Issue Three, Page Seven

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Matthew Schofield

4th Nov 2022, 8:22 AM

 

On the pages that seem like they’re going to be simple, like this one did, I think “ooh, I’m going to get this one done so much faster!” and then when I start to write these notes, I see the gap between the current date and the date of the last page and go “NOPE!” So thank you, faithful reader, for sticking with this comic, despite the erratic updates (I’m not even going to say “schedule” at this point).

For what it’s worth, the production of this page progressed rather smoothly, up to a point. I had plotted out this fight scene using a writing method I’d read about somewhere or other - starting at the end and writing the events in reverse chronological order. Basically writing backwards, in a sense. It worked beautifully, I got the entire fight scene plotted out very easily, four or five pages worth, which I think is further ahead of myself than I’ve ever been during Steamroller Man’s entire life as a comic!

From there it was on to the fun problem-solving stage of thumbnailing out the page layouts, which was flowing quite well too! This stage takes me a little longer than the plotting, usually, because as well as designing the page, this is where I’m doing my first pass at the actual script, working out what the characters are going to be saying in each panel. So as you can imagine, there were lots of steamroller, marshmallow and sleep/bedding puns being jotted down as the characters fought their way through the pages. Oh, the puns!

I found that penciling and inking the page also went smoothly. I’m usually not confident enough in my knowledge of anatomy to work without pulling out some reference, but this time I decided to wing it and I’m pretty happy with the results!

It was only when I got to the point of adding sound effects, of all things, that a wrench got thrown into the gears! Specifically, that “LEAP” effect in panel two! I just couldn’t get it looking quite right, to my eye. I experimented with different fonts, with drawing the letters by hand, with having the letters read downwards rather than sideways… I tried using onomatopoeic sound effects instead of the word “leap”, but what sound does a giant marshmallow make when it’s leaping into the air? SHWSHHH? SHWAA? That didn’t seem to be working either. I think I tried about twenty different effects until, in the interests of moving on, I settled for what you see on the page.

As Steamroller Man says, sometimes you just have to keep moving forward, even if you’re not quite sure it’s in the right direction!

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