CatComixzStudios

Page 286

Luca, uh. Hey, Luca? I think you might need to talk to someone

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I've been talking a lot about the framing during this stretch of thumbnails, but it really IS something that I've been appreciating! The distance Ms Shepard keeps from Simon vs Trinity's close, open interest for example. Or me getting /slightly/ more interesting with panel structure. It's something!

Page 285

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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No idea what possessed me to do the first thumb in my notes box. Going back to the (bad) old-school style!

Again, setting up interesting shots in this long hallway is such a weird experience. I think it's mainly finding something that follows the motion well AND correctly conveys the order of the dialogue...

Page 284

Oh? Having a bit of a change of heart, Trinity?

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THIS page I'm very proud of. I had such a clear vision that they all came together incredibly well. Plus we're finally getting some of that delicious LORE

Page 283

Are you SURE you wanna do that, Leon? Don't you remember what happened LAST TIME you tried to use the bathro-oh. Oh yeah I guess you don't, huh.

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Another time I've struggled with framing in these long hallways. It's really difficult to nail them down for some reason!

On the other hand, had a LOT of fun with the expressions

Page 282

Congrats on your future partners, Leon!

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God, THIS page. Setting up this page was a NIGHTMARE. The expressions weren't coming together, the framing (especially for the first panels) wasn't gelling, the panels are shaped weirder than normal requiring some clever use of space... gah, glad I finally figured it out.

Wish I had some advice more useful than just, "keep working at it and it'll work out," but that is ultimately what it comes down to.

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Though it's simple, I'm still incredibly happy with how unhinged Ms Shepard is starting to get by this point. Hopefully that won't have any #Consequences

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Framing has been a particular struggle during this section that takes place in this underwater section. I wouldn't take back having the sisters being parallel and opposite each other, but it's still a weird setup. Makes for some fun panels, though!

Page 281

Oh neat, congrats, Leon!

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Panel three only had one expression originally, but I've been inspired by stuff like King of Sorts to kind of... take expressions and specific phrases in dialogue for a walk, so to speak. Let the full weight of what's being said get conveyed, line by line if needed.

Page 280

Honestly I think it'll all be fine

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Back with Team L! Seems Leon has discovered something INTERESTING.

In case it wasn't obvious, I was REALLY struggling with Leon's expression in that one panel. It was so hard to convey the proper degree of "WHAT THE HELL," "I'M SO FURIOUS," and "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU" in one face

Page 279

You're BASICALLY home free now, Simon!

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Now THIS is more like it. Very proud of the action framing for this one. Good flow and readability.

You'll note it took quite a few attempts, though. Still, very proud of myself for not settling on the first try at framing some of these. It's almost as if that's what thumbnails are FOR (I say, always forgetting)

Page 278

OH NOOO, NOT. A... blank playing card???

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One thing I've wanted to challenge myself on more is, with action beats, trying to use some more interesting panel borders and framing. While I've enjoyed the earlier action beats in this chapter, they could be a bit cluttered and not have quite the flow I'm looking for. Particularly, the sounds and movement.

It's something I'm working on, as well as trying to include more "quick moment" shots to help further sell movement and convey a more rushed atmosphere.

Page 277

I guess Simon's got a Plan B! Let's see how this goes poorly

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Simon (and Steven's) daring escape!

So here, we're establishing a key component of the lore. Simon has these little flashcards which can show off... /SOMETHING/ important. Currently it just seems to give headaches... not unlike other things in the series have done.

Framing the action in these halls is a bit more of a challenge, since it's one of the more enclosed environments of the comic so far. It's going to require a bit more fun creativity on my end to ensure everything is rea...

Page 276

Well this doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Let's see what Simon and his kidnappers are up to

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Thank god I remembered to establish Steven again earlier. Probably should have done more, but eh.

I'm really happy with how Simon's escape scene came out! It was a great chance to exposit about some real important stuff for the series, which we'll be seeing soon...

Page 275

It's a pessimism-off!

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Mirroring Ms Shepard's scene from the previous page. God, setting up the dialogue for these pages can be a nightmare

ALSO, our first chance to see another new locations. A... much more claustrophobic one. Get used to the views here, because you're gonna be seeing a lot more of it coming up!

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This is one where I really got to play with the strengths with this particular framing of the characters. SO fun.

I was aiming to do a thing with the Shepard sisters existing in the shadows of their respective "sides" in the conflict. That and getting to play with the framing of the sisters' rivalry. SO tasty

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I needed to establish that the Shepard sisters DO love one another. They do CARE.

It's just that their bickering is making things awkward for everyone around them.

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Another of my favorite pages. Though it's primarily a means of setting up some exposition for how the Historia Hub works, I was also excited to get to a scene where the twins bicker.

I was originally planning for a more dynamic "battle of the mind" kind of thing, with Trinity and Ms Shepard doing this big fight with Trinity duel-wielding pistols and Ms Shepard with swords. And it is a cool idea, one I might even reuse! But it also would have distracted quite a bit from the scene at play...

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Hope you enjoy this big establishing shot page, because it's the most you're getting for this big ol' room.

As these things are wont to do, the Historia Hub changed drastically since its inception. Honestly I struggled a lot with working out an engaging way to convey the dialogue here AND make it visually interesting.

Originally I was going to have it be a set thing, but once I had the thought to play around more with the physics of the holo-tech in this setting, I couldn't resist...