Sabbatical, Days Four & Five (Bring On the Bad Guys!)

If I could somehow construct a comic book entirely out of medium-to-close-up shots of characters simply interacting, I'd have a blast. That's my favorite thing to do, get in there and work a person's expressions. Mind you, I like the power of a fight scene too, and tend to enjoy every aspect of narrative illustration once I get into it. But I get the biggest kick out of nailing a character's expression just so, or capturing a likeness in a way that makes you smile.

The last couple of pages had several of those types of shots. That was fun. There's an added element of enjoyment because so many of these characters are based on people I know. It's trippy watching them do things and being able to imagine it all so clearly. I was telling Wayne about an upcoming scene where I fly, and stopped to laugh because that's something I'd never be able to say if I were writing about any other character. It's not a scene where so-and-so flies, it's a scene where I FLY!

And it looks like me.

Still, in the one-upsmanship department, Derek got to kill someone in his very first panel. And it looks like him too!

Yesterday I got to formally introduce one of the visual jokes that came to me during the scroll stage, and we'll be seeing it again several issues down the line. There were also several incidental characters that suddenly got imbued with distinct personalities...and again, it all comes down to expression. I love this stuff. I want to do it all the time.

Today I got to finally introduce a couple of my made-up bad guys as well. They both started as little more than throwaway characters, then as I developed them during the thumbnail stage, they merited larger roles in the story. Drawing their design sheets, I kept thinking up backstory for them both: one used to be an arsonist, and the other a steroid using jock bodybuilder. Wayne looked at the sheet for the latter and declared that if he were introduced to him in real life, he'd think the jock was a douchebag.

So I guess I nailed his personality pretty good!

Time for bed. I'm basically on schedule (and managed to be up by 6:30AM today!), although I'd prefer to be working at a page-and-a-half a day, now that I know it can be done. Today I was hit with a bout of the sleepies around Noon, and ended up napping for two-and-a-half hours. To avoid that again, I wanna get a running start on the next couple of pages...because Sunday should be a big day!

More to come...!

Today's music choices: The WICKED Broadway Soundtrack