Het Bos!
Het is dan eindelijk zo ver, daar is het bos! Een beetje beduusd bekijkt Semmie het paadje dat slingerend tussen de bomen verdwijnt. Na alle inspanningen is het hem dan toch gelukt, dit is het begin van zijn droom…
Dit is de eerste pagina waarin het bos te zien is en ik wilde graag goed uitpakken omdat het toch een belangrijk element in het verhaal is. Ik heb daarom gekozen om een halve pagina te wijden aan dit ene aanzicht. Dat leverde meteen een mooie uitdaging op, omdat mijn stijl van inkleuren te strak bleek voor het bladerdak van de bomen. Na enkele mislukte pogingen om het een iets schilderachtiger uitstraling te geven heb ik (al zeg ik het zelf) een mooie mix gevonden tussen een strakke en losse inkleuring.
Veel plezier met pagina 13!
The half-page bleed was an excellent choice, and it ties together the entire sequence beautifully. And frankly, I think that the biggest thing about the forest is that it’s consistent with the style of the rest of the story. I think it suits perfectly, and with Semmie standing there thoughtfully, just off center, with his head cocked to the right like that thinking, silently, “I wonder if this is more than I bargained for after all?” He spent the whole first part getting here and had never stopped to reflect on it until now – it’s an extremely expressive and emotional scene. I completely get the mixture of anticipation and nervousness, a very relatable and genuinely emotional little moment.
And by the way, the addition of the human characters is really well done over the last few pages. The temptation may have been to make them more of a part of the actual event, but really, they’re part of the background, framing the real action as Semmie makes his way out of the house, and having their part conclude so succinctly here is really just the right note – and you close it off here really nicely by having the wife actually close the door, behind her, which is an excellent combination of a physical metaphor with a literary one! They go back to their lives, and the REAL story, following the main character, is just beginning! I really am impressed with this – I think you’ve really summed up the first part of the chapter extremely successfully, and this is exceptional work! Well done!
–M
Thanks Man! Those are really kind words. It’s what I intended with this page and I’m really glad to hear that it all comes across.
PS. I listed Semmie on belfrycomics.net and put a little banner add together. It’s still only visible to European traffic, just a little test first to see how it al works. Later I will advertise to the rest off the world. I hope it will bring the same kind of public to this site as it has to yours.
Thanks again for the great comment.
Joost.
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