#pageprocess

Just like with the Doorway Page, I will first show the timelapse, then talk about the process step-by-step. Unfortunately, I sadly have to upload it VIA YouTube as the file is too big.

I started this page out the same way as the Doorway page, by taking the reference that Talisman gave me to make the panels.

As this reference included a lot more panels, it was more of a challenge to make sure that the panels didn't end up too small.

However thankfully I was able to figure it out, and do a decent enough job.

After this I moved onto the sketch, thankfully the reference included the general poses/layout that Tali wanted for each panel.

I wasn't fully sure what the three pages in the middle were, so I asked Tali if I did it correctly while in the sketching phase.

Talisman confirmed that I misunderstood the reference, hence I went on to change it.

I am not very good at drawing muscles, much less people flexing said muscles. But I still tried my best using shapes.

Talisman said it looks fine, hence onto the final sketch I went!

As it is visible in the timelapse and previous screenshot, Luz originally had different poses, however I changed them during when I was doing the line art as I believe they differed too much compare to the others. I sadly only remembered to take the screenshots of the process after the page was finished, hence the original final sketches of Luz are only seen in screenshots of conversation and during the timelapse.

Tali approved the sketch, hence I began on the line-work.

The line-work took a lot longer than the one from the Doorway scene, partly due to the amount of characters, and also the fact that I had to change Luz' sketch midway through it.

Tali said she loves it, even with the small changes to Luz, which made me very happy. The line-work took me multiple days hence I ended up partly forgetting the brush size I was using for most of the lines at points, hence why some of the lines look thinner than the rest of the comic. Some are intentionally different, as I use a smaller size for things such as clothing wrinkles, face details, effects and smaller details.

The colours ,to put it frankly, were tedious to do. This is again mainly due to the fact that there was so many characters, which made me take up a lot of time by just having to keep switching between character references.

Tali was very happy with is so far, which made me extremely happy. As I was a little worried I might mess up with some of the colours due to contracting hues between the characters. I then did the backgrounds so that I could ensure the line-work details will fit in with said backgrounds.

Since the main focus of this page are the characters and their reactions, instead of how in the Doorway page it was more-so the scene itself being the main focus, I decided to simply make the backgrounds of each panel to be just colour gradients, ones that match the emotions and colours within each panel. This is because I didn't want the backgrounds to be too boring, hence I believing matching them to the emotions of each panel made them slightly more interesting than just a singular flat colour.

Talisman approved of the backgrounds, and even said she believes that the colours for said backgrounds make the expressions of the characters more comical.

With this, I was able to move on to the final details.

I mainly used the colours I already had from the references for each character, and otherwise tried to simply use colours that would go well with the rest of the panel. However I wish I used a bit different colours in some places, as it can be hard to see some of the effects.

Talisman said she has no notes for this page, hence I was done with it.

I began with the doorway scene that Tali asked for as I knew that the backgrounds and perspective would cause some trouble as I am not as experienced in that department.

I will put upfront the timelapse of the whole piece, and then break down the process I took step by step. Alongside this, the images of the process sadly have to have lower resolution and be JPEGs due to their size.

First thing I did was take the example of the layout that Tali wanted for this scene from our conversation. (Said example is below)

And then tried my best to match it while ensuring I had enough space in each panel, because if the panels were to be too squished or small, then it would be more of a struggle to include everything needed into said panels.

I made the panel borders' colours the same purple as the line art to ensure it blends in more with the colours and line-work of the overall piece.

I then moved on to the rough base sketch, which is meant to just get the overall idea across, of the placement of characters, perspective ect.

I made these using the guidance that Tali wrote out for me about what she wishes to be in the panels.

I tried my best to convey what she said, but still wanted to ask for her opinion as I wanted to know if she wanted me to change something. I first tried to clean up the sketch a little to ensure that it was clear what I was imagining for each frame.

I then sent the screenshot of the sketch over to Talisman to ask for her opinion.

Tali said that it was perfect, hence I moved forwards. However, I begun with the backgrounds before doing the final sketch, as I wanted to ensure everything was placed correctly.

There isn't too much to say about this one to be honest. I simply did the line-work, following my rough sketch as a guide. I did the colours in a way to both make the characters the centre pieces, but also for the colours to not stand out too much and still look natural. This is why most of the backgrounds are either browns and yellows, and the only real backgrounds to feature cooler tones are those featuring the town, as I wanted there to be a clear contrast between the town and the castle. The backgrounds with gradients are there to not crowd the panel. For example; the panel with Kikimora and Belos, the main focus is meant to be on Kikimora receiving an order from Belos to open the castle door for the Parade,and as Belos and his throne take up a large portion of the panel, I didn't want to crowd it too much. It is similar with the panel with Kikimora and Adrian, except instead of it being because of the space or one character needing more focus, it's instead because both Kikimora's and especially Adrian's designs are detailed, hence I didn't want to add too much as I didn't want the panel to end up all muddied together. The three small panels are very simple as there are 3 characters within them, hence I wanted to ensure the point of the panels got across, while not taking away the focus from the characters and their reactions.

I showed the finished backgrounds to Talisman at the same time as showing that I begun work on the final sketch, Tali said the backgrounds looked good, hence I was ready to move on to the final sketch.

The final sketch is mainly just added details on-top of the previous sketch, unless anything needed adjustment.

Talisman said she thought it was perfect, so it was time to move on to the line-art phase of the piece.

I tried my best to use the line thickness to show how close or far away something is, alongside trying to ensure there was emotion to the lines, as I didn't want them to look stiff.

When I showed it to Talisman to see if she wanted anything changed she liked it, hence I began right away on colouring the flats.

I tried to make sure any extra things (such as the throne and balloons) were coloured in a way that fit in with the rest of the page, I used the colours from Belos to use for the palette of the Scout soldiers.

I moved right on to adding in the final details, as I believed that it would be easier for Talisman to decide if she wanted anything changed once seeing how the colours interact with the coloured line-work.

I showed Tali the coloured flats & line-work on top of the background to ensure she knows how it would all look together.

She said she liked how to turned out, hence the Doorway Scene page was done! I then took a few days break before beginning work on the Balcony Scene page.