SPQR Pencils (XXXXVII)

[spqrblues]

Pencils beyond the cut; spoilers yadda yadda.

The dialogue might change. I'll see how I feel about it in the morning. Some of these are scripted out in careful detail far in advance; others are still a bit drafty when I start trying to fit the (way too many) words into the (way too few) panels.

Always a challenge: expressing a whole lot of information with only a limited time to draw :P

Comments

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

I like the panel you used as the...whatever you call it. Teaser panel?

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I should call it "teaser panel." I like that better than "thumbnail."

Do you know that expression "kill your darlings"--how you should never get so fixated on and enamoured of some clever bit of writing (or an entire scene or a character) that you aren't willing to excise it from your story if it just doesn't work? I sketched the second panel sort of randomly before planning out the rest of the strip and had to work around it. It might be a more coherent installment if I were willing to erase it and kill darling Mus. Symbolically speaking. But, darnit, I like that panel, too! XD

Other arbitrary self-imposed constraints: I won't make an installment two rows long if there's only room for one row on that particularly sheet of drawing paper--though I've been known to leave a blank space at the bottom of a sheet (ow, my obsessive-compulsiveness hurts when I do that) and start at the top of a new sheet if necessary. But... but... I'd already drawn Mus, so I had to use him, so it had to be a single-row strip.

I am so crazy.

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

Working within limitations forces creativity! I agree, sometimes you need to kill your darlings, but I don't think this strip suffers for it. I think the big Mus is a refreshing break from the opressive dialogue. They're all embroiled in this power struggle and he's all foot loose and fancy free!

[jetbaby.livejournal.com]

"Nobody likes the cure." Lordy, but I love Vitalis. And I love how expressive all of your characters are.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm working on improving expressions these days. We'll seldom see, say, a big toothy smile from Felix, and I hope to get to the point where readers think, "Hmm, Felix doesn't smile like that" instead of "Hmm, that artist can't draw grins" XD <--look, I drew a grin! oh, I crack myself up.

expressions

[(Anonymous)]

My all time favorite expression is: 'If brains wuz gasoline, yew wouldn't have enough to drive a piss-ant's motorcycle around the inside of a cheerio.' No doubt you'll find plenty of opportunities to use this in upcoming episodes of SPQR Blues. DRW, who has had too much sugar.