Damn You, Lawrence!!

Hi Hi.  

Yes.  Too long since last post.  Yes, I'm supposed to be on vacation and what am I doing not drawing this comic every day and getting it done like I said I would.  Ok, ok.  Complaint noted.  But lookit this... three pages!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 122 

Page 123

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 124 

OK!  Well, I think the action is really good here and quite clear, but looking at it I think I could have made it a bit more obvious that Fancy flew past / through the wreckage on page 23's middle panel.  Even adding a "Whoosh" sound effect would have helped.

The drawings are pretty solid, the weakest being the last on page 123 at the bottom right. 

So, as you may know this thing is taking WAAAAAYYYY too long to draw.  Nearly two years, I think, and as you know, it's twisted and turned in ways I haven't expected, but those turns have made the story more interesting and unexpected (I think).  Yes, it probably needs a re-write and some of those twists unkinked and some others added.  But to my original point, it's taking too long and over the past few weeks I've been quite dis-interested in the story.  But the great thing is, by posting these pages, I'm a bit re-inspired, even if the dialogue and the repeated use of "Damned you, Lawrence" is a bit tired!

Glad you're with me in this journey, and yes, kids... we're almost there!

Turning The Other Way

Hello Readers,

Yes, I missed posting last week.  I'm SAAAAWRY, ok?!  Yes, I'm not crazy busy so what got in my way, right?  Jeez you're tough.  Ok, you're right, I had no good excuse except that sometimes I feel like I have no idea how to finish this story and I'm really doubting myself and how to wrap this up so I guess I've been procrastinating and letting playing with the dog while listening to evening news get in the way of my precious drawing time. 

Maybe these two pages and a bit of extra something will shut you up.  WHAA?!  I didn't say that!  Just look at the pretty pictures, would'ja?

 

Page 120

Page 121

I saw a presentation recently in which someone was talking about the various shots we use in cinematography and I realized I've not been using the close-up enough.  So in the first two panels I did that camera move in so that you, my dear audience, can better see Fancy's expression.  I think by doing so the drama is amped up.

And then the crashes! OOF.  Doing these panels made me realize I don't have very many words for sound effects and probably need to develop more.  Anyway, fun drawings of crunching jets.  It's not clear what crashed in the middle panel, but I hope you inferred that it was two of Lawrence's jets, 'cause it was.

After I finished page 120 and had moved on... or tried to move on, I realized I didn't like the way I ended that page.  Here's what the original panel looked like:

 

 It shows Fancy turning back to see the wreckage and try to determine if anybody made it out alive.  I felt like I've told this story in a too meandering way, not direct enough, and I felt that if I want to end this thing, I gotta step on the gas and get it done, which meant not breaking away from the fight to see if her buddies are ok and then returning to the fight, but instead, push on harder with the fight as we see on page 121!

There she goes, firing off energy bursts but missing.  Nice drawings there, especially the last one on the page.  I drew the smoke trail once but it was a bit too much in profile, and I realized by adding some volume to it I could really add some depth to the shot and suggest that jet is coming close to the camera and high over the others which makes it tons cooler.  Look out, Fancy!

Adding to the Heap

 Hello Readers.

Well, after some quick drawing, I've got two more pages for you, but like Lawrence, you're right on my tail. I gotta speed up my progress on this and bank a few pages!

Ok, less talk (for now)...

 

Page 118

Page 119

Page 118 is ok, but nothing too exciting.  I was going to post just that one page, but I thought you needed more.

But page 119!  WHOA!!! Looks like Marcel and Jake are out, as are two of those little jets, but which side lost 'em?  

When I started on page 119, I had the first panel as you see it, but then I drew a larger one of Dave, but the flow on the page wasn't so good. I thought doing a little insert of him (like you see here) would be better.  It makes the action a bit punchier but also more fluid from panel to panel.

Fun action of the planes all smashing together, and the last panel is pretty cool - these big planes dropping and the suggestion on fire on the screen left jet.  Marcel sounds pretty frantic with this "EJECT, EJECT!", and Jake, ever the cool cucumber just says "Ditto"!

Did I mention page 118 marks the end of another one of these scribblers?  I'm on book 10 now!  Who'da thunk'it!

All Barrels

 Hello Readers!

What a page we have here!  Lots aerial action.  But enough talk, right?!  

Page 117

Well, Fancy suggested she'd bring on the fight, and with her team, such as it is, she does!

This page was kind of hard in that I'm trying to suggest Fancy is flying in the middle position as four other jets barrel roll around her, guns a'blazin', but of course, this being a comic with still images, well, how do you do it?

Draw a bunch of images of the jets in various positions?  That would slow down the action.  Draw one panel with a bit of an arc on the side of the circling jets to suggest they're drifting around... well, that's what I did.  I hope it works.  

 Another challenge with this middle panel was showing the firing projectiles while making any look like they were hitting another, not covering up the jets too much and to show depth throughout. I did a bit of shading to help that.  A bit of photoshop blurring to suggest motion and depth would really help too.

That last panel was drawn smaller but I realized it needed to be bigger to add more impact.  Could probably be bigger yet and closer to the viewer.

What Goes Around

Hello Readers, and in this week's case, active participants!

Here's a couple pages of your beloved "Flight of Fancy"!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Page 115

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 116

I know you don't think I listen or take advice, Mr. IG, but I do!  AHA! 

You suggested we see Lawrence's reaction to Fancy's "Let's see how you like it" line. Yes, I shoulda probably put this page in sooner, especially after Fancy's shouty tyrade on page 109, but... and this page 115 might mean I need to nix some other pages especially because the dialogue is a bit of a repeat from page 109.  Dunno.  Let's see what happens when this story is finished.

Page 115 was a bit of a challenge because  I wanted the characters to look like they're talking to each other even though they are in different jets. I had Fancy's jet turn 180 degrees in the middle right panel so that her jet's screen direction would match that of page 116's, which, incidentally was done before page 115.  It was also kinda hard because I hadn't drawn Lawrence in so long I forgot how he looked!

Fancy's expression on the last panel of 115 is quite nice, and yes, I purposely didn't draw Lawrence's eyes in the middle left panel so to make him look more superior and un-readable.

On page 116, I like the drawing on the top right - it and the bottom panel are nicely drawn, but I especially like how this hearkens back to the start of the story when Fancy was trying to fight some enemy jets and her team didn't know the maneuvers she wanted them to do. Oh, what goes around comes around.

... and thanks for the comments and input.  VERY helpful!