Sigune's How Not To Draw Comics - Part XV
Sunday, 24 June 2007 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
siguneLook, I’m back with a new page! And only a fortnight after the previous one! XD
Next time you get two at once, for the simple reason that you have seen page 15 already, once upon a time; and after that, there are only two more to go! That means that if I scramble a bit, I may still be able to make it before Deathly Hallows comes out. I shudder to think that the book may make this story obsolete. I have worked so long on it! But then I guess all of you who have ever worked, and are currently working, on a long WIP feel equally apprehensive.
But the Book with the Awful Title isn’t here yet, so onward with Vengeance is Bitter! ;P
The Comic So Far:
Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine
Page Ten
Page Eleven
Page Twelve
You Are Here:
When Sirius allows Snape to overhear the details of a Marauder meeting at the full moon, Severus, eager to get the foursome expelled, descends into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. As he crawls on, he begins to suspect that something isn’t quite right… When James Potter shows up, Snape knows for certain that he is onto something big. Unfortunately for him, the surprise is not a pleasant one.
22. Yay, Beasties… -_-
Reader – you already know that when it comes to drawing, I am severely challenged in several areas. Well, animal anatomy is not the least of them (why else do I never draw beasties?). And here I was with a comic that had a werewolf at the heart of its plot. Splendid. I had been nervous from the start about the page on which the wolf-man would be making his appearance.
I really should learn about animal anatomy one day, starting with horses and dogs – I will need them for my War in Gaul project. The trouble is that every single animal is so different from the next – and in all this time I haven’t even mastered the intricacies of human anatomy yet -_-.
In any case: one thing I knew was that for my comic I didn’t want the weird sort of werewolf we got in the PoA film. The creature looks so little like a wolf that I wondered why they didn’t just call it a weremutt or something. If the Marauding Boys in OotP discussed things like the shape of the creature’s snout, I would guess that the differences between wolf and werewolf were a bit subtler than what the film’s CGI team felt like serving us. In fact, I thought I would just attempt to draw a wolf – that would be tricky enough to pull off :P. So I went looking for photos and such, and went through all my Elfquest comics again… None of it sufficed to make me an expert in drawing wolves, but I would manage, more or less.
The first werewolf image that I needed would be a little bit special… I had an idea that would allow me to draw werewolf!Remus without displaying my technical disadvantages and yet to achieve maximum impact – or so I like to think. All I needed was a werewolf outline. Because my man-wolf was going to look very much like an ordinary wolf, I went for a half-transformed Remus first.
23. Interactions
I have read a number of fanfics that tell the story of the “prank”; several of them approach James’s saving Snape’s life as somehow involving Potter’s stag shape. This is not illogical: we know that the main reason why the Marauders worked hard to be Animagi was because Remus the werewolf is not aggressive towards animals. If James is to keep Remus from munching Snape, he could do so by becoming Prongs. However, I have two quibbles with this. First off, the tunnel under the grounds is – at least the way it is described when Harry first enters it – low and narrow, which makes me sceptical as to how a stag is to manoeuvre inside it. Second, Dumbledore tells Harry that his father risked his life to save Snape. If he has assumed the shape of Prongs, that would mean he didn’t risk his life, wouldn’t it, because that is precisely the stag’s function.
In my own story therefore – as in this comic – I have opted for a James-shaped James. That this means I didn’t have to worry about drawing a credible stag is a nice extra :P. Instead, I had to worry about the close interaction between two human beings. Interaction is not a simple matter. I don’t think I have ever held in my hands a book that treats the theme extensively; mostly drawing manuals focus on individual figures, and to be sure, they are already difficult enough to get right :D. So – picturing James physically rescuing Snape was something of a challenge. But it was great fun too, as I think you can tell from the sketches :-). One of my first major sketches (scroll down to the third page) was of James dragging Snape back. I had intended to use it in the final page, but in the end I couldn’t because I had eventually made the tunnel low and narrow…
I guess my secret obsession with Snape’s legs is beginning to show quite clearly from here on ;-). When I draw him as an adult, I cover him up as much as I can, but I feel no such compunction when he is a teenager. Lookit his knees! XD
Of course I also enjoyed drawing him freaking out. I’m so mean to him sometimes. Initially I wavered between making him angry with James or making him scared; I decided that it would be more natural for the shock and fear to come first, and anger to come when he is safe and looks back on what has, and could have, happened.
This page is a kind of brainstorm. I was trying out ways to picture Snape scrambling out of the tunnel in a panic. Some of these sketches went into Page 14; I only used the bottom one for 13.
The words on the right are a test for the last panel’s background. I had enough of those tunnel walls; besides, I wanted to convey something of Snape’s state of mind as well, in another way than just showing his frightened expression. My idea was to compose the panel’s background with words associated with werewolves – they would race through Snape’s mind as he made his frantic escape. I thought of several ways to add the words to the panel, first among which was to type, print and stick them to the page, but this proved difficult and unsatisfactory. Then I tried several calligraphy pens, but I didn’t like those results either. I settled for handwriting with a normal pen.
Next: Fangs and Flight…
Next time you get two at once, for the simple reason that you have seen page 15 already, once upon a time; and after that, there are only two more to go! That means that if I scramble a bit, I may still be able to make it before Deathly Hallows comes out. I shudder to think that the book may make this story obsolete. I have worked so long on it! But then I guess all of you who have ever worked, and are currently working, on a long WIP feel equally apprehensive.
But the Book with the Awful Title isn’t here yet, so onward with Vengeance is Bitter! ;P
The Comic So Far:
Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine
Page Ten
Page Eleven
Page Twelve
You Are Here:
When Sirius allows Snape to overhear the details of a Marauder meeting at the full moon, Severus, eager to get the foursome expelled, descends into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. As he crawls on, he begins to suspect that something isn’t quite right… When James Potter shows up, Snape knows for certain that he is onto something big. Unfortunately for him, the surprise is not a pleasant one.
22. Yay, Beasties… -_-
Reader – you already know that when it comes to drawing, I am severely challenged in several areas. Well, animal anatomy is not the least of them (why else do I never draw beasties?). And here I was with a comic that had a werewolf at the heart of its plot. Splendid. I had been nervous from the start about the page on which the wolf-man would be making his appearance.
I really should learn about animal anatomy one day, starting with horses and dogs – I will need them for my War in Gaul project. The trouble is that every single animal is so different from the next – and in all this time I haven’t even mastered the intricacies of human anatomy yet -_-.
In any case: one thing I knew was that for my comic I didn’t want the weird sort of werewolf we got in the PoA film. The creature looks so little like a wolf that I wondered why they didn’t just call it a weremutt or something. If the Marauding Boys in OotP discussed things like the shape of the creature’s snout, I would guess that the differences between wolf and werewolf were a bit subtler than what the film’s CGI team felt like serving us. In fact, I thought I would just attempt to draw a wolf – that would be tricky enough to pull off :P. So I went looking for photos and such, and went through all my Elfquest comics again… None of it sufficed to make me an expert in drawing wolves, but I would manage, more or less.
The first werewolf image that I needed would be a little bit special… I had an idea that would allow me to draw werewolf!Remus without displaying my technical disadvantages and yet to achieve maximum impact – or so I like to think. All I needed was a werewolf outline. Because my man-wolf was going to look very much like an ordinary wolf, I went for a half-transformed Remus first.
23. Interactions
I have read a number of fanfics that tell the story of the “prank”; several of them approach James’s saving Snape’s life as somehow involving Potter’s stag shape. This is not illogical: we know that the main reason why the Marauders worked hard to be Animagi was because Remus the werewolf is not aggressive towards animals. If James is to keep Remus from munching Snape, he could do so by becoming Prongs. However, I have two quibbles with this. First off, the tunnel under the grounds is – at least the way it is described when Harry first enters it – low and narrow, which makes me sceptical as to how a stag is to manoeuvre inside it. Second, Dumbledore tells Harry that his father risked his life to save Snape. If he has assumed the shape of Prongs, that would mean he didn’t risk his life, wouldn’t it, because that is precisely the stag’s function.
In my own story therefore – as in this comic – I have opted for a James-shaped James. That this means I didn’t have to worry about drawing a credible stag is a nice extra :P. Instead, I had to worry about the close interaction between two human beings. Interaction is not a simple matter. I don’t think I have ever held in my hands a book that treats the theme extensively; mostly drawing manuals focus on individual figures, and to be sure, they are already difficult enough to get right :D. So – picturing James physically rescuing Snape was something of a challenge. But it was great fun too, as I think you can tell from the sketches :-). One of my first major sketches (scroll down to the third page) was of James dragging Snape back. I had intended to use it in the final page, but in the end I couldn’t because I had eventually made the tunnel low and narrow…
I guess my secret obsession with Snape’s legs is beginning to show quite clearly from here on ;-). When I draw him as an adult, I cover him up as much as I can, but I feel no such compunction when he is a teenager. Lookit his knees! XD
Of course I also enjoyed drawing him freaking out. I’m so mean to him sometimes. Initially I wavered between making him angry with James or making him scared; I decided that it would be more natural for the shock and fear to come first, and anger to come when he is safe and looks back on what has, and could have, happened.
This page is a kind of brainstorm. I was trying out ways to picture Snape scrambling out of the tunnel in a panic. Some of these sketches went into Page 14; I only used the bottom one for 13.
The words on the right are a test for the last panel’s background. I had enough of those tunnel walls; besides, I wanted to convey something of Snape’s state of mind as well, in another way than just showing his frightened expression. My idea was to compose the panel’s background with words associated with werewolves – they would race through Snape’s mind as he made his frantic escape. I thought of several ways to add the words to the panel, first among which was to type, print and stick them to the page, but this proved difficult and unsatisfactory. Then I tried several calligraphy pens, but I didn’t like those results either. I settled for handwriting with a normal pen.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Sunday, 24 June 2007 10:46 pm (UTC)seriously, I simply -love- the idea of the silhouette in the middle and the definition of a werewolf in the frame where severus is crawling away!
and hey, there can never be enough naked severus!legs :P rofl!
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 02:52 pm (UTC)I was happy to find a solution for the background in the last panel... It wasn't until everything else was finished that I hit on it.
Glad you like it! :-)
no subject
Date: Sunday, 24 June 2007 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 02:54 pm (UTC)I hope you won't be disappointed with the end... My technical shortcomings really interfere with my ambitions a lot -_-. Still, i do what I can ;-).
no subject
Date: Sunday, 24 June 2007 11:02 pm (UTC)Umm... the silhouette of Remuswolf looks a bit... off, to me, though. I suppose I have more experience with animal anatomy than with human anatomy being that I used to work with dogs and cats for a living. >_>
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 02:58 pm (UTC)Thanks!
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 12:03 am (UTC)It has never occurred to me that James might haven been in his stag form. How's that supposed to work? At the one end of the tunnel a werewolf and at the other a stag? A stag is only slightly less intimidating, I'd say. They are huge.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 03:00 pm (UTC)LOL! Yes, I know what you mean about the last panel. I love to do that kind of thing, much to the despair of anyone who has to layout a page like this for printing ;P.
Thank you!
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 03:02 pm (UTC)I have read the Prongs thing in several places, so I thought I'd mention it and say why I thought differently. Actually I don't even believe that Snape knows about James being an Animagus, though there doesn't seem to be proof either way...
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 02:53 am (UTC)backdrop of the DADA notes as Snape tries to get away also works very well.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 03:05 pm (UTC)*hands virtual brownie*
Thank you!
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 08:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 10:39 pm (UTC)Doing those expressions is one of my greatest joys in making the comic :-)...
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 04:10 pm (UTC)The page is just wonderful. I love the silhouette of Remus transfiguring superimposed over the page and the werewolf essay in the background.
In the second panel, where James is trying to pull Severus out of the tunnel, could you just get a bit of a draft to blow so I can see if Severus has any underpants on, hee hee?
As usual, your work is stunning.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 10:41 pm (UTC)Thank you!
*hugs*
no subject
Date: Monday, 25 June 2007 07:00 pm (UTC)An email to you is in the works as well. :-)
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 10:44 pm (UTC)I didn't realise you hadn't seen the War in Gaul thing yet - that means I've been blabbering on about stuff you didn't have a lot of clues about XD. Go me! You must warn me when I'm not making any sense... ;P