Page Evolution

Here is an example of how page 1 has evolved for the Hurricane Kids special. Anyone who knows me knows that I firmly believe in the "get it done" mentality so I rarely re-draw pages on my creator-owned work, but I just felt that I wasn't getting across what I wanted early on.



A: This was the first attempt at the page, and while I got all the storytelling elements in there, I wasn't overall happy with it. I was happy with panel 1, but thought the fist got lost in everything else. I decided all the trees were too much, and not the feel of the barren world the writer and I were shooting for and in panel 3, it just didn't look like the character to me, not to mention I drew the beard wrong on this page

B: This page I got the beard right, altered the angle of the face a bit in panel 1, but again I'm struggling with defining the fist. Panel 2 got way more barren and sparse and in panel 3, I was pretty happy with it, but again, I struggled with his fist against his shirt and created the "halo" around everything to break it apart, and I'm not a big fan of that look.

C: I even colored example B because I thought I was happy enough with it. I went a bit overboard I think and I'll probably tone down the craziness on the final pages.

D: After looking at example B for a few days, I decided to redo it again, and here I think is the best page. In panel 1 I decided to get rid of the punching fist all together and let the action explain what is going on. I'm much happier with panel 2 as well, barren but not empty, and panel 3 really works for me now. Angles are much more exciting that any straight ahead pose, and I decided I could separate the blacks in the glove by feathering the lines, kind of like how Eric Canete works his blacks. I'm much happier with the final page now. Only 16 more to go.