Author |
Title |
Description |
Date |
Rank |
kenisu3000 |
Prologue - Page 7: Suzannah and Johnny |
kenisu - #07
Here, we get to meet three of my original characters: George and Maria's son, Johnny (I guess if I had to give him an age, I'd say about five), Maria's sister Suzannah, and James, who was mentioned on Page 3.
I knew that since George and Maria had a legacy that HAD to have been laid down BEFORE the abduction, then they must have had a child that had been perhaps overlooked in the kidnapping. To emphasize this, I gave them a son, designed him the way I draw Ninten (just with brown hair and newsie-style clothes), and I made it so that during the abduction, he had been out visiting his aunt Suzannah. Also, note the continued use of British dialect: Johnny refers to his mother as "mum".
At first I wanted the next page after the George-and-Maria scream and the shattering-of-the-eyeglasses to be where Suzannah brings Johnny home, to find the house completely abandoned. Instead, I realized there would need to be some more introduction to these characters, and maybe some interaction with others before they discovered the awful truth. That's how James became more than just a fleeting mention made by George. So, I threw in some more character establishment, and the "Big Discovery" was shifted to Page 8.
I made James to resemble the typical old farmer, jaded by the "young whipper-snappers these days", and I gave him a corn field. Corn fields are great if you want to write something scary. Also, there's a little nuance which I don't think was made clear enough: James' home is the 1906 equivalent of the house in 1988 of the fat guy who says his house was torn apart by a poltergeist.
|
10/8/06 |
0.00 |
kenisu3000 |
Prologue - Page 6: The Night Deepens |
kenisu - #06
Whatever it was that was above the couple's house, it has now departed.
For the time being.
|
10/8/06 |
0.00 |
kenisu3000 |
Prologue - Page 5: Unwelcome Shock |
kenisu - #05
I tried to make that big, final panel look as scary as possible, but alas, my artwork just drips of "cute", even when it's not supposed to.
|
10/1/06 |
0.00 |
kenisu3000 |
Prologue - Page 4: Final Sprint |
kenisu - #04
Why on earth would George tell Maria to let the ax be and just keep running? The answer is that the ax was heavy, and so it was slowing them down in their flight (hey, don't tell me YOU haven't lost your head and made bad decisions in time of panic).
The panel where Maria helps George back up was difficult for me to illustrate (character-to-character actions always are for me), so yeah, there was a massive amount of erasing and re-drawing there. And try to avoid the irony of the fact that in the very next panel, even though George needed help up, he's already back in the lead.
If you haven't figured out by now, the best way to experience my artwork is to take in as much detail as you can. In this case, don't just glance at the last panel, LOOK at it (hint: the expression on Maria's face).
|
10/1/06 |
0.00 |
kenisu3000 |
Prologue - Page 3: Escape into the Woods |
kenisu - #03
For those who haven't played the game, or have a very good memory of it, you'll find out, much MUCH later, exactly WHAT it is that is above George and Maria's house (or you can just play Mother and it'll tell you right there in the two paragraphs in the opening narration).
What I'm most proud of in this page is the fifth panel (the long one that dives under Maria's "What is THAT above our house?!" panel and juts out a bit under the third) - I absolutely nailed what I had in my head for that shot, and it also gives a glimpse at what I love so much about the landscapes of Mother. If you don't pay much attention to the detail anywhere else on this page, study this panel carefully. At the left end you can see George and Maria in the distance entering the forest, and at the right end is a pair of mysterious legs and a tail descending slowly in front of their home.
The dialogue of the panic-stricken couple was quite touch-and-go for me. I wasn't exactly sure what direction I wanted them to escape, but I wanted Mothersday Town to be mentioned, so I made that their planned route (BTW, I found out recently that the holiday Mother's Day didn't even exist in 1906, much less a town named after it...). Then I needed an outlet for the couple, someONE they could run to. So, using the concept of simple names like "George", I had him mention, in passing, some guy named "James". At first, James only existed for the sake of George mentioning someone they could run to, but as I was illustrating page 7, I found a way to use James further as not only as an outlet, but as THE outlet to represent a family friend's reaction to all that's about to happen. Yes, we'll get to see James in person later, and he'll come strongly into play.
|
9/24/06 |
0.00 |