As per the wise words of my former cartooning professor, the parts of a comic that the reader remembers the most are the first page and the last of the comic. Becuase of this, you want to make sure you start (and end) on a memorable moment.
In the world of comics, "Don't judge a book by its cover" doesn't really apply. It's not just the cover that plays an extremely important role in capturing attention but also the first couple of pages. They need to be able to capture someone's attention in the few seconds a shopper devotes to perusing a comic. This lead me to an important decision about what moment I wanted to start off my story with. I decided to start at the end.
"In media res" is a Latin phrase that I just learned today while researching if there was any literary term used to describe the storytelling technique I'm using for this comic. It roughly translates to "in the middle of things" and describes a story that skips the exposition and begins in the middle of all the action.
By choosing a significant plot point to start with, the reader is immediately drawn into the action. It makes them wonder what exactly happened to lead up to that point and it's a great way to instantaneously create mystery and suspense.
Starting the first page off with a character drowning with figures staring down at her as she sinks to the murky depths is hopefully an interesting enough way to catch the reader's attention.
I'm using a couple of visual cues to show that this next sequence is not happening in chronological order but that the girl in the red dress is the same one sinking. As mentioned in this post the panel borders will be playing a key storytelling role in signifying what order the story is being told. So in pages 2 and 3, one event is surrounded by a gold frame and the other takes place in the black, bubbly water. You'll also see that the girl in red is wearing the same dress as the girl who is sinking.
What events took place/are going to happen to lead up to this character sinking to her death?
Pages 2 & 3 have dialogue but I'm choosing to refrain from sharing the pages with speech balloons for now.
Hopefully you'll stick around to see the rest of the first 8 pages I did for this story in color!
[insert comic name here] is a gothic style story set in the 19th century about an immigrant houseworker who uses the spiritualist movement to rebel against the societal pressures of the time. If you would like to read the previous updates about this story, you can find them in the links below:
Update 1: Progress
Update 2: Perspective is The Worst
Update 3: Art Hacks
Update 4: Establishing Shots
Update 5: Changes
Update 6: Loving/Hating Your Work
Update 7: New Techniques
Update 8: Speed Draw
Update 9: Quick Update
In Recent Updates
I am fully recovered from the flu and back to work! I was pretty much useless last week but I managed to catch up on a lot of much-needed sleep. I also learned ASL and managed to read The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. The Prince and the Dressmaker is a super god-damn adorable fairytale story about a dressmaker who makes gowns for a prince as they struggle with identity, society, and young love. If you're looking for a non-binary story about young love and being confident with who you are, this is the comic for you. Go read it!
Thanks for Reading!
If you'd like to keep up with more of my work you can check me out at the following:
Instagram: @la.fumettista
Tumblr: http://la-fumettista.tumblr.com/tagged/art
Twitter: @TheresaChiechi
Website: https://www.theresachiechi.com/
The colored pages look amazing! I like how you used the same neutral color for things that are out-of-focus, like the bookcase & all its contents. This makes the gas-light more intense, and naturally draws the eye to the more vibrant colors, as the red dress.
I have to say that I did not notice that the drowning girl is the same as the one at the table, not before I read your post. It is difficult to compare the dresses in those panels, and the drowning girl's hair seems blond to me; but the effect of hair floating in water is wonderful and I do not know if it is possible to do it properly with dark hair in dark waters.
I am very excited to see your comic in color!
I agree about the drowning girl, her dress and hair don't read as dark, I actually thought it was the other girl in the light dress. For the hair I would just making it dark like the background and just defining it's shape with the minimum amount of highlights that you can get away way. You could probably do the same for the dress, go dark and just define the shape with rim lighting and highlights. Though a more striking solution might be to simply make it red, but you'd probably have to punch up the contrast a little by making the blacks a little darker and/or the red of the dress a little more vivid in general, for that to work, IMHO.
That style of storytelling puts you in the company of some of the greats! The Iliad, and Paradise Lost are all about starting in the middle. It was a super popular format for the classical epics.
Also have I talked to you about Victoria Woodhull already? She was the first woman to address congress, run for president, and be a stock broker (which made her rich).
She also used the spiritualist movement to her advantage, it's how she convinced (swindled?) a wealthy man to fund her stock exchange career, because he was all in on ghosts/the afterlife.
I'm a sucker for period costumes. And comics. A follow for you. :)
I love your colors and the first images definitely set the mood for what the world is, so much can be communicated in just an image.
great progress :]
keep going!
Thank you :)
of course, you made it. I am just inspired by your progress
amazing. These panels are really coming to life! great job, great colors!
Really beautiful work. I'm so impressed by comic book artists - every page has to be visually interesting and drive a narrative. That's a tough balancing act.
Thank you!
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