Growing Branch

This page pretty much continues in the stylised vein the last one did, so much of the composition and its colour choices are for the same reasons. However, as usual there are a few noteworthy additions and decisions.

The pace has slowed dramatically and what I’m covering here in three to four pages arguably could have been summarised in one, but still I feel it’s worth taking a pause here. The focus of this scene is upon two things: Curt’s rising fear of cyborgs and Scratch’s imposing, steely demeanour, both of which will be of increasing importance to the central theme of the narrative as it progresses. While previously there was a lot of information imparted through dialogue, here I want the visuals and mood to do all the talking for a moment.

Considering the technique itself; while I normally pencil and ink all my linework by hand I do clean it up digitally after scanning and occasionally correct mistakes, with the first panel here I tried something a little different as an experiment. Having penciled the panel in rough I scanned it in and worked over it in Photo-Paint, beginning with a purely black overlay set to 50% transparency and cutting out the highlighted areas. This wouldn’t have worked were it a well-lit scene featuring cross hatching rather than heavy shadow, but in this case the results weren’t half bad inadvertently having a slightly Geoff Grandfield quality. I’m not changing over to an entirely digital production process anytime soon, but I may well dabble in future.

My favourite panel is probably the fifth taken from POV, mainly for its simplicity. Being almost symmetrical with the shadowing connecting into a surreal whole it has a sort ink blotch feel slightly reminiscent of a Rorschach test card. There’s something surreal and unsettling about it which taps into exactly the kind of mood I want.  The weakest panel meanwhile is easily the last one. The way the light splashes across Curt’s chest turned out okay but the hands just look too small, even after I reworked them.

…And on the subject of weak anatomy, a spot of good news is that I’ve gotten back into life drawing this week!

Despite having the same model as last year the new classes are run quite differently; favouring a series of short three-minute poses alongside a longer one (above – I won’t post the quickies since they’d burn your eyes). Fast drawing is not one of my strengths, but for this very reason perhaps being forced to do so will prove good practice in the long run.

Regardless, it’s another step in the right direction to refine my technique and help reduce my anatomical embarrassments.