Breaking Down Break Downs

I've been trying to write more often. The past week has been devoted to Awful Lot. I've scripted and made rough layouts of 12 pages this week.  That brings me through the halfway point on the last chapter of my longest project to date.  Now I still have another four or five months of pencilling and inking, and another year of weekly updates.  It's exciting.

Most of the writing is barely legible, and it's generally revised on the way onto the actual boards, but it's always enough to progress the narrative and help me to make sure I have a good progression from panel to panel, page to page.

 

The dance splashes are really easy in the writing phase.

 

 And while this is a mess I think it's going to be a pretty action packed page when I get to it.

Well I'm going to go get some Public Educations done, until next time friends.

- Jonathan O'Briant

Continuity

Now continuity can mean a good number of things to a comic fan but this Curve is about the importance of continuity from shot to shot.  Making sure the story makes sense from panel to panel.  I blundered on that fundamental principle while working on a future page of Awful Lot.

Panel 1 shows Awful coming into the ice cream shop clearly worked up over something.

Panel 2 has him walking around the front of the counter as he and Billy exchange words.

Panel 3 then has him behind the camera talking face to face with his friend the bat.

The transition from panels two to three isn't intrinsically bad, but on the remainder of the page Awful is back to the front of the counter.  This is where the problem occurs.  I can't have his location switching back and forth between panels, especially on the same page.  It was a rookie mistake that Timothy thankfully caught.

You get so caught up in other things (like the ridiculous perspective problems in the room) and you forget about some of the most basic things.  I made a patch to go over panel three and re did the entire middle section of the page.

This new panel fixes the continuity problem and gives the impression of Awful pausing to carry on the conversation with Billy while still not really wanting to talk to him.  This sets up the final three panels of the page rather nicely, but you'll have to keep reading Awful Lot to see that unfold.

Until next time!

- Jon O'Briant

Streamlined

The winter break is over and I'm settling back into the weekly routine.  I've begun working on chapter 5 of Awful Lot.  I'm staying ahead of the game in Public Education.  My three stories for the anthology are complete and submitted.  I tallied my pages for last year, and not counting Awful or P.E. I wrote and drew 130 pages of comics.  I like that.  It makes me sound productive.

 

2012 will be a productive year.  Maps will release.  Public Education 2 will release.  And I'll finish up work on Awful Lot.  I think I'm going to try not to replace every project with something new.  I need to double down on Maps, and ensure that when 3rd World relaunches that it's awesome.  This is my fourth year devoted toward comic creation, and it's going to be the best one yet.

- Jon O'Briant