September is upon us! And it’s the first month in I don’t know how long that I haven’t had a convention to go to. As I grow older and have more projects I want to get done (not to mention a toddler to raise) I value routine more and more. There’s no other way to really get things done.
Oh, and storytelling teaching moment: I foolishly crossed the line of action on this page. I don’t think it’s such a big deal in this particular case (or I would go back and change it,) but it’s definitely something you want to avoid. If I ever have the opportunity to put the book in print I may tweak this page a bit just to clear it up– which would involve pretty much just flipping panels 1-4 horizontally. But it’s late and I’m tired. So at the moment, you’ll have to take it like it is. THWAK!
Don’t worry about the line of action, I’d say – it’s perfectly clear what is going on, and with birds of prey, some circling around and change of view is quite natural. (Ii know this bird doesn’t circle right now, but to have a mobile “camera” seems natural to me here.) I found the change of view in page 8 more confusing, because it seemed to me that the cliffhanger on page 9 meant he might stumble and fall off the cliff, when in fact he was falling away from it. (If this was a different comic, we’d probably see a birds-eye view of the area next, complete with fleeing girl and everything…or will we?)
Today we have the third cliffhanger in a row. Are there any rules about that?
I don’t know if there are rules about cliffhangers. It wasn’t a conscious decision to do that, and there are pages coming where there really isn’t a “cliffhanger” at the end of the page. I just do what I think the pacing deserves.
As far as him falling backward, I imagine him falling back towards the ledge, but he’s far enough away from it that you don’t see it. The hawk is coming up over a ridge towards the city. I suppose an establishing of his surroundings is somewhat in order 🙂
“And what is pan focus?”
(100 extra bonus points if you know how this relates to the line of action)
I didn’t know there was going to be a test!