Page Notes: This time around, let's dig into the creative process that Jackwraith and I employ in creating our webcomic. The original script for this week's comic was:

Page 17 - Panel 1. We’re close to Bradson’s right shoulder, as he looks up as two wights throw themselves against the rebar “canopy” that covers much of the upper part of Point. One is a corpse with black flesh still visible behind the black plastic armor of a TP trooper. The other is skeletal, with shreds of blackness hanging everywhere, two of them sticking out of the sides of its head at a 45 degree angle, like wings. It has tendrils erupting from its mouth and winding forward with a sheen of a grid pattern on them that’s just visible.

Frazier: “Bradson!”
Bradson: “I see them!”
Bradson (caption): Finally.

The first thing that you'll note is that the script had identified this as page 17, and secondly that this was the first panel of a multi-panel page. I find the creative interaction between a writer and artist incredibly fun, and in my opinion, the collaborative nature of comics is what makes it a unique artform. When starting the chapter, I create the thumbnails for each page (these are rough sketches of all of the panels on each page), and the two of us review those thumbnails and make subsequent changes. The thumbnails for the entire chapter are completed prior to starting the finished artwork to ensure the continuity of the story, actions, and dialogue. During our thumbnail reviews, the artwork can changed to preserve the vision of the author and in others, deviations from the script are included in areas to satisfy the narcissistic needs of the artist <grin>.

Drawing full page spreads are fun, but my goal in expanding the action of one panel to an entire page was to emphasize the dramatic nature of this moment... Jackwraith agreed, and I hope you do as well.