30th Mar 2021, 5:15 PM
The great thing about doing this comic digitally is the ability to re-use elements from previous pages and panels, and this page is a great example of that. In panel one I grabbed the graffiti from the previous page and just enlarged it to fit. The final three panels were all based off of the same Night Knight drawing, with small modifications to suit each pose.
Night Knight's line in panel two, "God-outta-the-machine" refers to the English translation of the Latin term "Deus Ex Machina", which is a pretty well-known phrase referring to any plot contrivance that seems to just come out of nowhere, a little too conveniently... this is my way of calling out my own writing, and the fact that all of our heroes have just happened to wind up in the exact same place at the exact same moment. Can't make fun of me if I already did it to myself!
The flowery background in panel three was the last thing I added to this page. I think it adds a nice bit of visual focus to this panel right in the middle of the page, rather than just a blank background, or a brick texture. The specific reason for the flowers was that I wanted to have some visual equivalent of a moment in a movie when a character starts recounting a story and the music swells as the scene ripple-dissolves into a flashback. Plus he's talking about a song, and a beautiful day (referring to this page, new readers!) so flowers seemed to suggest that in an abstract way.
In panel five I tried something a little different, slumping Night Knight's pillow-mask over a bit so the corners look like ears. I'm really happy with the result, it feels cartoony and a fun way to depict his mood, so I'll probably be doing more of that in upcoming pages.
Finally, in panel seven, "tucked-in sheet" is supposed to be a sleep-themed way for Night Knight to curse, and I hope it comes across that way. I have my son to thank for helping me come up with that. Kids say the darnedest things!
I hope you like the page!