I’ve got some inked pages of Sunnyville Stories episode 8 to show you. The story opens up on a sad note.
Those of you who know Rusty (and have read the series) will know he’s an easygoing guy. He’ usually upbeat and outgoing. It should become apparent here that something is definitely not right.
You have to remember that comics is a visual medium. It’s not about telling, but about showing. In addition to facial expressions, it’s important to know body language. How a character presents himself is largely part of whether or not your readers will take the character to be real. If a character is cheerful, show them walking upright and smiling. If a character is grumpy, have them slouch and give them a frown.
Keep that in mind. Comics is a visual medium and if you fail to communicate a character’s emotion and personality to the readers, then you’ve failed at storytelling.
It’s at this point that Sam notices something is wrong with Rusty. This is a really heartwarming moment. Sam, ever the nurturer, notices that Rusty is sad. So she instinctively reassure him that that everything isn’t as bad as it seems. Of course, that will change over the next couple of pages…but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
I’m quite proud of the inking technique I used here. The upper left panel uses a contrast between thin and thick lines, which I learned from Tom Motley. Sam is drawn with the usual Speedball 513 nib while Rusty is rendered with a 0.50mm Rapidograph. The dead weight of the Rapidograph line does give a sharp contrast to the thicker and more organic lines of the nib pen in the foreground. The upper right panel had Rusty rendered with a Speedball A5 nib. Since he was close-up in the panel, I needed a thick line and I found the A5 nib not only gave a thick line, but also was easier to control than the brush.
I’ll have more pages up next time.
If you represent a public or school library system and you’re interested in carrying Sunnyville Stories Volume 1, please contact Brodart Company as they carry the work wholesale. Make sure you buy a copy of Sunnyville Stories Volume 1 or get a copy from these other retailers. And don’t forget that copies of Sunnyville Stories are available on Amazon!
