello Readers!

Well, here's Flight of Fancy, recently returned from a short respite! To thank you for your patience (and because these were the last two pages in a book) I'm giving you two pages!

 

Page 62

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Page 63

Ok! Sooo... maybe you remember our dear beloved IG suggested I do some sort of long form comic instead of one pagers I was doing.  Good idea, I thought.  I hadn't written out this story, I just went for it and started drawing. The ups are that it keeps me more interested, one of the downs is that I don't exactly know what I'm going to draw or how long each part of the story will take, and consequently, how many pages a particular "scene" will be.

So what, you might ask? Well, I'm getting a bit tired.  This story has gone one WAAAAY longer than I intended.  At the outset I figured I could get it done in 50 pages or so.  Looking at these pages, I feel we're only at about the the half way mark, maybe two thirds. Again... so what?  What's that got to do with you, the reader?

Well, as the writer/artist, when I get tired, it's like a rainy day.  I feel stuck with it and if it is moving, it is moving toooooo slowly.  But then sometimes, there is a bright spot in the rain. Like that first panel on page 63. Love it!  It's not the flat perspective I often draw, but a more dynamic 2 point perspective. Doing that one made me think I've limited my perspective drawings too much. Also, not sure why I wanted to set the scene on a rainy day, but I did and it's more interesting. It's different. Being distinctly different allowed me to kick the story forward and away from where it was. Speaking of different, you'll also notice that the tall American contractor name Jake has a different hairstyle.  Again, the beauty of the project and doing it in this rough way means I am free to keep playing and see what works and ways to further differentiate the characters.

Speaking broadly about both of these pages, the interaction between Jake and Marcel is fun and consistent. I feel we're getting a better feel of who they are and how they interact or don't.  Fancy is also in a more leadership role here acting as referee between them.  

It's been some time since I drew these pages, but if I recall, the French and American contractors were going to square off against each other back to back. But I felt that was going to pull us away from Lawrence and his jets for too long, so by staging this difficulty (above) we can get to Lawrence's Red's Pilot Training Systems faster, and with luck, force the story along a little faster.

Hope you're enjoying it still, and as always, your comments are most welcome.

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!

Technically Speaking

Hello Reader(s)!

Ok, ok, you're right. I can't neglect my adoring public (I.G. that is), and if you insist on looking at my blog AAAALL the time, even on Sundays, who am I to let you down because I don't want to look at a computer?!

So, here it is!

Page 56

Perhaps you recall I've mentioned I try not to draw scenes from angles that would be impossible to shoot with a real camera, because they can make the space or action feel false which takes away the believability... at least I think it does. 

So, with that said, I did this "camera looking straight down" shot.  Yes, the room's ceiling would probably have to be 15 feet high to get this shot, but, IMHO, I think it works and is believable.  What do you think?

Anyway it's also a nice way to have them all in one panel chattering away about the plans/jets. It makes it conversational.

I especially like Amar's pose.  I feel that one works best. As I did this page I realized I didn't have many ideas for different poses, but having said that, even though Dave and Fancy are doing basically the same thing, they look a bit different.

I like this sort of drawing which, somehow, makes the characters in contact with the environment. I think it feels that way because by drawing the table, and then the chair seats close to or slightly under the table, I was able to place the characters on those seats, then in contact with the table. It is sort of like building a house layer by layer. It's a fairly technical approach, which I like doing.

And of course, I had to draw the blueprints too. That was fun and interesting.

I can see in the combined image the blueprints are a bit hard to see or separate from the table. This can be easily fixed with a bit of colour and/or tonal differences.

Different Faces of Dave

 Hello Summer Readers!

I am glad we know each other so well, so much so that I know you'll agree that it's a great idea that I try not turning on my computer on Sundays, which gives us all a day more in which I can work on Flight of Fancy, which will look that much better, even though that means you may not see a new FOF on Sundays!

You are so understanding!  Thanks!

Page 55

On this page, we see more of Dave than the gruff, crew cut military man who's quit with the uniforms and ties done up tight.

His brows are actually up in panel 3, and in the last panel he looks interested in something other than who's screwed up and why.  I feel we're seeing other sides of the character, which makes the story a bit more interesting.

My favorite panel is the first one - both Amar and Dave are drawn well and are "on model".  The 2nd panel in which Dave is reaching down for the blueprints required I act it and try to imagine how it looked.  I'm not so keen on how Dave looks in those last two panels - he doesn't quite look like the same person he was in the first panel - means I need to keep working on him and figuring out how he looks from various angles and different moods & attitudes.

The action and Dave's dialogue flows nicely across these panels. It does sound a bit canned and not entirely original, but who cares, right?!  This is Monday and I'm not writing the next great American novel!  Let's just hope I can finish this thing and that it will be understandable, somewhat consistent and entertaining.

Putting in the Time

 Hello Readers, birthday celebrants or otherwise!

Just one page today... or is it!  Let's see!

Page 54

We're only on page 54, but (finally) I feel it's coming together, at least on this page, it is! Sometimes you just gotta put in the time, I guess.

The drawings are good, different, distinct characters, good poses and the layout successfully shows Fancy boxed in by her co-wokers' comments.

Perhaps you remember, I wanted to get through this sequence. I want / need Fancy to get back to Lawrence (Mr. Russell to you, I.G.!), but how?!

The page was going to start with this really sweet drawing (above) that took a while to do, but I thought it was too boring - I didn't want to bore the audience. So I nixed this drawing and forced myself to carry on the discussion in that same location longer but with a slightly different theme.

Did I manage to make something interesting happen? Is something "Wow"-worthy going to be revealed on the next page? How will Batman get Robin out the the Penguin's Porpoise Poison Pool?!  Stay tuned till next week when all (non-Batmand related material) will be revealed... somewhat!