SS5 87 At the Shopping Centre
skyangel on March 13, 2015
I was really unispired to start on this page as it seemed like just another six panel page of two people chatting and then I thought the facial expressions and body language were not that important here anyway so I decided to lose the characters in the background on a shopping trip. The first panel I sketched looked so crushed I was disappointed and then I thought about making it full width except then the mannequins didn't fit well so as a last resort the first panel became four! I know it reads a bit funny tho so I put a sign in instead, determined to make it work, so I hope it does!
If you want to see the original refs layout for this page you can see it on our FB page here: Page 87 refs
Locoma at 9:10PM, May 18, 2015
wow, it feels so great that Nikk's having a good time for a change!
DarkVisor at 3:12PM, March 21, 2015
Confused, not about the dialogue (because it can work going '4 -> 3' as well as '3 -> 4') but, about the 'correct' way it's supposed to be read, because, to me, it can work either way :D
skyangel at 2:38AM, March 21, 2015
Tommym: Yea, Sarah and Janey had a lovely time when they first went shopping together didn't they. It seems so long ago now!!
skyangel at 2:36AM, March 21, 2015
DV: I was really hoping the reader would follow the girls across the top and down the stairs which would be 1,2,4,3,5,6 as you said the first time. I put the 'More below' sign in as an after thought but realise now it wasn't enough. The only panels that are the wrong way really are 3-4. With hindsight I should never have drawn them on the escalator in panel four but behind it so that the flow of their path and the panels remained the same as normal.
skyangel at 2:31AM, March 21, 2015
Tess: Yea, as I said to Bear, it was fun but I did have to make sacrifices to how readable it was so I do feel naughty. The shop 'Next' is a real name and tbh it never occurred to me that it could be a pointer! lol As panel two is where it should be anyway though it wouldn't have been needed but it's a funny coincidence. :) As for Peter, I'm still noy sure whether to make his own intentions totally pure or not.
skyangel at 2:24AM, March 21, 2015
Bear: yea, I wouldn't dare label this a text book example of great comic art! lol I loved doing it, but for readability it loses a few points for sure. ;)
skyangel at 2:22AM, March 21, 2015
Udyr: As you mentioned on your own page I also detest having scenes which are set in the same place for too long as it becomes so tedious to keep doing the same backgrounds. I loved doing Lucy in her shop at first but now I cringe at having to do any angle with too many shelf units in!
tommym at 1:28PM, March 14, 2015
dear Sky, Your depiction of the mall seem so easy to espy upon ,i rather perfer Harrods. It Looks like a mall in Staten Island Thinking on how Sarah and Janey first meet Nikki. Male wants to be full woman with lesbian dom ( my thought egos) the colours spot, Sarah is guiding her. She needs to "Be Careful" "ever vigalant" waters run rough hurricane PaM Pink Bat Max ...tommym
DarkVisor at 11:51AM, March 14, 2015
Is it supposed to be read: one, two, four, three, five, six? Read it first time the 'normal' way and it seemed okay, now totally confused :P
DarkVisor at 11:43AM, March 14, 2015
Phantomduck: thought they _were_ real at first :p
Phantomduck at 10:53AM, March 14, 2015
The mannequins look so real.
TessMcTessy at 7:53AM, March 14, 2015
I'm weird! I took the mannequin invading the first panel from the one below it as a cue to go down, but the conversation didn't flow. Reading the panels normally made more sense, so I didn't think I missed anything, but then I read about the sign (I hadn't noticed it) and then read it as intended and it was even better. (Was the store name that says "next" in the first panel a cue to head left or is that a coincidence?) I hope Nikki actually comes to realization that she's bi, cause I'll feel bad for Peter if it turns out he's just being used for a confidence boost (not that I think Nikki's doing anything like that on purpose).
KimLuster at 6:08AM, March 14, 2015
I just looked at your ref page! Wow! That is so impressive! You're so professional and organized!! (Now I feel like a slob haha)... In my earlier comment when I said Nikki was crazy I meant that in the funny you-so-crazy way (if that wasn't clear...)! Exploring new sexual horizons can make you feel crazy... Yup, yup they can :D
Genejoke at 5:46AM, March 14, 2015
I like the layout. very busy but cool.
BearinOz at 3:27AM, March 14, 2015
Hmmm...it wasn't the layout that threw me....having re-read your author note and the response below, I actually had to go back and look for a 'SIGN' (why did I just think of the sandal in Life of Brian..?) It was just that the characters were so small, I didn't know who was who, for a sec' - I soon caught on. I'm not too senile yet B-)
Udyr at 3:24AM, March 14, 2015
This is a good page, there's so much stuff going on! The whole sexuality with Nikki is very interesting aswell. I don't see any wrongs in trying to figure things out as long as she doesn't hurt the bloke in the long run and he's 100% aware of her still trying to figure things out. Doing comics is fun when you can find things and stuff for the characters to do, talking scenes become so different on-paper when you do something you didn't plan out when writing the manus in a good way. Its why manuscripts can be really boring to follow and you really need a good sence of creativity to make it work :D Following Sarah and Nikki on shopping was waaay more interesting than you'd think, i remember this from the start when Janey and Sarah went shopping on their first ''date'' and its always fun to see them do things like that, it makes them very real.
skyangel at 3:16AM, March 14, 2015
Bear: Haha yea same here! An aunt of mine started me off on scrapbboking before I was even in my teens, although her choice of scraps was kinda weird but curiously intriguing. My own were almost full of pics of girls in sexy poses which I used to do odd paintings from but when I started the webcomic I started a better system on my computer. I think to date I have about 3000 images stored away and I'm adding all the time!
skyangel at 3:10AM, March 14, 2015
Kim: Thankee! Like Bear, I do use refs quite a bit now wheras in the early days I just went from memory. Funnily enough on this first panel I pretty much just had refs for the mannequins and escalator. I've posted a link to my original shameless use of refs above if you are interested! ;)
skyangel at 1:15AM, March 14, 2015
Fallopian: I'm pleased with the page from the angle that I really enjoyed doing it. On my first look at the script I groaned and felt totally unenthusiastic about doing another six panel page of two people talking.
skyangel at 1:11AM, March 14, 2015
Tupayon: When I first did this I was thinking ones eye would naturally follow them around as you might in real life but when I re-read it again a week later I realised my natural instinct to follow the panels in the normal way took over so I decided to add the sign!
BearinOz at 11:11PM, March 13, 2015
Yeah it _does_ work. Haha...Tupapayon: yeah, I thought "Who-what-where?" when I first looked. Kimluster: I use reference piccies off the net all the time, saved in folders like "carsgunsnunsnstuff" and "Cityscapes" and "BodiesnMovement. Very useful. Back to S.S., I can fully understand Nikki's attitude/feelings. I was watching "American Transgender" last night...there really ARE all kinds of people and relationships out there - and why shouldn't there be !!??? Great page - glad I logged in early ! B-)
KimLuster at 8:19PM, March 13, 2015
I think it works splendidly! And my word the detail...! How do you think of all the stuff to put in these pages? Do you get reference photos and reproduce everything...? lol It looks really, really good... And the conversation is interesting too... Yeah, Nikki, you are crazy haha... Anyone ever notice that sex with crazy people is often the best sex?! ;)
fallopiancrusader at 8:01PM, March 13, 2015
It reads quite well. Using panel divisions to show time passing within the same environment is so difficult to pull off, but so magical when it works!
tupapayon at 7:08PM, March 13, 2015
It's not really confusing, but it did threw me off a little when I started reading... when I read your note I knew the reason I felt it was a single panel instead of four... but I like it... it gives that sense of everyday kind of thing...