Gawain comic: The Darkest Hour, 10-12

"The Britons made every effort to press forward eagerly. They butchered the pagans with might and main, killing off some thousands of them. In the end Octa and Eosa were captured and the Saxons were completely routed. After this victory Uther went to the town called Alclud, and while there he settled the affairs of that region and restored peace everywhere."
- Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1136)



My friend the 3D artist asked me this week what the chances are that I will ever get around to drawing the final version of this comic. Ergh - he has a point. I have little spare time, and drawing comics is a serious effort for me. Not the storyboard so much, as I do that quickly and leave all the mistakes standing - but the final version? That needs to be as good as I can get it.

However - I really do wish to draw a 'neat' version. The storyboard is too intolerably flawed in my eyes. It's drawn on the train, for chrissakes! I don't want this shaky thing to be the only version of a story about which I care so much. It's a draft, nothing more. It is undeniably true that re-drawing it (or drawing it 'for real') will take time, this being a commodity of which I happen to have very little. So it's going to be a slow process. But I have been slow all of my life, and still managed to finish what I start, especially when it's important. And this is important to me :-).

I am thinking that it might be best to start drawing the 'neat' version as soon as an arc is finished. That means that as soon as The Darkest Hour has been completed, I will start on the final version. The good news is that doing so will not interfere with my storyboarding, which always happens on the train, on weekdays. I think that storyboarding during the week and doing neat pages during the weekend may prove to be stimulating. On the one hand, I'll see where I am headed, and on the other, I'll see the story take a definite shape. So that is the plan.

Any thoughts?

So I would ask you to please keep giving me feedback. Am I going to quickly? Too slowly? Are the characters too vague? I want to fix as many mistakes as I can, because I will be investing all my spare time in this story. I want to have something to show for that.

In the meantime, I still haven't decided on a style :/. I am tempted between things as diverse as elaborate pencilling and more cartoonlike brushed inks. And if I could get a satisfactory result with scanned and slightly pimped pencils, that is an option to consider too, in view of economical use of my time. Decisions, decisions. *sigh*

But I have blabbed enough for today. Below are the next three pages of The Darkest Hour, a. k. a. Gawain: The Prequel :-). As an exercise, I drew them entirely with my brush pen. I used a small "pen pen" for the lettering only.

CONCRIT IS WELCOME.

(And yes, I know my perspective is disastrous *g*.)


What went before:
Ygraine of the Faerie People has come to live with Gorlois, a human. They marry and soon have two daughters. Life is happy and idyllic, until word is brought that the ferocious Saxons have killed the High King Emrys. Emrys has been succeeded by his younger brother, Uther - but the Britons are still under threat from the Saxons. What will Gorlois do?

The Darkest Hour 1-3
The Darkest Hour 4-6
The Darkest Hour 7-9

( The Darkest Hour )