Great, now it starts to rain!
I’ve just returned from a two week vacation with my family in the German Eiffel area. And I can only say: what a beautiful area it is! Lots of nature, nice towns and good food! I’ve made a few very nice pictures I’ll try to post any time soon.
In my vacation the work on page 19 of Semmie the Forest Gnome continued of course. Like the previous page was an imported one story wise because Sem and Bear both went their own way, is this an important page art wise. On this page it becomes dark and starts to rain, and dark it will be for almost the entire length off the final part off the story. So I tried very hard to make the transition from light to dark a graduate one but still in a way that I can maintain for the rest of the “Dark Pages”.
Like I said Sem and Bear lost track off each other and thunderclouds come rolling into the story. And while it starts to rain Sem realizes he doesn’t like being in the forest anymore.
Have fun with page 19!
PS. I submitted an illustration for Jason Brubaker’s reMIND PIN-UP Contest, the winner of this contest is printed in the grahic novell. I’ll post my illustration here on the website in the next couple of days so keep checking back!
Confusion of tongues
Bear explains it all so clearly and yet Sem doesn’t quite understand what he’s talking about. Sem should know better, the mushroom isn’t his real home, the house off the doll maker is. There will be some tea and maybe cookies and Bear know it.
This is an important point in the story. From here the overall tone will become a bit grimmer, Bear and Sem lose sight of one another and Sem will re…
Sorry, I’ve said too much already!
In any case have fun with page 18!
Strawberries!
Is it that Sem and Bear are so small or are these strawberries so big? I guess these strawberries are just big, this is after all a forest where the puppet gnomes wander freely and the bears talk in pictures. It just can’t be something else than mega large strawberries!
This page worked out soooooo good, I’m really pleased with it! Especially panel 3 and 6 are my favorite, I finally succeeded in showing the depth of a scene the way I wanted. In particular panel 3, where the objects in the foreground are placed in the shadow and the background in less saturated colors (atmospheric perspective for the artists among us), very pleased indeed.
Have fun with page 17!
Leapfrog
Bear and Sem are completely lost in their game, Bear jumping over Sem and in turn Sem is jumping over Bear. Pretty soon they are panting for air from al the exertion and from al that exercise you will get hungry…
I am very pleased with this page, the action is good, the colors look good (on my monitor) and I like Bear’s “iconspeech” more and more with each page.
The sound effects on this page are drawn/written by hand instead of the typed effects from the previous pages and those add another something special. All and all a very successful page.
Have fun with page 16!
A new friend
Semmie and Bear are watchfully circling each other, you never know what you can expect. But as soon as the introductions are over the conversation moves to a more important subject: What fun things can we do? I am curious as to what they come up with.
From the very first beginning it has been my intention to let Bear speak in little icons instead of words, it seems like a nice deviation from the standard dialog you usually find in comics. I have to say it has a positive effect to the whole look and feel of this page.
I would love to hear from you readers if it is clear what words these icons represent, suggestions are always welcome!
Have fun with page 15!
