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The Dreaded Page 8

You might want to read the comic before reading this...

This page was terrifying from the start. As soon as I had the idea that the gravity-shift sequence should all be one image, I knew that it was obviously the right idea. Unfortunately it was also a fiendishly difficult idea, and if it wasn't for the fact that not executing it would be shameful travesty for which I would never forgive myself, I wouldn't have made it.

As it was, I tended to avoid it. It was the last of the pages that I drew, and I even postponed colouring it. In fact, it had become even more dreadful when I decided that I would change colour palette (as discussed in the "colouring the comic page")...

Page eight has a pivotal role in many ways. Firstly, it is the only real depiction of Disarea in the comic- I needed to get it right. Secondly, it's position in the comic (the middle) meant that it needed to successfully connect the beginning and ending of the comic- from meeting Isabella and setting up the plot in the first half, to the crisis and resolution in the second half. This role took on an extra dimension as it was also the transitional page for the colour palette (which reflects the plot). Thirdly, It contains a lot of information, about both the world, and about the relationship between Dreg and Isabella. Yeah. Quite a dense page, really. Hence the dread.

But in the end, it turned out to be the best page in the comic, in my opinion. Drawing it last (particularly after all the “research” I did after having drawn the other pages, read about it in the "making the comic" page) meant that the characters at least were better drawn. Also, its transitional colour role means that it's interesting visually, and I could use the purple and dark red shades to really give it a sense of depth (something it seriously lacked when simply drawn).

Anyway, as a demonstration of my work-flow, which has been the same for every page in the comic, I've set up a series of pages that shows page 8 at each stage...