We’ve got a few more pages here this Saturday to the second episode of Sunnyville Stories. This second installment of the series, titled “Multiball Madness”, tells of Rusty facing a sudden challenge from local rich girl, Rose Von Straussen, in a pinball game. Turning down her challenge or losing at the game will possibly wreck his reputation. As I was explaining before, this is much like Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Everything goes downhill for Rusty in the early part of the comic. Anyway, let’s take a peek at some more of the pages.
Sam may be a motherly type character but she’s still young which makes her very energetic as you can see here.
That dust cloud Sam leaves behind and those speed lines were done with a brush. I’m still clumsy with brush inking but it works well here. I’m more of a pen man myself but will practice more with brush inking. In fact, I just might have a post in the future on brushes so stay tuned! 
So Rusty and Sam head over to the town’s general store, owned and operated by the Talbot family.
Again, the technique of aerial perspective is at work here. Check out that otter in the foreground wearing the sailor’s gob hat. He was inked with a sable brush. Those thicker lines help him pop out and contrast with the thinner lines that the other characters are drawn with. The addition of those random townspeople going about their business helps too with the comic’s setting. I have to make it look like Sunnyville is an actual town with real townspeople living and working there – not some empty studio backdrop put together in five seconds! One of the secrets that you readers can take away from this page is on how to make your comics’ locations seem real. Don’t think of them as being just backgrounds – make them look like they’re REAL PLACES!
Rusty and Sam stop in the general store for sodas. Again, I had to make it look like this was an actual place. This is a store and I had to make it seem like people had a reason to shop in here. Thus, we see the shelves, advertising posters, refrigerators, and merchandise for sale. What I said above about instilling a real sense of place came from Scott McCloud’s book Making Comics (Harper, 2006). Check out that book as it tells a lot about creating comics that other books leave out.
From here, Rusty and Sam will encounter the spark that sets off the story. What is it? That will have to end here. To find out what else happens, be sure to buy your copy of Sunnyville Stories episode 2 “Multiball Madness”. It’s available for US$2.99 through Indy Planet. I also plan to have copies available when I sell my work in the dealer room of the October 2011 event known as Furfright. (Watch for further details on that soon.)
Oh, here’s one more added bonus for all of you loyal readers sticking with me through this preview. There’s this neat site called the Atari 2600 Label Maker. Upload an image and the site makes it into a custom label resembling the games from the Atari 2600 Video Computer System. (I’m a classic gaming fan too in addition to an artist.) So, I made this image here.
Now isn’t that cool? I wonder what a Sunnyville Atari game would look like.
Well, that wraps it for this week. There’ll be more comics next week. In the meantime, be sure to buy your copy of Sunnyville #2 from the above link and subscribe to the RSS feed or email. Any comments or questions? Put them here – I’ll be more than happy to answer them. Until next time, loyal fans!
