Considerations of character design.

I finally got past a crucial conversation scene, but it took me a week and four drafts. The problem: lots of important information to be revealed, but it's talking heads and I'm boring myself after five panels. I used to love doing conversation scenes, but I've come to realize they can easily get legs and run away from you, especially when they serve as info-dump as well.

Five scenes are left to fine-tune before the final go-through.  

A pretty crucial problem is a particular relationship that I, for spoiler reasons, can't reveal yet, but it's at the very heart of the story and the very core of what drives one of the characters. However, it's a past relationship, not so much a current one, and I think flashbacks should be used only very sparingly and then handled with the utmost care. But if the relationship appears too theoretical, the air might go out of the story.

At least the visuals are a little more straight-forward. Here's what's new in character design:

Rada's physique was a little blah, a little ill-defined, a little wimpy, flat and inconsistent, so I got the advice to base it on a real person's, and who better than former MMA fighter Gina Carano? 

(That question is entirely rhetorical). 

So, something like:

I didn't realize just HOW MUCH it helps having a 

solid reference when it comes to drawing characters.

 She's much more of a joy to draw now. 

I have also made a size chart of the most important characters on land:

(Mr. Tall Bodyguard is now called Manfred. 

And here we can see Waldimar's older brother 

The King for the first time - suave and as well-kept as Waldimar isn't.)

With the merpeople, I've been trying to circumvent the little problem of gender distinction without slapping awkward-looking and un-hydrodynamic breasts on the females, so I introduced some curves. Not sure if it's too subtle. 

(Two ladies to the left, gentleman to the right.)

And on I go...

Moving closer

The writing is coming together, finally. I finally feel like the thing feels cohesive, which has been a problem with previous drafts. Oh, and I have a laptop now, which makes everything a lot easier - I can Photoshop or type whenever I waaant!

I've discovered that while some problems can be worked out by doing storyboards, some demand that you pull up a Word document and type them out. I'd write in the form of a mono-dialogue, starting with describing the problem and then reply to myself and it was somewhat creepy how often the answer would just come out that way. Like part of me had it all along and the other part just needed to ASK.

I also discovered that everyone's right about working SET hours. It really does help your focus. Whodathunk, right?

I would like to think that I'm 90% there, writing-wise. Knock on wood, because if there's anything I've learned, it's that patching one hole tends to make two more pop up.

Husband is working hard and doesn't have too much time to act editor, but he still kindly looks through the storyboards I give him. I fear the digital version of the script I prepared for him is very out-of-date at this point, though.

Once the writing is done, I will start on character sheets as well as figure out where to put the thing and how to present it. Page-by-page? Chapter-by-chapter?

Art-wise, I'm leaning towards doing the underwater scenes in ink/charcoal, while the land scenes will be in pencil/greytones. I was hesitant, but my husband insists I am more of a pencil artist (which I think was a very polite way of putting it) and as the always sage Dylan Meconis pointed out: they're two different worlds and that might as well be emphasized.

Underwater scenes, ink/charcoal:

Land scene, trying out pencil/greytone:

Bonus: Inked thumbnail of Rada diving to see the Witch.