31 - 08
dragonsong12 on April 23, 2012
Man, Elrek must've had on a jetpack or something to get in there that quickly.
Dramatic convenience. You didn't want to have to wait another page for him to arrive, did you? :D
Anyway, the backgrounds, which last week I said I'd talk about “next chapter” when I meant I'd talk about it “next page” i.e. today. I'm not very good at backgrounds overall, and the backgrounds I do draw tend to meander a bit…This normally isn't a problem when it's a forest scene or a nondescript street, but it happens even when I don't mean it to, and when it really shouldn't, so for the interior of this castle, I wanted to make sure the backgrounds were consistent. To accomplish this, I decided to go the animation route - as in, I created all the backgrounds in advance, and I'm just inserting them behind the characters and manipulating where they need to go. It's a shortcut, but it's one that allows me to keep everyone in their proper place in the room and keep the room in order so it's easier to visualize where they are in the scene. Also, I put a lot more effort into these backgrounds that usual, so hopefully it'll work out that way too.
Anyway, if you'd like to see the backgrounds without the characters in front of them, I uploaded them at my DeviantArt page here. To give you an idea of the room's layout - the top image is directly behind Katyn, the second is to her right, third is directly in front, and fourth is to her left. I actually started doing this on the last page, but this was the first page to fully incorporate it.
I actually really like the results, but I'm not sure how much I'll do this in the future. Probably not for forest scenes, but possibly for any other specific interiors I plan on showing. Anyway, just explaining why it may look a bit different for the rest of this chapter.
Also, I had a real scare this week. My computer refused to turn on. I have an 8 page buffer for this comic, had it been the motherboard, I might not've been able to access the files in time for an update. Luckily, it was the power supply, so all is well…but I did back everything up on a portable drive. haha!
Thanks for reading! See you next week!
man in black at 8:02PM, April 23, 2012
great page
Canuovea at 8:35AM, April 23, 2012
Glad I could help!
dragonsong12 at 8:10AM, April 23, 2012
Canuovea - No, I'm glad you brought it up! It's awkward to me, too, and I think it was a mistake in this case. I'll change it as soon as I get a chance. Thanks!
Tantz_Aerine at 6:21AM, April 23, 2012
Oooooh now it's gotten interesting indeed!
Canuovea at 2:27AM, April 23, 2012
Cue the "dun dun duuun." The backgrounds look nice. If I were to mention anything, it would be the repeated use of "as well" by our Phoenixy friend there in panel three then four. For some reason that distracted me.