As alluded to, we're not done with him yet. The nature of the ominous phone call is revealed...
So... off to court! I'd only been in court once before (car trouble- the police found marijuana in the glove box). I really wasn't sure what to expect. And yes, there was a drastic haircut involved, which will be covered on our next page. This trip really forged my relationship with Jenny, and gave me a much-needed fresh perspective on Curt.
Logistically, this page was fun. I looked at several road trip comics: the 70s Green Lantern/Green Arrow run, some moments in Omaha the Cat Dancer (especially the scene where she's taking a bus to Wisconsin!), The Archies miniseries (which was so good!) and the last issue of JMS's Midnight Nation, which I've been re-reading a lot lately. I got the framework for this page from that last book, and was able to modify it to suit my narrative. The faces elongated just a bit, but it's okay, as I was quite thin when I got done with him- so much so that at least one friend thought I had some ailment causing weight loss. Well, in a way, I suppose I did. Layout is pretty direct. Weight in the top tier comes from a background texture. The inset slice panel of tier 2 reestablishes the scene, and we cut to car interiors for the bottom tier. After the info dump in panel four, there's a slow buildup to an introspective moment. We go closer on the face, then tight on one feature, the eyes (an old film trick that usually works). I love the reduction of the rest of the car interior to silhouette in panels five and six. This page condenses approximately three weeks of real time. Many necessary legal logistics are left out of the narrative.
Materials:
- Basic tools: Drawing Board, T-square, triangle, straightedge, Ames lettering guide
- Pencils: Ticonderoga 2B, Cumberland 3B, Pasler 6B, lead holder with 4B lead, and tech pencil with 3B lead.
- Erasers: Staedtler Mars plastic and kneadable erasers
- Dr. Martin's Black Matte Ink, FW Artists' Acrylic White
- ALL the Micron tech markers (.005 to 1.0) and Copic Brush Tip Marker
- Brushes: Grumbacher no. 2 flat, Princeton 1/4" mini-detailer, Tight Spot
- Photoshop (minimal corrections this time! Mostly I do Threshold and Levels work, sometimes Curves)
Next: Testify!
