Putting It Together

Hello Readers!

Trucking a-long here, not fast, but making progress... I think!  It's risky giving you two pages because you're creeping up on what I've done (or not done) most recently!  Gasp! Gotta keep drawing, gotta keep drawing - Isn't that what Dory said?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 98

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 99 

Ok, so some well drawn pages here.  No complaints.  Good looking characters, good looking backgrounds / environments.  The text is a bit hard to see, but... small potatoes.

Maybe you noticed the pages are cut strangely and perhaps the order of the panels (page 99) is a bit odd... well, ok.  You got me!

I don't know why but these last few pages have been a real challenge.. It's like I lost direction.  Not sure what to do next, what to tell, what needs to be told and in what order.  So the content you see above was spread across three pages and needed to be put together. Now that I look at it, it looks cohesive, but if you jumped into the story right here you might wonder what's so important about the darned airport?!  

Ah, and I know you LOOOOVE to get extra material so...

As you can see I drew all of Marcel sitting on the sofa.  This was a pretty tough drawing.  Initially he was in a more modern chair, not this sofa, but the chair looked too simple, too insubstantial, so I made it a sofa.

Why is this at all important?  

Well, I had a teacher that said when animating, don't just draw what will be seen on screen, if you can, draw the feet even if they are out of the frame, draw the whole pose because it'll make the part the audience sees look better.

I took that advice and look and... it worked!  The drawing looks great, even if I had to crop it.

All Over the Place

 Hiya Readers!

Two pages here as well as some behind the scenes/dropped artwork.  Hope you like 'em!

 

 

 

Page 96

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 97

Ok, so I'm not so keen on Jake in the first panels of page 96.  He looks waaaay too cartoony, right down to that goofy grin.  The action is good, but not sure the panel lines help describe what's happening.  I was trying to draw multiple "shots" within one background.

Those last two panels are good.  I like how there's the sense he might make it to the jet but... NO!!!  Now that I look at it I wonder if I should have had the fuel truck blow up too, but that would really mess up the panels, let alone Jake and we need him for the next page!!

Page 97 worked out quite well.  Good drawings even if the woman (Fran?! - did I ever name that character?!) doesn't look rattled or concerned enough.  The drawing of the van and the guys running to it is great and the last panel looking in the windshield looks good, even if it was a bit of a bodge job.

How much of a bodge? Not much, but take a look at these pages:

I wasn't too sure about this page which is why I stopped working on it... I thought we needed a shot of Jake before he started running to hook up better with the previous page.  The drawings of Jake look a lot better.

And on this page you'll notice I drew the shot of the van twice.  I nixed the side shot Amar helping Jake into the van because I didn't think it looked nearly dynamic enough.

So?  Whacha think?  Or are you still just scanning the story and not really paying too much attention to the A-MAAAZING artwork?!

Falling Might

 Hello Readers! 

Ok, a day late, but I'm posting, look, I'm posting!  And what's more?  Two whole pages!  And exciting ones too.

Page 94

Page 95

In these pages, I was imagining a nice summer day, hot sun, clear blue sky, when what should happen, but a bombing run conducted by not the Russians or Mexicans doing a crazy Red Dawn thing on Canada, but Lawrence's odd jets, bearing the (perhaps strangely) apt name of "Red Training Systems"! Oh goodness!

I like these pages, I like how the people on the ground don't suspect anything and then BOOOM!!  The little inset of the bombs falling out of the jets, well it works but maybe it should be bigger, perhaps filling a 3rd of that wide panel - might make it more dynamic, kind of like the equivalent of an exclamation mark.

And the panels on 95, while not terribly new from a cinematic perspective, they work and tell the action quite clearly.  I like the drawing of Jake in the middle panel, though he looks (to my eye) more realistic than we've seen him previously, and certainly more so than the middle right of page 94 - yes, that's also him.

What is going on?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!  What's going to happen next?  Guess you'll have to wait and see.

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...