Episode 10 Page 1 Pencils

As I promised, I’ll share some of the rough pencils that I’ve been working on for Sunnyville Stories episode 10 “Listen to the Music”. So shall we get this show on the road?

Our story begins in the vast forests surrounding Sunnyville. What you’re seeing here is fifty percent reference and fifty percent organic. In other words, what’s “organic” is what comes from my memory. If you see the tree on the far left, you’ll see it’s quite bumpy. That tree came from an actual photo of one in my reference files. It’s important to remember that not all trees are straight. Many have bumps, nobs, and unusual shapes. That’s why I encourage everyone to gather photo reference or even go out into nature to make some sketches of real trees.

Here we have our hero, Rusty Duncan, just strolling through the woods. As for that song, he’s singing “the Rainbow Connection” from the 1979 film, the Muppet Movie. I should add there’ll be another reference from the Muppet Movie in this story, but you’ll see that soon enough.

Another item of note was an experiment I’m trying out in my storytelling. I’ve made it a point to challenge myself and constantly improve both my drawing and storytelling during the saga of Sunnyville. Do you notice anything about this panel?

This is a polyptych. Rusty is moving along a continuous background. This concept came from Dave Sim’s Cerebus the Aardvark.

You have to understand that comics are a static medium. A page can’t normally convey the kinetic energy that a movie or television show does. This is a trick that is intended to make the world of Sunnyville look more dynamic.

I hope to have more drawings up tomorrow.

If you are a library (or vendor), both volumes of Sunnyville Stories are available wholesale through Ingram and Baker & Taylor via BCH Distribution and through Brodart Books.

Sunnyville Stories Vol. 1 (ISBN 9780615653921) is still for sale on Amazon too. Copies of Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 and Von Herling, Vampire Hunter are for sale right now at Great Stories.

Last but not least, I welcome your fan letters and commentary. You can email me at maxwestart(at)gmail.com or you can write to:

Different Mousetrap Press LLC
PO Box 1321
Greensboro, NC 27402