Sneak Peek | Elven Scent rough layout
Added 2018-12-14 20:58:51 +0000 UTCAlright, here's the 12 pages of the current comic. This took me a long while, because I started from an different layout. The first idea was to make a horizontal series, to be viewed on computer screens, so something closer to 16:9 ratio... This proved kinda weird as a comic page! I found that if I wanted to make the signature 'Z' eye movement, I'd have to use some very strong cues, and the whole thing looked more like a movie, rolling series of images. Hard to fit more than 3 narrow, tall panels. In all, it wasn't as versatile as I'd like.
This also fed into the second decision, that I'd like to introduce some other characters. Pages 1 and 12 have a bit of a setup-explanation kinda thing going on. At first, I only planned this as a neat scene, but now I want to start returning to some characters, and start setting up intertwining plots. What follows is the added pages 1 and 12, which will feature characters who will return in future stories. It's not a 'Lost' or 'Game of Thrones' kinda convoluted deal, but it'll still be sufficiently tangled.
I've had a sideproject going with these characters through 2018, which comic also used the horizontal layout, I reworked that as well - I'd rather work with a standard format which can, maybe one day, be put to print. I can't wait to show it to you, too! That comes later...
Below, you'll find the initial, horizontal sketches at the point I decided to swap ratios.
Hope you enjoyed this small view into the comic, and I'll do my best to make it into a superb finished version. Onwards!
Comments
It, like the other two comics that you voted on, was a long time coming! Some of these panels are sketches I've been doing in-between projects, or unused ones (like the DVP scene near the end, that's I think from 'Unforseen'). If I didn't decide on making it a part of a larger universe, for lack of a better term (series? series of series?), I would have gone with the horizontal layout. It works out really well with things like the Lemuela series, the Dwarf baths... But it scales worse, I think. We're still used to reading comics in a tall format and I enjoy thinking about pages like that. Maybe in the future a wide dimensions will be the norm, but then there's phones... Who knows?!
2018-12-14 21:14:16 +0000 UTCLooks pretty promising already, I see a lot of very nice arrangements. Also glad to know you tried the horizontal arrangement, cause that might come back to you in some time.
Norman A. Letterman
2018-12-14 21:01:34 +0000 UTC
