I am working on my Western book and I'm taking time to streamline a few pages. The top panel shows our hero Anuteh in an old West kitchen. It's a messy place with a lot of activity going on. The top panel was the original and the bottom is the revision. I made the change for a few rew reasons.
I wanted to show that Anuteh is covered in blood and grease from working in the kitchen. The top panel has her in a patterned dress that is just too busy. Plus the BG has too much going on. Anuteh is in the center, but she gets lost within the details of the room.
In the lower panel I wanted to show how she would have become so messy. Skinning rabbits or cleaning game. The kitchen staff back then got dirty. Also, I left out the Bg wallpaper pattern and put the focus on Anuteh. The lamp in the upper left gives the colorist something to work with.
So I will keep working! I hope to be finished with the entire story and have it out this year.
2 comments:
I love this type of blog post--a real "behind the scenes" look at the process that is not evident when one looks at the finished product.
Unfortunately, it's also depressing for me! You're so damned good, DH! It's great that you have the time to really make each panel count.
In my own current project, I'm so behind on the schedule that I have no time to make such revisions--or I'd be working on this one book for the next few years!
I guess the ideal is a balance: enough time to do a good job and maintain a level of quality, but on the other hand, one needs to be able to 'just move on' and finish a page, book, project, etc.
Anyway--LOVE IT!
Thanks for the compliment Steve! I'm glad that this is not a monthly book, but I don't lovingly go over every panel like a diamond cutter goes over a gem.
The panel I revised had problems with storytelling and design. The worse thing I could do is to overdraw something and I think the new panel is an improvement.
I recently completed a 3 issue series for Moonstone for a monthly schedule. I'll always look at my own work and critique it, but I was happy to put my name on it and move on.
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