Back into the Action

August 1, 2013

Even if I can’t post pages as regularly as I’d like a few updates on what I’m up to and why I’m being delayed seem to be in order.

Issue3page2panel4roughj

Following on from the shift into more actiony content last issue this trend continues and as such I’ve got a few more challenges ahead. I’m sure I’ve already said that generally athletic/physical stuff is an area of comics I don’t have too much experience in drawing; although given how many comics I read with an action lean you’d think I’d have osmotically absorbed a bit more of it…

Anyhow, Branch has always been something of a learning experience and rather than find a shortcut, like an idiot I’ve set myself a complicated setpiece for my next page.

Above is a rough draft of my main panel’s background, although  ‘background’ might be the wrong word given how a certain character will be interacting with it. There are two main challenges presented; the raised perspective – something which nearly always gives me trouble – and the poses themselves which will be done in a three stage montage in order to clearly represent the action taking place.

There’s potential for it to go very wrong but that said I don’t think I’ve drawn anything quite like this before so as en experiment it should at least be interesting, just please don’t crucify me when I end up with bobble-headed characters :P

Leave a Comment » | Planning | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ozy

Entering Production

May 2, 2011

I’m using the entry title tentatively for now as I still need to run everything by my tutor for approval, but it would seem that (as planned) I’m finally ready to begin production on the main graphic.

Truthfully, it’s hard not to feel a little nervous about starting something I’ve been planning and researching for months, but it’s also exciting seeing things start to take shape. Having completed my 2nd draft of the script I’m now confident it’s strong enough for me to begin pencilling rough drafts of the actual pages.

I say ‘rough’ but I’ll admit that I put some extra effort into the example above; it’s doubtful the page plans will remain this detailed, but it seemed important that I set the bar high, so when it inevitably slips further down the line it won’t fall too far. As can  probably be seen this opening page introduces us to Scratch as our central detective figure, highlighting her indifferent attitude while also firmly establishing the premise of a world based around cyborgs and technology within the opening panels. Generally I wanted to keep it simple with minimal speech to efficiently set up the themes and tone of the narrative without being overly complicated.

The plan is to draw up a batch of roughs like this before I start work on the inked and coloured versions, while I’d also like to build up a buffer of those which I am satisfied with before uploading to the net. To make an optimistic estimate; if I get the go ahead then the pages themselves should begin appearing online sometime next month. Fingers crossed…

2 Comments | Production | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ozy