Well, Sunnyville fans, I’m back for yet another magnificent blog post. Today, I had to kick it into high gear as I’ve fallen behind on Sunnyville #16. Even though this dramatic entry into the saga of Sunnyville clocks in at a mere 29 pages (the shortest one I’ve done so far), I can’t waste time and need to get through this one. I have pages to share today but they will be in photograph form. But I’m sure you’re not reading this post to hear me drone on. Let’s get to the comics.
I’m particularly pleased with this page. Here, we have the technique of repoussoir illustrated by those figures in black in the foreground. That establishes depth on the page and tells us that these guys are in front of the first and second row people.
Personally speaking, I’ve had issues with some criticizing me for not using linear perspective. Some take this as a sign that I’m either too stupid to do so or much too lazy. I feel quite comfortable using depth cues and it’s a style choice for me. I have used one-point and two-point perspective before. But that’s a whole other discussion.
Here, we get into a bit of the history of Sunnyville; we learn of John Witherspoon, who used to fix Sunnyville’s appliances and trained Mr. Jakes. I may feature that character in the time travel story I’m planning soon.
I like how I render Mr. Jakes. If you notice, his fur is done with a scratchy pattern from a Hunt 107 nib as opposed to the solid black ink I use for his nephew Roger. This is to show that Mr. Jakes is elderly; the scratchy lines imply grey on his black fur, showing he’s older.
This page was not finished when I photographed it. I hadn’t done more patterns on the page with my pen. I particularly like that elephant in the bow tie in the bottom panel; I may have to use him again.
What’s really interesting is the top panel where Mr. Jakes admits he can’t go on forever. As we all know, he is going to die in this story.
This makes you wonder. Does Mr. Jakes know that his time is almost up? Perhaps he’s trying to put his affairs in order before he departs this mortal world.
Well, that’s all for today. I will share more with you next week.
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