Ah, yes! Page 6! Scene two! Chapter 2!
We’re back, and thank you if you’ve stuck around, or have just started to read this story. Thank you, thank you!
Still free to read! And you know what else is free? Sharing! Tell anyone you might think would be interested in this horror/fantasy set in Vermont!
Stay tuned next month for the next scene!
~B
Yes, The Worlds Between Us is really coming back.
Projects came up, other ideas came up, health issues came up. The end result is I stopped working on this comic for a good long while.
But it was an itch at the back of my brain for so long.
So it was time to come back.
My plan is for a mid-May release of the next “scene” of Chapter 2.
Yes, “scene,” as I’m leaving the one-page-a-week format, and will instead do monthly scene releases. A scene will vary in length, but usually be anywhere from three to five pages. This allows me to focus more time on the story and art, and still have time to do paid projects (because, as of still, I’ve made almost nothing off of the webcomic itself, and have sold only a handful of print copies of half of chapter 1 at live appearances – as only handfuls were ever made).
My early readers have been quite happy with what they’ve seen of the new pages, so I’m hoping the old readers will be too. And new readers.
Tell a friend.
Cheers,
~Blair
*Unless something magical happens.
Well, tough for me.
The description for this panel was once completely different. In fact this whole scene played out different. In the end, I wrote out this page, and the previous page, on Post-It notes.
Luckily, being the writer and the illustrator means I know what I mean(t) when I scribble down ideas. Most of the time.
This panel, panel 1 on page 19, continues from the last panel on page 18; the character (no names, yet – that’s later) swings his double-bladed way-too-big-sword up to strike Sara – and in this panel, he swings back down with incredible speed – Sara got her cry of defiance/plea in on the last page – there’d be no time for it now.
First up, the rough of the panel. I work entirely digitally on The Worlds Between Us – don’t think there’s much market for original art for now, so why spend resources. This works just as well, and is cleaner from me.
I didn’t do my typical stick-figure-layout of the page, and just started sketching this. Looked great at the time. Ended up inking it too;
Only after did it feel… boring. There’s movement implied by the speed lines, but… his pose just sorta… eh. You could remove those speed lines and sword and put him leaning on the railing of the Titanic. I also envisioned something more threatening to the reader. I like to engage the reader – put them in peril as much as our protagonists. Even if you accept this as him slashing down on someone – it’s not you. It’s someone off to the side.
So I did this panel;
I ended up using the pose from the previous try in silhouette, but then redrew the sword to be angled towards us a bit more.
Better, but now boring in another way; we’ve lost the figure to look at. It’s just a black blob. And the speed lines weren’t working.
I finally took some posing dummies and action figures out, and started swinging around a yard stick (and watching staff fighting videos on YouTube) to get the pose I wanted. Sometimes the realistic pose isn’t the most engaging one. But I finally came close on one sketch, so I jumped on it.
And that’s how you get the final panel; a pleasing shot of the head of the character (love that skull thing), the blade coming more at us (directly at us, and we wouldn’t be able to see more than a thin sliver of the blade, which isn’t interesting either), and an overly exaggerated pose of that chopping motion. And a good swirl of speed lines indicating the massive speed these, um, characters can move at.
And that’s when I said “stop. If you keep going – it’ll just get crappy again.”
Sometimes things come out just like you thought of them. Sometimes they come out better. Sometimes they come out worse. And sometimes they come out different, but good enough, and you do better and try even harder with the next panel.
Luckily, with comics, you have all those individual illustrations to tell the story. And I need to learn not to get bogged down by one.
Yet I wrote a whole post about this one. Whoops.
Hey, folks! If you’re reading today, wondering where the new comic is, I announced on Monday due to my regular comic book work schedule picking up, and a convention middle of next month I need to prep for, I’ve gone back to Monday-only updating so that I have time for everything.
I might post some sketches in these blogs here in the meantime.
But check back this coming Monday for the next page!
Thanks for being a reader!
CYBER MO — uh CYBER TUESDAY SALE! (Well, it actually goes until December 16, but c’mon). Get 25% your total order (over $10) at my Etsy store! Original art! Sketch comics! Sketches! Doctor Who stuffs! More!
If you like what you’ve seen in Worlds so far, perhaps you’ll like my other artwork as well!